The NCAA has taken a number of body blows this year from the establishment of a players union at Northwestern to athlete complaints at Grambling. But the lawsuit involving former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon and 19 other plaintiffs could be the hardest hitting yet.
It may not be the death blow as some wanted or feared. But it’s hard enough to establish some sense of equity in an era of multimillion-dollar sports programs.
The 99-page federal court decision in the O’Bannon case is complicated. But the score is simple: Student athletes win. The NCAA, as we know it, loses.
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken’s decision released on Friday brings on a new sense of fairness to college locker-rooms. But NCAA officials were still poring over the document to figure out exactly what it will mean and cost to colleges and university athletic programs.
Judge Wilken’s ruling sided with the former student athletes’ claim that they had a right to be compensated for the use of the names and images by the NCAA.
Wilken was persuaded by what she saw as the unrefuted testimony of the plaintiffs’ economic expert, Dr. Roger Noll.
Noll cited how the top recruits were hurt by NCAA rules that limited the amount of money athletes could get by outside sources, school grants-in-aid, and a ban on endorsements.
