## Facts

- Jeremy Bloom, an elite freestyle moguls skier and University of Colorado (CU) football recruit, had engaged in paid media and endorsement activities connected to his skiing career.
- Bloom pursued opportunities including entertainment appearances and commercial endorsements, including modeling and equipment endorsements.
- Concerned these activities would affect NCAA eligibility for CU football, CU sought waivers and a favorable interpretation of NCAA rules restricting endorsements and paid media activities.
- The NCAA denied the waiver requests and declined to adopt Bloom’s requested interpretation.
- Bloom discontinued endorsement/modeling/media activities to maintain football eligibility and played for CU during the 2002 season.
- Bloom sued the NCAA and the Regents of the University of Colorado for declaratory and injunctive relief, seeking to continue skiing-related endorsements while remaining eligible for college football.
- The trial court denied Bloom’s request for a preliminary injunction for failure to show, among other elements, a reasonable probability of success on the merits.

## Issues

1. Whether a student-athlete has standing as an intended third-party beneficiary to enforce NCAA Constitution and Bylaws as a contract between the NCAA and member institutions.
2. Whether Bloom showed a reasonable probability of success on the merits that NCAA amateurism rules allowed skiing-related endorsements and paid media activities while he maintained football eligibility.
3. Whether Bloom showed a reasonable probability of success that the NCAA’s denial of waivers and application of its amateurism rules was arbitrary, capricious, or otherwise unlawful under his pleaded theories.
4. Whether Bloom satisfied Colorado’s requirements for a preliminary injunction, particularly likelihood of success on the merits.

## Decision

- The Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed the order denying a preliminary injunction.
- The court held Bloom had standing to sue as an intended third-party beneficiary of the contractual relationship reflected in NCAA governing documents.
- The court concluded Bloom failed to demonstrate a reasonable probability of success on the merits because the NCAA rules at issue clearly prohibited endorsements and paid media activities by student-athletes.
- The court accepted the NCAA’s distinction between (a) permitting professional competition and certain earnings in another sport and (b) prohibiting endorsement and related compensation.
- The court rejected, on the preliminary-injunction record, Bloom’s claim that the NCAA acted arbitrarily or irrationally in denying waivers and applying its rules.

## Legal Principles

- NCAA governing documents may be treated as a contract between the association and member institutions, and a student-athlete may have standing as an intended third-party beneficiary to assert contract-based claims.
- Standing does not establish entitlement to relief; the plaintiff must show that the governing rules, properly construed, support the requested remedy.
- For preliminary injunctive relief under Colorado law, a plaintiff must show a reasonable probability of success on the merits; failure on that element supports denial of the injunction.
- Courts may uphold an association’s enforcement of eligibility and amateurism rules when the rules are textually clear and their application is rationally related to the association’s stated amateurism objectives.

## Conclusion

The court recognized a student-athlete’s ability to sue the NCAA as a third-party beneficiary of NCAA rules treated as contractual, but affirmed denial of preliminary injunctive relief because Bloom did not show a likelihood of success in overcoming the NCAA’s clear prohibition on endorsements and paid media activities while maintaining football eligibility.


Bloom v. Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n, 93 P.3d 621 (Colo. App. 2004)