So basically what this boils down to is the question: is Tennessee athletics "Too Big To Fail"? (The answer is going to be yes, so not sure why the NCAA is getting testy.) Because the reason this particular investigation is a bigger deal than usual is the Vols are in "Repeat Violator" territory which means the "Death Penalty" would on the table.
This is going to backfire spectacularly for the NCAA though. The Virginia AG has joined this suit (for reasons unclear, but he clearly has a bone to pick with them after how they handled JMU). If you count other active suits against the NCAA, that's like 10 attorneys general now. One of these cases will probably be heard before the Supreme Court where the anti-trust exemption is going to be blown to smithereens, now that we're in the NIL era, and the NCAA (as we know it) will cease to exist.
Also, good to see posts federating properly again. With all the Lemmy upgrade issues in January, it looked like some posts and comments were getting lost in the void so I kept away for a bit waiting for a more stable release.