O'Bannon expands NCAA lawsuit
Ed O'Bannon shocked the sports world in 2009 when he filed a potentially billion dollar class action lawsuit against the NCAA. O'Bannon, later joined by Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson as plaintiffs, contends that the NCAA and its member institutions are brazenly violating federal antitrust law. Coming under fire is the NCAA's policy of licensing the names, images and likenesses of former D-I football and men's basketball players in various commercial ventures without the players' permission and without providing them compensation. Earlier this year, the NCAA failed to persuade a judge to dismiss the lawsuit, which is currently in the pretrial discovery stage and is advancing towards a trial date, possibly in 2013.
On Friday, O'Bannon decided to take his lawsuit one step further: in a court filing, O'Bannon seeks a judge's permission to expand the class action to include current D-I football and men's basketball players. O'Bannon does not ask that current players be paid while in college. Instead, he wants a temporary trust set up for monies generated by the licensing and sale of their names, images and likenesses. Players could access those trusts at the completion of their collegiate careers. A star college quarterback like USC senior Matt Barkley, for instance, generates significant monies for USC and the Pac-12 Conference. Under O'Bannon's proposed trust, when Barkley finishes his time at USC, he would receive money for four years' use of his name, image and likeness. Under an economic formula proposed by O'Bannon, players would receive half of the NCAA's broadcasting revenue and one-third of video game revenue, with the remainder of revenue staying with the NCAA, conferences and colleges. Four-year players would likely accrue thousands or tens of thousands of dollars -- if not more -- in their trusts. Whether Barkley would receive more money or the same amount of money as a backup offensive lineman at USC -- or one at a less prominent D-I college -- remains to be seen, though O'Bannon's court filing suggests teams would have different values, but players on each team would share equally. Obviously, if a court approved the concept of trusts for current student-athletes, the mechanics of those trusts would require further litigation and debate.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathaniel Cousins will soon hold hearings to determine an appropriate class. If he grants O'Bannon's wishes, any current or former D-I football or men's basketball player could join the lawsuit. This could include marquee football players like Barkley and Arkansas's Tyler Wilson as well rising hoop stars like Indiana's Cody Zeller and Kentucky's Nerlens Noel. These players generate sizable revenue for their schools through consumer purchases of their jerseys and the positive impact of their image on ticket sales and television contracts. The NCAA, however, bars these players from receiving any payment other than reimbursement for tuition, room and board, books and other educational expenses.
The rationale of O'Bannon to seek an expansion of his class derives from what he and his attorneys, Jon King and Michael Hausfeld, have learned from the pretrial discovery process and from their expert economists, Roger Noll and Larry Gerbrant. In O'Bannon's view, the NCAA and member schools and conferences have illegally profited off the labor of college athletes for decades. Current and former D-I football and men's basketball players, according to O'Bannon, are common victims in this alleged exploitation and thus should be in the same class. O'Bannon also dismisses the series of documents student-athletes are required to sign as part of their participation in college sports. These forms require student-athletes to accept the NCAA's use of their name, image and licensing. If a player refuses to sign these forms, he will be deemed ineligible to play, which could jeopardize his athletic scholarship and ability to afford college. O'Bannon repudiates these forms as "contracts of adhesion" or unenforceable no-choice contracts.
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/michael_mccann/09/01/obannon-ncaa-lawsuit/index.html#ixzz25FLAyTW6
Interesting to see how this will play out.