The NCAA is willing to go to trial over the consent decree, but only to deny a request from state senator Jake Corman and Rob McCord.
The two state officers requested a partial judgment in their lawsuit against the NCAA on October 15. The NCAA asks the court to deny this request in new documents filed Wednesday.
The lawsuit revolves around the Endowment Act: a piece of state legislation that would force the NCAA to spend its $60 million fine against Penn State in Pennsylvania. The fine was imposed on Penn State through a consent decree the university signed with the NCAA in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
Corman and McCord filed their lawsuit against the NCAA in commonwealth court last year in an attempt to force the NCAA to abide by the Endowment Act. In response, the NCAA filed a federal lawsuit arguing the Endowment Act is unconstitutional. Since then, the parties to these lawsuits have gone back-and-forth in an increasingly complicated legal dance.
In September, Commonwealth Court Judge Ann Covey decided that a trial was needed in order to determine if the consent decree is a valid and legally binding document. Covey set a January trial date to settle that issue.
“Even after the NCAA offered to comply with the Endowment Act in full (an offer which still stands, if it would end this litigation), the Court denied its motion to dismiss the case,” Wednesday’s filing reads.
The NCAA argues that Corman and McCord’s request for a partial judgment before January is an attempt to go around the lawsuit filed against them in federal court.
Similarly, McCord had previously argued in court documents that the NCAA’s federal lawsuit was an attempt to go around the lawsuit in commonwealth court. The NCAA addresses this claim in its newest filing.
“There is nothing inappropriate about the NCAA’s federal lawsuit,” the athletic organization argues. The NCAA says such parallel cases are common and accepted legal practices.
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