When you sign up for a college basketball scholarship you sign away your right to make money out of your image. Under your scholarship agreements you must agree to signing away your right to make money off your image and name. So if an athlete's family is struggling financially the athlete may leave for the pros early so he can support his family, instead of staying in college and not getting money. College athlete should be able to make money off of the use of their image, and how much they generate for the college.
Imagine this you are a former collegiate basketball athlete who dominated in the college level, at a school like Duke. You go out on the court and give everything you got, everyday for practice and games. You see great success, get a college championship, and win the NCAA most outstanding player award. After college your skills were not good enough to get you into the NBA. You sit there struggling and even remember the last time you ate anything. When you turn on the TV you see your image being used, and when you look at your old school you see them keep on using your image. You get home and see a notice on your apartment door that you have just gotten evicted. When you ask for money from the NCAA they say that you aren’t allowed to get even a dime. How is this fair?
When you sign the scholarship from the NCAA it says that you will be declared and amatueur and you will not be able to make any money from the use of your image, appearance, nothing. If you are a college basketball player from the struggling economic background your family will not be able to see you because you can not afford a ticket to your own games.
In the NCAA rules it says that the schools can not provide more than what the scholarship covers, like the mandatory fees and books, board, tuition, and rooming, according to USA Today.
The NCAA will argue that the appeal of college sports lies in the fact that it is for amateurs, and that if it's amateur rules than the players should not be payed. The NCAA rules also protects competitive balance among the schools and conferences, for example a team like Kentucky can’t get all the best athletes because they can pay the athletes more than another school, because they can offer more money to a college athlete.
The NCAA coaches get paid an average of $1.4 million dollars a year. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski made $4.7 million dollars in 2012. One of Ed O’Bannon’s arguments will be that allowing players to receive compensation, he said, relieves pressure to leave after one year of college in the case of basketball stars, and three years in the case of football.Players, according to The New York Times. Players like Anthony Davis, John Wall, Michael Carter-Williams, and Damian Lillard all made a combined zero dollars for playing college basketball. The NCAA made millions off of using their images and selling products based off of them. The college players are often leaving college after a year to go pro because there families need money. They go into the league when they just aren’t ready for it yet and most of them don’t stay in the NBA and must go pro overseas or find a new job with no college degree. Some of the top prospects from high schools are now just spending a year playing pro overseas to make some money until they are eligible for the NBA draft. That is what Emmanuel Mudiay did and it almost cost him his whole career, out in China he got hurt and it lead a lot of NBA teams to back out of wanting him. But a guy like Aquille Carr wasn’t so fortunate as he decided to become a professional in a foreign country, and skip college. He still is trying to make it into the NBA, and the likeness of him making it is not very high.
Before the NBA made an age requirement rule, 19, guys would go into the league straight from high school. A perfect example is LeBron James, he was broke and his family desperately needed money. He was right with his decisions to go into the league and forgo college. He made the right choice as he was ready for the league but what about the kids who stories weren’t told. They skipped college in order to make money and then they couldn’t go back to college because they couldn’t afford it. Now they are working at a job where they don’t make much money because the NCAA wouldn’t pay the college athletes.
In 2012-2013 the NCAA made about $769.4 million dollars from college basketball alone. The athletes are seeing this money that the NCAA is making off of them and wondering why can’t they get some of their fair share. Ed O’Bannon saw this and got fed up so he decided to sue the NCAA for using his image. In the case Ed’s lawyers asked the judge to prohibit the NCAA from not allowing the players to not make money from using their own images.
Ed O’Bannon, 41, was a college basketball player for UCLA from 1991 to 1995, he played power forward. In 1995 UCLA won the NCAA basketball championship thanks to Ed O’Bannon who scored 30 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. He won NCAA Most Outstanding Player and won the John R. Wooden award. His number, 31, was retired and he was inducted into UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005. He now currently works at a Las Vegas car dealership and has three children. He received a degree from UCLA in history back in 2011.
College basketball is a $912.8 million dollar industry. The CBS/ Turner contract for men’s basketball is $681 million dollars and the D-I mens basketball tournament tickets bring in $82.3 million dollars. It’s not only D-I basketball that is making money as Non-D-I men’s basketball tournament championships helps bring in $28.3 million dollars. These college kids are bringing in ridiculous amounts of money for the NCAA and their respective school, but they aren’t allowed to touch any of it.
But Ed O’Bannon stated the he could potentially have his name dragged through the mud sewing the NCAA, and no one wants their family name being dragged through the mud. He knew it was going to be an uphill battle and knew all the consequences but still decided to go against the NCAA. He has a lot of people looking at him like he’s crazy, they are telling him that he is crazy going against the NCAA, but not everyone is telling him that, as his former teammates and others are calling him up to thank him for going up against the NCAA. He just wants the college athletes to get their share of the wealth.
Ed O’Bannon isn’t asking for the players to get paid millions of dollars, just enough so that the athletes can afford the same luxuries that upper and middle-class students can afford. For example like they can girlfriends to a dinner and a movie or enough to get a meal not provided by the college, like Chipotle or Burger King. He even said, “"I've said a million times that players aren’t asking for millions of dollars a year.” The reason behind this is because a lot of the NCAA college players come from a background where their parents can’t hand them money all the time. What happens is that a lot of these guys can’t bring their girlfriends on dates, like any other college student can, and they can’t get a job because school takes up a large amount a time, then the sport will take up the rest of it with practice and games.
