Ed O'Bannon suing NCAA: UPDATE: O'Bannon wins, but NCAA may not suffer that much

Re: Ed O'Bannon suing NCAA

I agree. They're going to have a major problem if they try to argue that the 11 uniform numbers used by, let's say Florida's offense in the video game just coincidentally match the 11 used by the real team, and that video game players shouldn't be pretending that they are the actual players.

 

Re: Ed O'Bannon suing NCAA

I would give a percentage of the profits to the athletes. Say 10% of the total.

That 10% divided how many hundreds or thousands of players would mean what for Ed? $10 a month?

Mazel Tov.

 

Re: Ed O'Bannon suing NCAA

Why 10%? What do the athletes in other sports receive?

 

Re: Ed O'Bannon suing NCAA

Do you think EA Sports pays $5 to the NFL for every game it sells? Do you think they give them $10?

I'm thinking the number is much lower.

 

Re: Ed O'Bannon suing NCAA

I don't know the numbers, either. But it's still a substantial amount of money.

Either way, I'd rather see it in the athlete's pockets than the NCAA's. The NCAA is 'supposed' to be non-profit.

 

Re: Ed O'Bannon suing NCAA

The NFLPA was the defendant against the suit brought by former players. Current players in the PA decided not to share the profits with former players. Those former players wued and won.

 

Re: Ed O'Bannon suing NCAA

The NCAA's argument will be that all athletes have to sign a document allowing the NCAA "to use your name or picture to generally promote NCAA championships or other NCAA events, activities or programs." So they own your likeness for life and can license it as they please.

On paper, the argument is rock solid. But there is a good argument to be made that this should be nullified. An athlete essentially signs a contract of adhesion with the NCAA. The NCAA has all of the power and an athlete lacks the ability to say, "Well, if you change paragraph A and extend the term of Paragraph J to five years, I'll sign it." There is no meaningful negotiation -- take it or leave it. Courts give those contracts extra scrutiny.

This is the best take on it that I have read:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/michael_mccann/07/21/ncaa/index.html

 

Re: Ed O'Bannon suing NCAA

In professional sports, electronic games companies pay multi-million-dollar licensing fees to player unions, which (other than in the NBA, I think) represent players' group rights. It amounts to thousands per player per year.

 

Re: Ed O'Bannon suing NCAA

Very interesting article.

My one question is: Do those documents that the athletes sign specifically say that the NCAA owns their likeness in perpetuity after their careers are done, or is it part of the scholarship papers they re-sign each year?

That strikes me as similar to baseball's old reserve clause, which allowed teams the right to renew players each year. When Andy Messersmith refused to sign his deal and played one year without a contract, MLB claimed his old contract was still in force. Yet, the arbirtrator ruled that the one year was up, and Messersmith became a free agent.

 

Re: Ed O'Bannon suing NCAA

Bumping this back, although we've had other threads that have referred to it: A judge has ruled that NCAA players can join O'Bannon and the retired players in suing for a cut of the live broadcast revenues.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8895337/judge-rules-ncaa-athletes-legally-pursue-television-money

Dear NCAA: Come up with a good settlement. Now. Otherwise, you're fucked.

 

Re: Ed O'Bannon suing NCAA

I feel like this is said just about anytime someone mounts a challenge to the NCAA, just because we all want to see them get their asses handed to them, but from what I read yesterday this was a pretty significant step and something the cabal needs to be very worried about.

I just can't picture what college sports are going to look like in 20 years. At some point the economic realities are going to land on all these sports that are being played that absolutely nobody on campus or in the fan base gives a shit about besides the players and their parents. They already are at a lot of places.

 

Re: Ed O'Bannon suing NCAA

What you'll see is the end of men's sports other than football and basketball. Women's sports will continue to hemmorage money because Title IX advocates won't allow any of them to be cut.