Hand It Over: NCAA to Produce Redacted Broadcasting Agreement With CBS, Turner

On September 16, 2016, U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael M. Cousins signed a stipulated order to produce redacted versions of the NCAA’s 2010 broadcasting agreement with CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting. This 2010 agreement was extended back in April for another eight years for a rights fee of $8.8 billion.

This order comes after all five major collegiate athletic conferences similarly agreed to reveal their own television deals. The plaintiff student-athletes have argued that they need the conferences’ broadcasting agreements along with other business documents in …

August 12, 2016 Litigation / NCAA

NCAA Significant Payout Marks a First in a Brain Injury Suit

In 2011, a Division III football player died from an injury he suffered during preseason practice. Almost five years later, the NCAA and Frostburg State settled his family’s wrongful death suit for a “landmark” $1.2 million. The family’s attorney stated, “This is a landmark settlement not just because it is the first brain-injury case that the NCAA has agreed to pay a significant amount of money to resolve, but also because the stakeholders of football are now on notice that they have an obligation to …

August 10, 2016 Litigation / NCAA

NCAA Unhappy with O’Bannon Support in Antitrust Suit

Following the Ninth Circuit decision that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) violated antitrust laws by denying students compensation for the use of their likeness, the NCAA petitioned the Supreme Court to hear its appeal. In an unexpected turn of events in the O’Bannon v. NCAA lawsuit, the NCAA is arguing that O’Bannon is secretly in favor of the NCAA bid.

In the Ninth Circuit ruling, the court in essence maintained that student-athletes should be compensated for the use of their name and likeness. However, …

August 3, 2016 Litigation / NCAA

Academic Scandal Continues; UNC Denies Most Serious Charges Alleged by the NCAA

It has been more than a year since the NCAA brought charges against the University of North Carolina after an investigation revealed that athlete students were enrolled in improper courses to receive high grades so they could keep playing sports and avoid suspensions. Although the NCAA removed men’s basketball and football programs from the charges in the spring, this only heightened the scandal against UNC’s women’s basketball program.

The scandal started with allegations that the University’s student athletes’ academic support staff allowed athletes to enroll …

July 20, 2016 Concussions / NCAA

Federal Judge Pre-Approves NCAA Concussion Settlement

On Thursday, July 14, 2016, an Illinois federal judge granted preliminary approval of a $75 million settlement for concussion-related personal injury claims brought by a class of student-athletes against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). U.S. District Judge John Z. Lee said he expects the settlement to be finalized next year after further resolution of issues between the two parties.

Seventy million of the settlement will be used to fund a 50-year medical monitoring program to screen student-athletes for head injuries. The remaining $5 million …

July 14, 2016 Litigation / NCAA

NCAA Class Action Battling Over Discovery

The NCAA is clashing further with the class members of the “grant-in-aid” class action over the production of documents during discovery. The NCAA student athlete scholarship class action lawsuits were consolidated to the California federal court in a multidistrict litigation. According to the complaint, the NCAA conferences (NCAA, Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, and ACC) “colluded” to offer scholarship to student athletes which are insufficient to pay the full costs of attending college. The student athletes claim this violates federal antitrust laws.

In March, …

July 11, 2016 NCAA

O’Bannon Requests Supreme Court Kick First Amendment Question

While the O’Bannon appeal from the Ninth Circuit awaits a response from the Supreme Court, both sides have continued to strategically downplay the opposition’s arguments. Most recently, O’Bannon filed a July 1, 2016 brief advising the Supreme Court not to consider whether the Ninth Circuit should have barred the antitrust suit over compensation for athletes’ images and likenesses on First Amendment grounds. O’Bannon argues that the constitutional argument is not a central issue to the case.

O’Bannon, on behalf of the former NCAA athletes, has …

July 4, 2016 Fantasy Sports / Litigation / NCAA

FanDuel Argues First Amendment Protects Use of NCAA Players’ Names and Likenesses

On Tuesday, June 26, 2016, FanDuel asked an Indiana federal court to dismiss it from a putative class action accusing daily fantasy sports operators of profiting off the unauthorized use of former NCAA athletes’ names and likenesses. It contended that its use of the names and likenesses was protected by the First Amendment.

FanDuel has had trouble with using the NCAA as a portion of its daily fantasy sports platform before, as back in March it had to reach a deal with the NCAA agreeing …

July 3, 2016 NCAA

NFHS Lines Up Behind NCAA in O’Bannon Appeal, Files Amicus Brief in Support

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has filed an amicus brief supporting the NCAA in its petition to the Supreme Court appealing the Ninth Circuit’s decision in the case of O’Bannon v. NCAA. In its brief, the NFHS extolled the virtues of amateurism, and warned that “[a]llowing college athletes to receive compensation in any form not tied to their college education not only would threaten the unique nature of college athletics, and thus much of its appeal, but also would diminish …

June 22, 2016 Litigation / NCAA

NCAA: What To Do With $9 Million?

The marathon antitrust case commenced in 2009 between the NCAA and former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon and other former student athletes continues to this day. Several disgruntled former student athletes are suing the NCAA for wrongfully profiting off their likeness. The former students argue that the NCAA wrongfully used and profited from their names, images and likeness in various ways — including video games like EASports — without being compensated for it.

Last May, U.S. District Judge Wilken ordered the NCAA to immediately pay …