Judge Dismisses Riley Gaines' Title IX Suit Against NCAA, Citing 0 Federal Funds

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 29

U.S. District Judge Tiffany Johnson granted summary judgment to the NCAA and closed the case, ruling Riley Gaines and other athletes failed to show the NCAA received federal financial assistance required for Title IX liability.
The decision turned on a concussion-research consortium with the Defense Department: Johnson said the NCAA and Pentagon funded Indiana University through separate streams, leaving no evidence the NCAA itself ever received federal money.
Gaines and the Independent Council on Women’s Sports said they will appeal to the 11th Circuit, arguing the NCAA’s ties to federally funded entities should still bring it within Title IX’s reach.
The NCAA responded by stressing compliance with Trump’s February 2025 order on women’s sports, under which it changed its policy to bar athletes assigned male at birth from competing on women’s teams.
The suit, filed in March 2024 over the NCAA’s former transgender-athlete policy and the 2022 championships involving Lia Thomas, now shifts the fight to whether the NCAA can be sued under Title IX at all.