DraftKings Can Tout ‘March Madness’ Bets During NCAA Lawsuit (2)

The NCAA failed to convince a federal judge to block DraftKings Inc. from using trademarks tied to its “March Madness” college basketball tournament while a lawsuit against the gambling company proceeds.

Although the NCAA is likely to succeed on the merits of their trademark dilution and false association claims, the organization failed to show it would suffer irreparable harm absent a temporary restraining order, Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana said Thursday.

The NCAA asked the court to enjoin DraftKings from using its marks referring to certain tournament games, including “Final Four,” which DraftKings started displaying on its gambling platforms in September, the order said, also noting that it displayed “March Madness” on its platforms as early as 2023. Pratt said the collegiate sports body waited too long to ask for the injunction, undercutting its arguments that it needed rapid assistance from the court.

Even if DraftKings’ “open use of the NCAA Basketball Marks was limited to this year alone, the NCAA still waited more than six months to request for emergent relief,” Pratt said.

Pratt’s order, though, struck a key defense DraftKings invoked, rejecting the company’s argument that its use of the marks is protected by nominative fair use, noting that the Seventh Circuit hasn’t adopted that defense.

Bets on individual player outcomes—called prop bets—"are particularly harmful,” as they put direct financial stakes on student-athletes and increase their exposure to harassment, the NCAA said in its March 20 complaint. The lawsuit targets the gambling platform’s use of registered trademarks “March Madness"—a nickname for its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments—along with the terms “Final Four,” “Elite Eight,” and “NCAA Sweet Sixteen.”

It appears to be the NCAA’s first federal trademark suit against the growing gambling industry. The suit puts it among a number of sports leagues and players’ unions that have sued sports gambling platforms over the use of their trademarks and player publicity rights.

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath and Bryan Cave represent the NCAA. DraftKings is represented by Debovoise & Plimpton, Gibson Dunn, and McCarter & English.

The case is Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n v. DraftKings Inc., S.D. Ind., No. 1:26-cv-557, denial of TRO 3/26/26.