Ed O'Bannan vs. NCAA

[RunInRed 16,994]

Fireworks are starting ...

First, the background ...

O'Bannon v. NCAA is an antitrust class action lawsuit filed against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The lawsuit, which former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon filed on behalf of the NCAA's Division I football and men's basketball players, challenges the organization's use of the images of its former student athletes for commercial purposes. The suit argues that upon graduation, a former student athlete should become entitled to financial compensation for NCAA's commercial uses of his or her image. At stake are "billions of dollars in television revenues and licensing fees."

In July 2009, Ed O'Bannon, a former basketball player who was a starter on the UCLA's 1995 national championship team, and the NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player of that year, filed a lawsuit against the NCAA and the Collegiate Licensing Company, alleging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act and of actions that deprived him of his right of publicity. He agreed to be the lead plaintiff after seeing his likeness from the 1995 championship team used in a video game without his permission.

In January 2011, Oscar Robertson joined O'Bannon in the class action suit. Bill Russell is also among the 20 former college athletes who are plaintiffs. Electronic Arts and The Collegiate Licensing Company, both original co-defendants with the NCAA, departed from the case and finalized a $40 million settlement that could net as much as $4,000 to as many as 100,000 current and former athletes who had appeared in EA Sports basketball and football video games since 2003.

In 2014, federal judge Claudia Wilken allowed the lawsuit against the NCAA to proceed to trial on June 9.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20140609/ed-obannon-ncaa-case-archive/#ixzz34McXwxGj

[RunInRed 16,994]

UAT's Tyrone Prothro took the stand today ... some of the highlights:

Prothro was once a star Alabama WR who suffered gruesome leg injury. He is currently an account manager for Coca-Cola.

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O'Bannon attorney Bill Isaacson has line of questions for Prothro about forms players signed before 2-a-days started.

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O'Bannon attorney on Alabama bowl ban season: "You got to go to Hawaii but not a bowl game?" Prothro: "That’s what was scheduled."

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Prothro: Academic advisers would tell players which classes fit with football schedule.

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Prothro: Alabama supervised about 30- 40 hours per week in sport activities. NCAA limit is 20.

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Prothro describes facilities at Alabama then & now. Weight room back then was "way bigger than this courtroom."

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Prothro: Alabama players generally took 12-15 credit hours in fall, maybe 18 hours in spring.

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Prothro says he studied "very little" at Alabama outside study hall and time in class. Says typical of teammates.

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Prothro: "I definitely didn't think of myself as a student first. The amount of time we put in it felt we were an athlete 1st, student 2nd."

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Prothro was general studies major in Human and Environmental Studies department. "That's the major they kind of put me in."

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Prothro says he wanted to coach in the future after NFL "and that's kind of the major they (FB academic advisers) led me to."

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Judge Wilken on Prothro winning an ESPY: "A what?" Prothro: "E-S-P-Y."

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Prothro notes he won ESPY for "The Catch" that was also Pontiac Game Changer Play.

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Prothro watches replay of his amazing catch vs. Southern Miss and has a huge smile.

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Prothro: The Catch was painted by local artist and won Pontiac Game Changing Play awards that gave Alabama total of $110,000.

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Prothro: Saw his catch in Pontiac commercials. "A loop of my catch going across the screen with the Pontiac symbol" and nominate new player.

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Prothro says he has had 10 surgeries on his leg since career-ending injury.

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Prothro: Wrote book in 2008 & went to university photographer to get photos of himself and told he'd have to pay $10 per photo from website.

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Prothro looks at video game avatar from EA Sports: "This is a picture of me."

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Prothro: Video game avatar in EA even has the right way a wrist band was on his elbows.

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Prothro: 5 feet 8, 173 pounds listing in video game avatar was exact listing in Alabama program.

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Prothro: "I would consider it" if someone asked for use of his rights.

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Prothro: Alabama paid for his surgeries. Later, head trainer Jeff Allen said this would be last surgery Alabama would pay for.

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Prothro says he had student loans at Alabama.

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Prothro: Took out summer loans for "some bills that may have gotten behind," living expenses, food.

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How did Prothro expect to pay loans back? Prothro says he figured he was good enough to make it to NFL and easy to pay back.

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Prothro: Had $10,000 in student loans upon graduation, hasn't finished paying off those loans.

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NCAA turn for cross-examination of Prothro.

