Amateur hour, as it pertains to collegiate athletics, could be over soon.
USA TODAY Sports reported Friday night that a federal judge set a June 9 trial date for former student-athletes suing the NCAA for monetary compensation over the use of their names and likenesses.
The results of the court case could end the NCAA's limits on what student-athletes can receive for participating in athletics. A ruling for the plaintiffs could mean the end of amateurism in college sports.
Former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon is the lead plaintiff in the case, in which USA TODAY Sports reported that some of the roughly 20 named plaintiffs will try to earn individual monetary damage award.
If successful, the NCAA could face lawsuits from countless other former and current student-athletes.
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken set the tone for the trial by dismissing one of the NCAA's five justifications for its limits on what student-athletes can receive as compensation and put restrictions on two other justifications.
The NCAA cannot argue that the limits help support non-revenue sports, the majority of which involve women's sports.
"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," said Donald Remy, NCAA chief legal officer. "The NCAA disagrees with the (judge's) decision that it is a not a legitimate justification for the NCAA to look out for the interests of women's sports and other men's sports. The NCAA values and prioritizes all of its student-athletes regardless of whether their sport brings in revenue. The NCAA and member schools are committed to addressing areas for improvement in the current system, but efforts to twist legitimate concerns about the current system into a rationale for paying student-athletes would do far more harm than good and would severely diminish the opportunities for academic and athletic achievement student-athletes benefit from today."
Another NCAA justification is that the limits promote integration of academics and athletics because it prevents student-athletes from being treated markedly different than regular students, according to USA TODAY Sports. But Wilken said the NCAA must present evidence beyond statements from college officials, which the defense had presented, that shows that the limits contribute to the integration of education and that the integration increases competition among the schools.
Wilken's other restriction pertains to the NCAA's argument that limit promote competitive balance among schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision and Division I men's basketball. She said that the NCAA must prove that the limits creating competitive balance also contributes to consumer demand for both sports and that the balance cannot be achieved through less restrictive means.
The NCAA could have a hard time proving that consumers want to watch two non-BCS schools play in football as much as an SEC school playing an ACC school.
And that could jeopardize the conference landscape of NCAA athletics. That news, coupled with the student-athletes' right to explore unionization paints a bleak picture for the NCAA.
Should NCAA student-athletes be compensated for the commercial use of their names and likenesses? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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