On March 20, 2026, the NCAA filed a lawsuit against DraftKings, accusing the operator of using the “March Madness”, “NCAA Sweet Sixteen”, “Elite Eight”, and “Final Four” trademarked expressions on its sports betting app without permission. The NCAA has demanded a restraining order, which would ban some of DraftKings’ marketing materials aimed at promoting gambling
On March 20, 2026, the NCAA filed a lawsuit against DraftKings, accusing the operator of using the “March Madness”, “NCAA Sweet Sixteen”, “Elite Eight”, and “Final Four” trademarked expressions on its sports betting app without permission.
The NCAA has demanded a restraining order, which would ban some of DraftKings’ marketing materials aimed at promoting gambling on the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. In the 37-page complaint submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in Indianapolis, the NCAA stressed that DraftKings only removed some of the references when it was initially asked to.
The NCAA stated:
“Every day that DraftKings is permitted to continue its unlawful use of the NCAA Basketball Marks and confusingly similar variations on its gambling platform undermines the NCAA’s longstanding anti‑gambling stances, erodes public trust, and inflicts continuing and irreparable harm on the NCAA’s reputation and the goodwill symbolized by its famous marks.”
A DraftKings spokesperson shared with Sportico:
“DraftKings does not use the term ‘March Madness’ as a trademark but rather uses it in plain text and as a fair use in the same manner that other tournaments are displayed, such as the NIT, in order to accurately identify the different tournaments and their respective games. This is protected speech under the First Amendment and is not a violation of any brand’s trademark. We are confident that the courts will deny this request for an injunction.”
Additionally, the NCAA also demands financial compensation from the operator to cover attorney fees, as well as triple the damages the governing body suffered or three times the profits DraftKings made.