Colin Kaepernick's collusion case against the NFL to go to trial

(Image credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Sports Illustrated)

Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick's allegation that league owners have colluded to deprive him of a job as punishment for his social justice efforts will be tried in court.

Kaepernick filed suit against the NFL under its collective bargaining agreement in October, and the arbitrator in the case announced Thursday that he'd declined the league's request that the case be dismissed. The move is a "huge blow to the NFL," Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson explained, as the league had "specifically requested" the summary judgment phase of the case "in hopes of a dismissal." Instead, the case will now proceed to trial.

During the 2016 season, Kaepernick, as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, began kneeling during the national anthem in protest of racist policing. He left the team in early 2017 and has since gone unsigned, while the protest movement he began has persisted. NBC Sports reported that "further discovery is expected" in the case now that the NFL's dismissal request has been thrown out, which could open the league and its owners to probing from Kaepernick and his lawyer as to whether there were any internal discussions of blacklisting the quarterback.