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SEC suing LSU; claims university is creating 'competitive imbalance,' causing harm to conference
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BIRMINGHAM - Amid a legal battle concerning eligibility for players who have already gone pro, the Southeastern Conference has sued LSU, its head football coach Lane Kiffin and the university's leaders.
The federal lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Alabama on Thursday. It alleges that LSU's conduct surrounding the ongoing legal fight has harmed the SEC, created a "competitive imbalance," and disrupted student-athletes' expectations.
The conference claims one of the “most fundamental” rules in the SEC is that players rostered on professional teams cannot compete in collegiate sports.
“College athletics is reserved for students who are actively pursuing an education while competing for their universities,” the suit says.
Kiffin’s LSU roster was recently enhanced by the additions of former Cleveland Brown Dae'Quan Wright, former New Orleans Saint Zxavian Harris and former Denver Bronco Blake Cotton. The three declared for the draft, signed NFL contracts and spent the summer practicing with their respective professional teams before returning to college football.
The SEC called the move “a deliberate and coordinated campaign to recruit professional athletes to play football for LSU," and said the former pros have filled roster spots that could have gone to current college athletes.
The SEC brought the issue of athletes playing in professional leagues and then returning to collegiate sports up for a vote by the SEC's presidents and chancellors in August. The filing says that LSU's President Dr. Wade Rousse, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, voted in favor of the policy "that college sports are for college athletes."
The policy laid out punishments for an SEC school the violated its bylaws, saying the head coach of the team would be suspended for 50% of the season and the team would be fined 50% of its annual budget. Additionally, representatives for the school could not vote on SEC business and may be subjected to other punishments as conference leaders see fit.
The lawsuit says that LSU violated the conference's First Amendment rights by forcing it to "associate its competitions, its brand, its championships, and its media properties with conduct that the Conference has expressly, unanimously, and publicly rejected and repudiated since its inception."
WBRZ reached out to LSU for a comment. A university spokesperson said they have not seen the suit yet, but they will not comment due to pending litigation.
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