And O'Bannon, 37, isn't alone. Samuel Keller, former QB at Arizona State, filed his own lawsuit against the NCAA and EA in May, and former Rutgers quarterback Ryan Hart jumped on the litigation bandwagon in June.
EA and the NCAA sought to have the cases, which presiding U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken combined into one suit, dismissed. They argued that O'Bannon and other NCAA athletes forfeit their commercial rights when they sign a release permitting the association to use their images in promotional activities. Judge Wilken denied the motion yesterday, forcing EA and the NCAA to prove they don't use the likenesses of college athletes in games.
Blake Griffin? No, no, that's B. Griff. No relation between the real guy and this fictional digital character.
In a statement, the athletes' lead attorney Rob Carey called it an early victory: "EA tried to hide under the First Amendment but the court recognized similarities between real athletes and the game were just too great to be ignored."
EA told Game Informer that its NCAA Basketball and NCAA March Madness games have been discontinued, but the latest NCAA Football title is still set to be released this year. And it appears the NCAA won't be giving up without a fight: "The court's... rulings at this preliminary stage of the cases do not diminish the NCAA's confidence that we will ultimately prevail on all of the claims," the association said in a statement.
The class action suit is now set to proceed in April.
Sharkey says: This is a story to keep an eye on, and not just because of the games. The NCAA, a tax-exempt organization, will have to open up its books to O'Bannon's legal team, potentially making the details of its confidential licensing contracts public. Sports marketers estimate those licensing deals could be worth more than $4 billion a year. If that's true, how could the NCAA not compensate its athletes? On the flip side: Something tells me O'Bannon, Keller, and Hart have never had to pay a college loan.
