The Ed O’Bannon vs. the NCAA case is heating up again with lawyers for the plaintiffs arguing in a court brief filed Monday, Jan. 13 that the NCAA’s definition of what constitutes paying players varies based on the discretion of the NCAA and ignores what universities covertly pay players.
A trial has been scheduled for June to decide whether college players should be allowed to receive money for use of their names, images and likenesses.
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken will rule Feb. 20 on the plaintiffs’ attempt to obtain documents related to recent discussions about possible NCAA rules changes. The NCAA holds its convention this week and may allow major conferences the option of providing benefits to players, such as a cost-of-attendance stipend.
The plaintiffs pointed out in their argment that BCS games provide $950 in “participation awards” to athletes while other bowls give gifts such as pre-paid debit cards, televisions, tablets, iPads, bikes and recliners. All three military academies in Division I pay salaries to athletes “and their games are highly popular,” the lawyers wrote. Despite the NCAA’s defense of amateurism, many colleges often violate the rules anyway, the plaintiffs say. They argue that in the 1980s at least 57 percent of the 106 Division I-A football teams violated the limited compensation rules, and that the NCAA imposed sanctions on 30 of 33 Division I national championship basketball programs from 1952 to 1985.
“If such fans were disgusted by the commercialism of ‘amateur’ sports, they would logically have ceased watching them long ago in the face of coaches being paid millions of dollars, the rampant commercialization of game telecasts, the repeat scandals of student-athletes being paid under the table by colleges and universities, and the television contracts that match what is done with professional sports leagues,” the plaintiffs wrote.
The NCAA has argued that amateurism rules are essential to making college an educational experience for its athletes. The plaintiffs argue that playing on a college team is a job and that Football Bowl Subdivision athletes spent 43.3 hours per week on sports activities during a given season, a reason for lagging graduation rates when compared to normal students.
The NCAA claims paying players could eliminate women’s and less prominent men’s sports. The plaintiffs counter by arguing that argument hinges on the assumption that current rules are essential to maintaining that goal. They specifically identified 38 universities that have cut 122 sports teams since 2003.
