NCAA hit with class action lawsuit

by grimc on Jul 22, 2009 4:46 PM PDT

Making NCAA pay?

With all the recent conversation about NCAA 10, this story seems pretty timely:

...Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco, [Former UCLA Bruin, Ed] O’Bannon became the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit on behalf of all current and former Division I-A football and men’s basketball athletes against the NCAA. He’s represented by two of the nation’s most high-powered law firms – including one that secured reparations for Holocaust survivors from Swiss banks.

The complaint, obtained by Yahoo! Sports, alleges that the NCAA “has illegally deprived former student-athletes” from “myriad revenue streams” including DVDs, video games, memorabilia, photographs, television rebroadcasts and use in advertising.

I'm really not sure what side I'm inclined to take. On the one hand, as the columnist points out, this isn't the best economy for colleges to take a huge financial hit--not only in whatever the penalty may be, but a massive reduction of a revenue stream. And I've always felt that scholarship athletes are, in effect, paid via free tuition, room and board, and all the other perks. At least at Oregon, and undoubtedly at other schools with 'top flight' facilities, student-athletes have their own computer centers, tutors, etc.

On the other hand, it just doesn't seem right for a school to profit off of athletes once they've left. Not even giving alumni a piece of the action for the use of their image seems inherently unfair. The contrivance of not providing names in video game rosters is a pretty weak defense (Insert OSU joke here). We all know that it's just a matter of filling in names. And going beyond XBox, as the complaint alleges, schools have always made a pretty penny off of memorabilia and the like (Order SI now and receive a special XYZU issue, celebrating their championship run!).

Hmm. If I had to choose, I guess I'd side with the athletes--although professional shady character Sonny Vaccaro's involvement makes me hesititate.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or the Addicted To Quack Moderators. FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable Oregon fans.

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The NCAA will win this

And despite the fact that they suck as an organization (look up selective enforcement in the dictionary and you’ll find the NCAA logo), they should win. Players don’t get paid when they ARE college athletes so they should not once they no longer play college ball. Unless you want to pay them all (and it would have to be all athletes, or at least all scholarship ones) but I don’t think that’s a good idea and that’s not the issue at hand.

"Good evening Blazer fans, wherever you may be!"-Bill Schonely

by skywaker9 on Jul 22, 2009 11:39 PM PDT reply actions

This seems outragous...

It seems like this O’Bannon guy needs to pull his head out. How was the FREE education you got at one of the nation’s elite universities buddy? Most alumni wouldnt (and SHOULDNT) have a problem having their image help bringing more students (some student-athletes) to the school.

Even if universities are making a profit or not, this is a stupid lawsuit. If I graduated from UCLA on thier dime and they wanted to use my picture on the cover of thier student handbook should I get paid?? NOPE. Get over it – they arent going to pay you, and they shouldnt have to either. They should write him a letter simply stating “You’re welcome for the free education. Have a nice day. Signed – UCLA”

by NOTTSJR9 on Jul 23, 2009 7:45 AM PDT reply actions

ummm....

If they used your photo, yes you should get paid (if you want to). But if you don’t think that you should be paid for such things, do you mind if I use your photo to advertise “Mr. Puffy’s Butt Wrinkle Remover”? It doesn’t exist yet, but I’m sure if I had a photo rights lined up, I could get something going.

by homersolo on Jul 27, 2009 7:46 AM PDT up reply actions