The Southeastern Conference will meet on Thursday to determine whether to expel Louisiana State University out of the high-profile conference as the fight over the Tigers’ potential use of former professional football players escalates.
In a federal court filing, the conference said it will meet to “decide whether to terminate Louisiana State University as an SEC member institution.”
The filing Tuesday, an amendment to its lawsuit against the university and key leadership, including head football coach Lane Kiffin, the conference is asking the court in part to rule “that the First Amendment protects the Conference’s right to disassociate from LSU, Defendants, and their conduct.”
The filing represents a dramatic escalation in the showdown between the conference and one of its founding members. A back-and-forth legal battle over whether athletes who graduated high school in 2022 would be allowed a fifth year of eligibility has created chaos as schools and conferences deal with the fallout. Some state courts, including in Louisiana, paved the way for those athletes to play another year in college – and that opened the door for some athletes who had left school to pursue a professional career to return to the college game.
