ICYMI: O'Bannon Suit Over; Plaintiffs Win NCAA Loses...Sort of

Ok, so this has been a bizarre week in the world of college sports.

Early in the week, the NCAA granted the "Power 5" conferences the right to do pretty much whatever they want when it comes to setting the rules for sports participation.

Then late Friday afternoon, the landmark case of Ed O'Bannon and others antitrust suit against the NCAA for not sharing profits that came from the usage of their likenesses.

Confused?

Yeah, we sort of are too. But we'll attempt to explain what this all means.

The O'Bannon suit and ruling means the NCAA can no longer keep athletes from getting a share of the profits from TV, Video Games and other such profitable items. Essentially, if you buy an NCAA 2014 Football Video game, the players are entitled to a cut of the profits if their likeness is used.

The NCAA had claimed the players were not eligible for that money because they only can get money from scholarships or the cost of attending a school.

But....there was a stipulation added to the decision by Judge Claudia Wilken.  That stipulation states that the schools must hold the revenues due players in a trust fund until they finish school. And that fund can be capped at $5000 per year max.

The ruling also stated the schools don't have to set aside any monies...as long as they don't license the athletes names or likenesses for marketing.

Got it?

To keep from a lengthy discourse, both the O'Bannon ruling and the "Power 5" ruling means the College Sports landscape is about to change yet again. And you may...or may not like it. If you are Power 5 school or fan, no big deal...if not, well, maybe not.

For major college athletes...this means you are going to get paid. You are going to have money besides your scholarship money, which basically is enough to get you to school.

Let the bidding wars begin...

Yes, this is all going to eliminate the amateur part of sports. There are parts of all this we totally agree with: Athletes should be entitled to money generated by sales of their jerseys or if their likeness is used in a video game.

And yes, the "Power 5" conferences should have their own leagues. And we don't have issues with a small stipend for athletes for expense monies.

But...

Giving the "Power 5" schools autonomy to make their own rules? And no, the set-up where the other conferences have a seat at the table, that means nothing. They don't have enough sway to change any votes and can't stop the "Power 5" from making their own decisions.

We've said all along their should be a conference for the "Big Budget" schools and then one for everyone else. It's not fair to a Conference USA or Sun Belt school to try and compete for a national title with the bigger schools. They will never, ever win it.

Getting to a bowl game should not be a "Top of the Ladder" goal for any college football player. Winning a title should. But only the Top 50 or so "Power" schools have a sot at it.

And sorry folks, as much as we agree with some of these rulings, on the whole, this is wrong...

The fine folks at ESPN...who've had a hand in creating this chaos, try to offer an explanation:

EA Sports Out Of College Football Business

((HT: ESPN))

It's in the game, and they're out of the game...
((HT: EA Sports))


And they have settled the lawsuit involving their usage of former NCAA player jersey numbers, heights, weights, skin tones, hair colors and home states listed in their in-game bios without their permission and without paying the ex-college players as they sold the video game on the open market- for quite some time.

And we're talking somewhere between 200-300,000 ex players that were used in the game...

Co-lead counsel Steve Berman said in a statement:

"When we filed the case, we felt very strongly that EA's appropriation of student-athletes' images for a for-profit venture was wrong, both in a legal sense and from a more fundamental moral perspective. These guys were busting their butts on the field or the court trying to excel at athletics, oftentimes to help win or maintain scholarships so they could get an education.

"Students agreed that by being student-athletes that they could not exploit their personal commercial value, an agreement they lived up to. The same cannot be said about the NCAA or its partner Electronic Arts."

Darren Rovell discusses...


EA Sports and their licensing partner, CLC, will not admit any wrongdoing and now the NCAA is going it alone in the class-action suit with Sam Keller and Ed O'Bannon as plaintiffs.

The NCAA isn't ready to cave on that end just yet as EA will now go it without their college football game...

College Football Power Schools Bail Out on EA Sports CFB Game

((ht: collegefootballtalk.com))

Hmmm....

Coincidence? Or not?

It appears the Big 10, Pac 12 and SEC have all told EA Sports "Thanks, but no thanks" when it comes to having their teams represented in EA Sports game: NCAA Football.

The move comes on the heels of the NCAA distancing themselves too.

The SEC was first to announce this, saying: “Neither the SEC, its member universities, nor the NCAA have ever licensed the right to use the name or likeness of any student to EA Sports.”

The other conferences followed suit shortly thereafter.

We find this utterly fascinating in light of the Ed O'Bannon class action suit against the NCAA for royalty payments for just such an arrangement.

We should also remind you of the NCAA bailing out of the college player jersey selling business just last week after being ridiculed on the Internet. The reason for that is very much the same as in this instance.

You can read last weeks story for background RIGHT HERE

If we were in Las Vegas and betting on the motivation for such a decision by the "Big Name" schools, we'd justify it like this:

(1) The NCAA and power conferences are petrified they are going to lose the O'Bannon suit and will be liable for a small fortune. Because of that fear, they are distancing themselves from as many things bearing the likeness of College Athletes they possibly can.

(2) All the above conferences are going to be part of the "Mega-Division" we fully expect to be announced at the NCAA meetings in January. If this happens and the NCAA wins the O'Bannon case, rest assured they will cut a large--no, an extra large deal with EA Sports to license their teams and players. But only the "Power Schools".

So there's your food for thought. Nothing snarky here, just the reality of the situation. We fully believe the NCAA and the Power Schools (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12 and SEC) are positioning themselves for the inevitable shift. They will go on their own, make a gazillion dollars in TV money from ESPN and from merchandising on their own.

Folks, if you thought "Galactic Realignment" over the past two years was crazy, well, hold on to your shorts, when this College Football season ends, that's going to look like a blip on the radar....