A Sea Of Red

I think this was just highlighted by OTL but there are a couple lawsuits pending against the NCAA by former student athletes... Both are from a few months ago, but, ESPN has recently done some stories on them One a basketball player, the other is former Nebrasks & AZ St. quarterback Sam Keller.

Both lawsuits go after the NCAA (keller's also names EA Sports) and allege that they used player's likenesses and images to make a profit and seek a portion of those profits on behalf of all NCAA athletes there were involved. Keller's suit is very interesting because ... of course, he is right.. The NCAA of course refuses to let ea sports use college athletes 'names' but allows them to use their numbers, attributes, and make the 'characters' exactly like the real players (faces, accessories like visors/wrist bands, height/weight/dob/hometown).

From a legal perspective its a very strong case against the NCAA... Of course the NCAA is a private organization and a lot of courts shy away from these types of disputes -- but it is interesting because a decent number of NCAA athletes aren't even of legal age when they enroll -- or sign letters of intent etc. There's just a lot of factors that could come into play on both sides. Certainly I think we all know the exploitation exists -- but if one of these suits is succesful it could really change a LOT of things in college athletics.

BS. I love those video games and its a pain in the *** that you have to name every single person/wait for someone else to do it. EA just needs to cut the universities a small share that can go into athletics scholarships and have them allowed to put names in the game by default.

Allows them to use their numbers, attributes, and appearance? So what? Players have no claims to their numbers or uniforms, and you can't patent or copyright the way you throw a ball or block a defender. This is so stupid. If you can't mimic the way a person looks, then cartoons and comics would be in a lot of trouble.

Players do have a right to their likeness.

But it wont go anywhere. If it does, the video game setup will change long before collegiate athletics makes a move. About 5,000 student athletes will be bummed they arent in the game anymore.

Schfourteenteen wrote:Players do have a right to their likeness.

But it wont go anywhere. If it does, the video game setup will change long before collegiate athletics makes a move. About 5,000 student athletes will be bummed they arent in the game anymore.

Right of course they do. In fact I know when i was an athlete we had to sign a waiver allowing our school etc to use our likeness in media guides, promotional material etc. Same reason reality shows and such you'll sometimes see faces blurred out. If the person didn't sign a waiver the show/company etc. can't use their likeness for profit.

Just like the NFLPA gets paid for every copy of Madden -- both suits target the NCAA, only one names EA Sports as well. Of course EA isn't at fault here -- there is no NCAAPA to negotiate with. But the premise is interesting because so far as I know -- no one has ever had a legit monetary case against the NCAA for exploitation -- at least not one that legally seems pretty sound. Just will be interesting to see if it goes anywhere.

In a follow up on another law-suit that was pending... The court has refused to throw out the case of former UCLA player Ed O'bannon who is suing for financial compensation from the NCAA after they used his likeness after he had already graduated.

They talked about this on PTI today and there are a scattering of articles on the web...The big news of course is that as the lawsuit now moves into discovery the NCAA will be legally forced to disclose exactly how much money they make off of deals with EA Sports and other big time marketing deals. Not only the amount but who they have deals with and what those deals include. Of course these are the details that the NCAA has consistently refused to make public. So the question is... are they now going to rush to settle and start making payouts to former athletes? Or are they willing to go through discovery and a trial which, even if they win, might be pretty bad considering all the information and laundry that will be aired in a fairly public setting?

There's no way they can settle with that many people. They'll go to trial and they'll win, but you're right they'll look bad. But they look bad all the time. Their double standards for rule enforcement is ridiculous. But they don't really care what they look like because any alternative to the NCAA is a joke