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Lawyers want Zakai Zeigler vs NCAA lawsuit moved to Middle District of Tennessee
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- Lawyers want Zakai Zeigler vs NCAA lawsuit moved to Middle District of Tennessee
Former Tennessee basketball star Zakai Zeigler and the NCAA filed a joint motion on Oct. 23 to transfer their shared case to the United States District Court in the Middle District of Tennessee, according to court documents obtained by Knox News.
Both parties want Zeigler's lawsuit, which seeks damages for potential earnings lost due to updated NCAA eligibility rules, to be moved from the Eastern District and be coordinated with the other eligibility lawsuits are ongoing in the Middle District.
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"Litigating this action in the same district as the related cases will promote that coordination, conserve judicial resources, reduce the risk of inconsistent rulings on overlapping questions, and produce efficiencies for the Parties and the courts," the joint filing said.
The NCAA previously sought to move the venue to the Middle District on July 31. The motion was denied by the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, which said it was "confident the parties and the courts can coordinate their efforts to avoid any potential duplication or overlap in pretrial proceedings," on Oct. 2.
The filing adds that neither party would be "inconvenienced or prejudiced" by moving the venue, because the NCAA's likely witnesses overlap with those in related cases that are being heard in the Middle District, where Chief Judge William L. Campbell is also hearing three other eligibility cases: Pavia v. NCAA, Boyd v. NCAA and Patterson v. NCAA.
Zeigler filed this lawsuit while still living in East Tennessee but he now resides overseas, where he plays basketball professionally.
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Zeigler logged 7.1 points and 5.6 assists per game for Nanterre 92 in the French league LNB élite last season. He plans to play for the Hamburg Towers of Basketball Bundesliga in Germany this season.
Why Zakai Zeigler is suing the NCAA, and what he stands to gain if he wins
At the crux of Zeigler's lawsuit is a challenge to the NCAA's evolving eligibility rules. The NCAA did away with the four seasons of competition rule in June, favoring a new age-based eligibility model which eliminates redshirt years and allows all college athletes to play up to five seasons over five years beginning at their 19th birthday or college enrollment.
Zeigler's filings do not say he is attempting to retain eligibility and does not challenge the current five-year eligibility window. He is not trying to play college basketball again.
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Zeigler's legal team argued in an amended complaint filed in August that, by replacing it with the age-based eligibility model, the NCAA has conceded that the four seasons rule he played under during his college career was anticompetitive and restrained Zeigler's ability to earn NIL compensation in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and Tennessee Trade Practices Act.
A filing from December 2025 cited analysis from Spyre Sports Group, claiming that he stood to make up to $4 million if he had played a fifth season as one of the best and most experienced point guards in a power conference.
If his legal team is successful, Zeigler would be due three times what he could have earned that season in damages – as much as $12 million – because this is an antitrust case.
Zeigler averaged 11.3 points and 5.4 assists across 138 career games for the Vols from 2021-25 and was a three-time All-SEC selection.
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Stephen Thompson covers Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball. Email him at stephen.thompson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @stephenethom.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Lawyers want Zakai Zeigler vs NCAA lawsuit moved to Middle District of Tennessee
