Costly change is coming: Pat Haden expects NCAA to lose Ed O'bannon suit

What contributions?

 

I don't see anything tricky about it either. I think Delany's point is that O'Bannon & Co. are looking at this as free money. But it's not. Uncle Sam always gets paid and the lawyers will take most of it up front.


Ed O'Bannon's had a 9-5 for a decade. I know he's been a car salesman in the past. I am sure he's familiar with Uncle Sam's taxation.

 

I wrote a story a number of years back about college students who were making $20,000 a year from people sending their PlayStation 2 removable disks (or whatever they were called) so their NCAA games could have players' names instead of "RB #45" or whatever. I mean, it's abundantly clear in these games that everything is modeled after the real players.

 

Totally agree. O'Bannon got pissed when his nephew/relative was playing a video game and O'Bannon saw his own likeness.

Good luck to the plaintiffs. I am with them.

 

O'Bannon has always sounded like a guy who is doing this not because he needs the money but because he sees how fucking wrong it all is. He very well could change the structure of sports as much as Curt Flood.

 

Yeah, it was really cool the way Curt Flood destroyed Major League Baseball. I don't know how we've managed as a country without it...

 

If you are really arguing that the Curt Flood case didn't change the structure of the sports world, I would suggest you limit all future comments on the board to on-field matters involving college football. In every other avenue, you show yourself as a babbling idiot.

 

It's unlikely O'Bannon's case would fundamentally alter the structure of college sports. Paying the athletes off the top of the revenues generated from unauthorized licensing of their names or images wouldn't disrupt the economic fundamentals, just give athletes in football and basketball some money and give schools a little less money. But I'll bet teams yanks names off their uniforms very quickly if O'Bannon wins. The intellectual property status of a uniform number should make for some interesting case law.
If college sports administrators weren't so damn greedy, they'd have already done the above on their own hook.
It's government (and parent) concerns about football health risks that threaten the current system, not merchandising issues.

 

I thought MLB still existed.

And I know that damn Obama raised marginal tax rates on the successful but the coaches still seem incentivized to jump contracts, even with Uncle Sam getting a cut of the extra payout. Not sure why paying taxes would be so burdensome for the players.

And I agree that if the players are employees it could lead to a lot of issues about workers comp. Which would be valid. If Keven Ware is unable to play college basketball again I suspect that Louisville will keep him on scholarship. I am sure that the Louisville athletic department are classy enough not to do that and the public relations backlash would be horrific.

But if Kevin Ware was playing at many a D I school and was hurt in a less visible venue and his career ended he would have his scholarship pulled. So I support workers comp for athletes.

 

Yeah there isn't a whole lot of mystery when you pop in NCAA '12 and see "QB #10" for Baylor with a 95 speed rating. Everyone knows who is who.

 

So NCAA athletes, as the system is presently constituted, get nothing of value.
Except, you know, a scholarship worth anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000 (including room, board, clothing and other perks).
Elite level training in their sport, which amounts to a four years of on-the-job training if they want to pursue a sports-related career.
Thousands of dollars in free marketing of their name, which can lead to cushy jobs after college if they don't pursue a pro career, an automatic credibility boost if they go into coaching, a shot with a pro team, or any one of a hundred other opportunities that arise from name recognition.
Free academic counseling.
At many Division I football and basketball programs, four years of first-class travel and accommodations.
Incredible life experiences that 95 percent of the student body would kill to have a shot at.

In return they have to sacrifice a few merchandising dollars they'd likely make back a thousandfold if they're good enough to turn pro, and likely wouldn't make anyway if they're marginal players.
O'Bannon might have a point. He might have a legal case. He's also holding a knife to the golden goose's throat. A lot more people are going to be hurt by this than will benefit from it.

 

And based on graduation rates you can tell how seriously the schools take their academic mission.

It really is too bad that they are messing with your entertainment, though. That must be very painful for you.