U.S. college athletes will get a chance to prove in court that sports team members should be paid, after a federal judge rejected the National College
Athletic Association’s attempt to head off a trial in the widely watched case. According to Reuters, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland, California, denied a request the NCAA made last year to decide the case in its favor before trial. The NCAA argued that the current system is justified because amateur status makes college athletics more popular and furthers competition. More than 20 current and former athletes sued, saying that players should share in the profits of college athletics, a highly lucrative business in which universities reap billions of dollars from men’s football and basketball. The athletes say they should be compensated for the money they help earn from sources such as video game licensing and television revenue.
NCAA Chief Legal Officer Donald Remy commented the NCAA has confidence in the legal merits of its case and looks forward to trial, which is scheduled to begin in June. “The model we have today enables nearly half a million student-athletes at over a thousand schools to compete on the playing field while getting a college degree,” Remy said in an emailed statement. The players allege that the NCAA violated federal antitrust law by conspiring with videogame maker Electronic Arts Inc and the NCAA’s licensing arm to restrain competition in the market for the commercial use of the players’ names, images, and likenesses.
This article has been republished with permission from Karl-Heinz Huba, the editor and publisher of The Sport Intern.