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NCAA lawyer Glenn Pomerantz line of questioning focuses on mentor relationships Prothro had with coaches & importance of education.

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Did Alabama coaches want Prothro prepared for life after college? "Somewhat."

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NCAA lawyer says Prothro daily schedule he described was for 2-a-days. Prothro says some players had class around that time.

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In spring semester, Prothro estimates around 30 hours he spent per week on football.

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NCAA lawyer points out that without athletic scholarship Prothro probably doesn't attend Alabama. He agrees.

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Prothro: Alabama kept paying for his tuition after career-ending injury.

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Prothro laughs when asked if Alabama tutors were concerned about him getting a good education. "Somewhat."

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NCAA lawyer painting picture of Prothro getting to experience joy & traditions of Alabama football. Prothro agrees these are benefits.

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NCAA lawyer points out Prothro lived in dorm w/ non-athletes & made friends with them. Goes to integration of academics/athletics defense.

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Prothro asked if he learned from classmates: "They were my classmates. But that's not necessarily meaning I learned something from them."

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Prothro: Artist paid him a little over $9,000 for him to sign his autograph after college.

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Prothro: NCAA didn't do anything preventing him from using name & image after college.

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NCAA lawyer going after whether Prothro spent the time to read forms he signed in college at start of season.

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Prothro deposition shows he said he had enough time to read the forms before signing them.

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NCAA lawyer: Were there other people who contributed to The Catch? Prothro: "I mean, who else did it?" Laughter.

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Prothro agrees he was proud Alabama used Pontiac money from The Catch toward scholarships for students.

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NCAA lawyer: Do you know if NCAA ever licensed your image to EA? Prothro: "I don't know."

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NCAA lawyer points out other Alabama players have worn jersey No. 4. Prothro agrees.

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Prothro agrees stars should get paid more than other players because they get the most attention during games.

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Consistent theme in this trial: Judge Wilken doesn't seem very interested in witnesses being re-read their depositions.

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Prothro on paying players: "I'm not saying they should be paid, I just think something fair should be put in place for them."

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NCAA finishes cross-examination of Prothro. O'Bannon attorney redirects.

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Prothro had some inconsistencies between deposition testimony & court testimony. Same with O'Bannon.

@JonSolomonCBS

[cooltigger21 0]

The NCAA is not making itself look good with the way it has presented their case in this trial so far.

[autigeremt 6,970]

The NCAA is a laughing stock and in my opinion it's about to go belly up.

[cptau 169]

The NCAA is the member universities. They are making the money. The universities need to stop this or share the money.

However these could be the start of other attempts. Whether players can get part of the TV and radio revenue and money for replays of games shown after the players graduate,

[tgr4lfe 220]

I know a D1 women's college basketball coach and he says it is just a matter of time before the NCAA is defunct. Says the big 6 conferences will soon separate from the NCAA and form their own entity. Says it has been discussed at meetings he's been a part of. We spoke about the unionization attempts, paying athletes, etc., he agrees it will all but ruin college athletics and kill the athletic programs for the smaller D1 schools who won't have the budgets to pay stipends for all student athletes. Just a matter of time!!

[AU64 10,122]

The NCAA is the member universities. They are making the money. The universities need to stop this or share the money.

However these could be the start of other attempts. Whether players can get part of the TV and radio revenue and money for replays of games shown after the players graduate,

They do share the money...quite of bit in fact....plus the scholarship endowments. Lots of folks ( including the critical media) should do a little research and learn what NCAA is all about. NCAA is essentially a socialized bureaucracy, taking money from the rich and sharing it with the hundreds of schools that lost money on their athletic programs every year.

IMO the big rich schools and the big name football stars are trying to grab all the money...and to heck with the small Div 1 schools, FCS, etc....let them look out for themselves.

http://www.usatoday....emmert/6651133/

[AU-24 3,124]

So what will Slive and Emmert do about this:

Prothro: Alabama supervised about 30- 40 hours per week in sport activities. NCAA limit is 20.

Answer: They will do nothing!

[keesler 5,934]

So what will Slive and Emmert do about this:

Prothro: Alabama supervised about 30- 40 hours per week in sport activities. NCAA limit is 20.

Answer: They will do nothing!

What the hell can they do 10 years after the fact? Does the NCAA even have the manpower/resources to investigate practices from 10 years ago? Seriously, after the the way the NCAA screwed up the Miami investigation I have doubts that those clowns could find their way out of a paper sack.