Ed O’Bannon Lawsuit v NCAA? Yes. Ed OBannon won his Lawsuit versus the NCAA!
I called Leigh Steinberg to get his view on this historic development, and the result is this 17 minute video talk on Skype, uploaded to Zennie62 on YouTube!
Ed OBannon, the star basketball player with the UCLA Bruins won a huge lawsuit filed against the NCAA, Friday. He filed the lawsuit after realizing that his image and likeness were being used by the NCAA to make money long after his college playing days were over.
It didn’t help that O’Bannon had what was, at best, a marginal NBA basketball career, where he never found his niche. Eventually, he would return to school to earn his masters degree, but the idea that he was not able to enjoy revenue from the use of his college likeness bothered him. He filed a class action lawsuit which became known simply as O’Bannon v NCAA.
Leigh Steinberg, in a long interview with me Friday, said that the verdict, which he’s still reading the details of, could spell the end of the NCAA. “The NCAA had what you would call a double-shot because yesterday, the judge said that the five conferences had the right to make their own legislation, which means make their own rules. That essentially will spell the end of the NCAA,” he said.
But the main question today is, can a college athlete, say five years removed from his or her playing days, expect to reap the money benefits the O’Bannon win would seem to promise?
Leigh Steinberg says it could “if you fall into the categories it covers” referring to the fact that you must have been an NCAA Division i player, and who’s likeness and image was or is being used for monetary gain. Leigh says that what the NCAA did was basically what in legal terms is called a ‘taking without just compensation.’
“We’re seeing the end of the pristine concept of the amateur athlete,” Leigh said. “Let’s face it. Many of the college players aren’t there because of their academic interest. They’re there as a way-station to get to the pros.”
Steinberg says the verdict does not point the way toward a specific kind of new system, but does say that one has to be installed. Just what that will look like is uncertain as of this time.
As for Leigh Steinberg and the re-emergence of his firm, he says it’s going very well. At the time we talked his NFL client Garrett Gibert was starting for the St. Louis Rams in the second quarter of the first preseason game against the New Orleans Saints.
Gilbert led the Rams to a field goal and finished 6 for 11 for 53 yards, and no touchdowns, but no interceptions either. It’s a great start for him, and for a man who once represented the top pick in the NFL Draft for eight straight years, and had some of the leagues most storied quarterbacks as his clients, like Troy Aikman and Steve Young.
Steinberg’s staffed up his Newport Beach office, and has started his efforts to recruit new clients in football, baseball, and basketball, or what he calls the “three verticles.”
Stay tuned. http://ift.tt/1kslbIr
Here’s the full legal opinion:
O'Bannon v. NCAA Ruling Document