

Former Villanova star Kris Jenkins, whose buzzer-beater helped the Wildcats to the 2016 NCAA Tournament title, is suing the NCAA and six major conferences for restricting athlete pay and his ability to monetize his name, image and likeness while he was in college.
The antitrust complaint was filed last week in the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit says Jenkins opted out of the House v. NCAA settlement and thus the class of individuals represented in the settlement agreement of multiple antitrust lawsuits that is awaiting final approval from a federal judge in California. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Monday in Oakland, Calif., in front of U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken.
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Approval of the settlement would pave the way for nearly $2.8 billion in damages to be paid out to hundreds of thousands of former and current college athletes and the implementation of a new revenue-sharing system that will allow schools to directly pay athletes.
The final of this year’s men’s NCAA Tournament is also Monday night, with Florida facing Houston.
Jenkins’ 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the 2016 men’s NCAA Tournament final against North Carolina gave Villanova a 77-74 victory and is considered one of the most memorable moments in March Madness history.
Jenkins’ lawsuit does not seek a specific amount in damages but does lay out the millions in revenue Villanova, the Big East and NCAA received from the tournament and the Wildcats’ championship.
The lawsuit says Jenkins and his teammates did “countless” autograph signings before and after his famous shot for donors, fans and collectors, but NCAA rules at the time banning athletes from receiving NIL compensation prevented him from cashing in. It estimates about $400,000 to $500,000 in lost earnings.
“Plaintiff Kris Jenkins seeks the compensation that he would have received absent Defendants’ unlawful restraint on pay-for-play compensation, a share of game telecast revenue, and compensation that he would have received for media broadcast uses of his NIL (‘BNIL’), and the compensation that he would have received for his NIL from third parties for use in video games and other opportunities including marketing, sponsorship, social media, branding, promotional and other NIL deals,” the lawsuit says.
Jenkins played one more year at Villanova after the championship season, resulting in a second-round exit of the 2017 NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed alongside teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo and Mikal Bridges. Jenkins then had a short professional career in the NBA’s developmental league and overseas.
This story will be updated.
(Photo: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
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