Colin Kaepernick has taken a step closer towards his goal of proving that NFL owners are in collusion to keep him out of the league.

According to the Associated Press, Kaepernick’s case is going to a trial following a decision by arbitrator Stephen Burbank to reject the NFL’s request to dismiss it.

A statement released by Burbank on Thursday adds more details to this recent development in Kaepernick’s case, via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk:

“On August 28, 2018, the System Arbitrator denied the NFL’s request that he dismiss Colin Kaepernick’s complaint alleging that his inability to secure a player contract since becoming a free agent in March 2017 has been due to an agreement among team owners and the NFL that violates Article 17, Section 1 of the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFLPA,” Burbank’s statement said.

Colin Kaepernick filed a grievance case against the NFL back in October of 2017 after finding it unusually hard for him to find a job in the league, while also under the impression that NFL owners made a concerted effort to keep him unemployed, allegedly as a form of punishment for the quarterback’s habit of kneeling during the playing of the national anthem to protest racial inequality and brutality by the police force.

Kaepernick last appeared in a game in 2016 for the San Francisco 49ers, the same team he led to a Super Bowl appearance in 2013.

The NFL is likely going to start the 2018 season with Kaepernick nowhere to be found on any team’s roster. Instead, he’s fighting in a more serious battle off the field.