O’Bannon filed a antitrust class action lawsuit against the NCAA on behalf of its Division I football and men’s basketball players over the organization’s use for commercial purposes of the images of its former student athletes. United States antitrust law is a collection of federal and state government laws that regulates the conduct and organization of business corporations, generally to promote fair competition for the benefit of consumers. He filed this lawsuit back in 209 and joined forces with former players Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson. Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson are basketball legends who have a combined 12 NBA championships, 24 all-star game appearances, and 6 MVPs.
The NCAA will try to argue that collegiate athletes are amateurs, and it would deprive athletes of a genuine choice, according to the New York Times. They will argue that if they pay the athletes to play it would transform college sports into something unrecognizable. They said that it would turn college into professionalism and it would take away the business mold of amuertism. They will also argue that they are compensated with the fact that the athletes tuition is paid for, and that they are getting the opportunity to compete. It also keeps a competitive balance and conferences. They will state that it helps the college provide a great deal of more scholarships.
Ed O’Bannon’s lawyers will ask Claudia Wilken, the judge, to rule that the NCAA can not prohibit the college athletes from receiving some money from the broadcasts and video games, in which them or their likeness is being used. They will also argue that the NCAA broke the antitrust laws by prohibiting the college athletes from getting any profit from using the college athletes image or likeness. Ed will argue that the college athletes are employees, so they should be getting paid like any other employee.
The Judge presiding over the trial is Judge Wilkin and the trial is expected to last about 15 days. There will be not jury, so the lawyers can present their cases in a way that’s less theatrical than you would see on television. The trial will not have any opening statements and will not be televised. The lead Lawyer for the players will be Michael Hausfeld, who is the chairman of Hauseld LLP. His resume includes him being a litigator for over 40 years and he has a number of noted cases. The NCAA’s lead lawyer will be Glenn Pomerantz, who recently worked on the behalf of the Department of Justice. The trial is in a federal court so the trial will not be aired because of the rules around a federal trial.
In the trial Ed O’Bannon called Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, and a dozen other former college athletes to talk about their experiences as a college athlete. They will also have an expert economists to come up and testify the fact that the NCAA is profiting so much money off the college athletes. The NCAA will call up a host of officials in the organization, like the Big Ten conference commissioner, Michigan's university president, and the athletic director of Stanford. The president of the NCAA will also be called up and examined by both sides.
The ruling was that judge ruled against judge rules against the NCAA. The judge ruled that the NCAA can not stop players from selling the rights to their names, images, and likenesses. The NCAA will be allowed to place a cap on how much they can put in a trust but it can’t be less than $5,000, and the amount that they put in can change from year to year. The judge ruled an injunction that allowed players at big schools to have money generated by television contracts put into a trust fund to pay them when they leave. “A judge ordered the NCAA to pay $44.4 million in attorneys' fees and another $1.5 million in costs to lawyers for the plaintiffs,” according to Sports Illustrated. The judge did rule that the NCAA can put a cap on the amount of money a player can make from the use of their image, name, or likeness, according to ESPN. This is a partial win for the NCAA because they can make sure the college players don’t make enough to destroy the whole collegiate sports atmosphere with a player solely playing to make money. The ruling of this decision only affects student athletes who enter their school after July 1st, 2016, according to the Miami Herald.
Ed O’Bannon said that it was just the tip of the icebreak, he thinks a lot will change and it's only the beginning, according to Espn. He said that he doesn’t care if the athlete, present or future, knows him, he just is satisfied knowing that his family is proud of him, and that he has changed the game.
The long-term impact in the O’Bannon trial is predicted, by the New York Times, that it “could give colleges or conferences the option to make financial offers to high school recruits for their publicity rights, as a way to lure them to campus.” Ed O’Bannon is hoping that now the athletes will go to school longer to get their degree and be more prepared to make the jump to the pros. He changed the game forever, which was one of his goals when he started this whole thing.
The NCAA generates billions of dollars and pay their coaches millions. Why can’t they pay the players some, because without the players the NCAA wouldn’t make a single dime. The NCAA players should get paid so they wouldn’t have to do the jump into the league before they are ready. Ed O’Bannon has won the fight but not the war between the NCAA and its athletes, but he is satisfied with the results as he said, "We are further now than we were last year at this time.”
Works Cited
"Ed O'Bannon." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2015.
Eder, Steve, and Ben Strauss. "Understanding Ed O’Bannon’s Suit Against the N.C.A.A." The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 June 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2015.
Farrey, Tom. "Ed O'Bannon: Ruling Is Tip of Iceberg." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 10 Aug. 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2015.
"NCAA Approaching $1 Billion per Year amid Challenges by Players." Indianapolis Star. Indy Star, n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2015.
Solomon, Jon. "Ed O'Bannon vs. NCAA: A Cheat Sheet for College Sports on Trial." CBSSports.com. CBS Sports, 8 June 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2015.
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