Winning the College Athlete Eligibility Injunction: The Athlete’s Case in the Five-for-Five Era

Noah Henderson, Clinical Assistant Professor of Sport Management and Director of the Sport Management Program | Loyola University Chicago, Quinlan School of Business

Noah Henderson is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Sport Management and Director of the Sport Management Program at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business, where he teaches at the intersection of law, economics, and college athletics — including courses on the legal aspects of sport management and the business of sports. A nationally recognized voice on athlete rights in the NIL era, his work focuses on NIL, athlete labor rights, and the rapidly evolving rules governing college athlete eligibility.

• Education & Credentials

Professor Henderson earned his J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law and his B.A. in Economics from Saint Joseph’s University, where he was a four-year letter winner on the golf team.

• Recognition & Leadership

Professor Henderson is a nationally recognized voice on athlete rights in the NIL era. His commentary and reporting have been featured by Sports Illustrated’s NIL Daily, ESPN, NPR, CNN, PBS, Sportico, and the Chicago Tribune, and he is a frequent speaker at accredited seminars and national symposiums.

• Professional Involvement

Professor Henderson was instrumental in the implementation of name, image, and likeness policy, helping amend Illinois’s NIL legislation and develop early frameworks for the legal compensation of college athletes. He advises athletic departments, brands, and sports agents across the country on NIL policy and compliance, and has contributed written analysis to the public record on antitrust issues and athlete access — the legal foundation underlying today’s wave of college athlete eligibility litigation.

• Experience

At Loyola University Chicago, Professor Henderson directs the Sport Management Program and teaches courses spanning the business of sports, the legal aspects of sport management, sport media, the social aspects of sport management, and sports gambling. His recent published work examines roster construction, NIL economics, transfer portal economics, and the rules governing college athlete eligibility — making him uniquely positioned to break down the athlete’s case for injunctive relief in the Five-for-Five era.

Philip Nickerson, Litigator | Vela Wood Staley Young P.C

Philip Nickerson is a litigator in the Austin, Texas office of Vela Wood Staley Young P.C. whose practice sits at the center of the fast-moving legal battles reshaping college athletics. An experienced civil litigation and white-collar defense attorney, he counsels clients navigating NCAA policies, student-athlete eligibility disputes, NIL compliance and enforcement, and the emerging College Sports Commission (CSC) enforcement model.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Nickerson earned his J.D. from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2017 and has been licensed to practice law in Texas since 2018.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Nickerson has been recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star each year from 2024 through 2026, a distinction reserved for the top attorneys in the state. He has also been named to Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America for Commercial Litigation in the 2025 and 2026 editions.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Nickerson is a regular commentator on the legal issues at the heart of this program. As a contributing author to the NIL Revolution blog and its accompanying Highway to NIL podcast, he has written extensively on student-athlete eligibility challenges — including litigation over the NCAA’s five-year rule and the Trinidad Chambliss case — as well as due process concerns in NCAA and CSC enforcement, NIL contract disputes, and participation agreement enforcement mechanisms. He is also a frequent CLE presenter, having taught accredited programs on trial skills, depositions, and corporate liability.

• Experience

Mr. Nickerson represents clients in complex commercial disputes, including regulatory navigation, criminal and civil fraud claims, government investigations, consumer protection litigation, fiduciary duty litigation, trade secrets claims, breach of contract disputes, construction and product defect litigation, and insurance defense matters. Before joining Vela Wood Staley Young P.C., he practiced with Troutman Pepper Locke in Austin. His work tracking the athlete eligibility cases in real time gives him a front-row view of how courts are weighing athletes’ requests for injunctive relief in the Five-for-Five era.

SESSION 1 – The Athlete’s Fifth Season: Roster Value, NIL, and Career Decisions in the Five-for-Five Era | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

This session provides the legal and structural foundation attendees need before diving into the legal technicalities of the athlete injunction cases in the session that follows. The panel will trace how antitrust pressure following NCAA v. Alstonreshaped the NCAA’s rule-making autonomy, how NIL developed and how House v. NCAA expanded and redirected the pool of resources available to athletes since 2025, and how the traditional 4-in-5 eligibility model enabled redshirting as a roster-building tool. From there, the session examines how the erosion of that model is reshaping strategy on all sides: how schools now compete on a budget without the redshirt lever, how agents are adapting their approach to maximizing athlete compensation, and the value of the harm being suffered by the high school class of 2022 as they press their case for an extra season of eligibility.

BREAK | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

SESSION 2 – Proving the Athlete’s Case for Emergency Eligibility Relief: Injunction Strategy, Antitrust Merits, and the Evidence That Wins | 1:10pm – 2:10pm

This session moves from the athlete’s career decision to the courthouse, examining how counsel builds and wins a TRO or preliminary injunction against NCAA eligibility rules in the Five-for-Five era. Drawing on his litigation experience and his ongoing analysis of the five-year rule challenges, the Trinidad Chambliss litigation, and the emerging College Sports Commission enforcement model, Philip Nickerson will walk through the antitrust theory that carries athletes past the “likelihood of success” hurdle, the evidence that proves irreparable harm before the season slips away, and the procedural decisions that can make or break an emergency filing.