The legal efforts to unionize college athletes appear to be running out of steam this month as a new Republican-led administration gets set to take over the federal agency in charge of ruling on employment cases.

A players’ advocacy group who filed charges against the NCAA, Pac-12 and USC that would have potentially opened the door for college players to form a union decided Friday to withdraw its complaint. Their case – which was first filed in February 2022 – was one of two battles against the NCAA taken up by the National Labor Relations Board in recent years. Earlier this week, an administrative law judge closed the other case, which was filed by men’s basketball players at Dartmouth.

The National College Players Association, which filed its complaint on behalf of USC athletes, said the recent changes in state law and NCAA rules that are on track to allow schools to directly pay their players starting this summer caused them to reconsider their complaint.

“[T]he NCPA believes that it is best to provide adequate time for the college sports industry to transition into this new era before football and basketball players employee status is ruled upon,” the organization’s founder Ramogi Huma wrote in the motion to withdraw.

The NCAA and its four power conferences agreed to the terms of a legal settlement this summer that will allow schools to spend up to roughly $20.5 million on direct payments to their athletes starting next academic year. The deal is scheduled to be finalized in April.

College sports leaders, including NCAA President Charlie Baker, have remained steadfast in their belief that athletes should not be considered employees of their schools during a period when college sports have moved closer to a professionalized model.

Some industry stakeholders believe that the richest schools in college sports will need to collectively bargain with athletes to put an end to the current onslaught of legal challenges facing the industry. Currently, any collective bargaining would have to happen with a formal union to provide sufficient legal protection. Some members of Congress say they are discussing the possibility of creating a special status for college sports that would allow collective bargaining without employment. However, Congressional aides familiar with ongoing negotiations told ESPN that influential Republican leaders in Congress are firmly against the idea.

The NLRB’s national board previously declined to make a ruling on whether college athletes should be employees in 2015 when a group of football players at Northwestern attempted to unionize. Jennifer Abruzzo, the agency’s leader during the Biden administration, signaled an interest in taking up the athletes’ fight to unionize early in her tenure. Abruzzo is not expected to remain as the NLRB’s general counsel during Donald Trump’s presidency.

Under Abruzzo, the agency’s regional offices pushed both the Dartmouth and USC cases forward in the past year. Dartmouth players got far enough to vote in favor of forming a union in March 2024, but were still in the appeals process when they decided to end their effort last month.

The only remaining legal fight over employee status in college sports is a federal lawsuit known as Johnson v. NCAA. That case claims the association is violating the Fair Labor Standards Act, which does not guarantee the right to unionize but instead would give athletes some basic employee rights such as minimum wage and overtime pay. That case is currently working its way through the legal process in the Third Circuit federal court.

Louisiana State Police have issued an arrest warrant for former LSU receiver Kyren Lacy, who is accused of causing a fatal crash that killed a 78-year-old man on Dec. 17 and then fleeing the scene without rendering aid or calling authorities.

Louisiana State Police said on Friday that Lacy will be charged with negligent homicide, felony hit-and-run and reckless operation of a vehicle.

Police said they have been in contact with Lacy and his attorney to turn himself in.

According to a news release from state police, Lacy was allegedly driving a 2023 Dodge Charger on Louisiana Highway 20 and “recklessly passed multiple vehicles at a high rate of speed by crossing the centerline and entering the northbound lane while in a designated no-passing zone.”

“As Lacy was illegally passing the other vehicles, the driver of a northbound pickup truck abruptly braked and swerved to the right to avoid a head-on collision with the approaching Dodge,” a Louisiana State Police news release said.

“Traveling behind the pickup was a 2017 Kia Cadenza whose driver swerved left to avoid the oncoming Dodge Charger. As the Kia Cadenza took evasive action to avoid impact with the Dodge, it crossed the centerline and collided head-on with a southbound 2017 Kia Sorento.”

Police alleged that Lacy, 24, drove around the crash scene and fled “without stopping to render aid, call emergency services, or report his involvement in the crash.”

Herman Hall, 78, of Thibodaux, Louisiana, who was a passenger in the Kia Sorrento, later died from injuries suffered in the crash, according to state police.

The drivers of the Cadenza and Sorento also sustained moderate injuries, according to police.

Lacy played two seasons at Louisiana before transferring to LSU in 2022. This past season, he had 58 catches for 866 yards with nine touchdowns and declared for the NFL draft on Dec. 19, two days after the crash.

Ohio State began Friday as a consensus 6-point favorite over Texas in the Capital One Cotton Bowl, a spread much larger than what was expected.

Sportsbooks had Ohio State as only a 1.5-point favorite over Texas in early lines posted last week before the semifinal matchup was set. But after the Longhorns squeaked past Arizona State in overtime and the Buckeyes blew out Oregon in the quarterfinals, oddsmakers knew they had to adjust the line on the Cotton Bowl (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

“Texas just doesn’t impress us, and Ohio State looks like a runaway freight train now,” John Murray, a veteran Las Vegas bookmaker with the Westgate SuperBook, told ESPN this week.

Caesars Sportsbook opened with Ohio State as 5.5-point favorites over Texas after the semifinal matchup was finalized and took immediate action from bettors on the Buckeyes, despite the line being four points higher than it had been in previous days at some sportsbooks.

The Buckeyes entered the playoffs after a stunning upset loss to Michigan in the final week of the regular season. Ohio State was a 20.5-point favorite over the Wolverines. Since 1998, in the BCS/College Football Playoff era, only two teams — 2008 Florida and 2016 Clemson — have lost as 20-plus-point favorites during the regular season and rebounded to win the national championship, according to ESPN Research. The Buckeyes and Notre Dame have a chance to join that list this year.

The Fighting Irish, who lost to Northern Illinois as 28.5-point favorites early in the season, rallied past Penn State on Thursday in the Capital One Orange Bowl to advance to the championship game. Notre Dame faces the winner of Texas-Ohio State on Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

The betting public, which has been invested in Ohio State all season, is squarely behind the Buckeyes against Texas on Friday. Approximately 72% of the bets placed — and 82% of the money wagered — on the Cotton Bowl at ESPN BET was on Ohio State as of Friday morning. At BetMGM, 28.2% of the money bet on the sportsbook’s odds to win the national championship is on the Buckeyes, more than what has been wagered on Texas and Notre Dame combined.

Sportsbooks have the Buckeyes listed as around 8-point favorites over Notre Dame in a potential championship game showdown. Texas is a 3-point favorite over Notre Dame in the early lines.