US: After monumental ruling, NCAA antitrust case still far from over

After a federal judge delivered a monumental blow to the NCAA in a high-profile antitrust lawsuit, the case is still far from over.

US District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled Friday that the NCAA must implement a plan to compensate its student athletes for the NCAA’s business endeavors involving the names and likeness of the athletes. The class action, filed by former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon, was seen as a potentially crippling case to the NCAA’s business model and now threatens to turn the world of college sports upside down.

But with Judge Wilken’s ruling, the case will likely drag on for the foreseeable future.

The NCAA’s president Mark Emmert announced Sunday that the group will appeal Friday’s ruling. The announcement was the first public statement made by the NCAA since the decision.

And with a lengthy appeals process ahead, the case will expand even further as collegiate athletes look for ways to broaden the implications of Judge Wilken’s ruling.

The plaintiffs’ lead attorney Michael Hausfeld told reporters Saturday that his team is now looking for possible other legal claims that could piggyback on Friday’s decision. Lawyers are now eyeing possible new challenges to be made on behalf of athletes other than collegiate football and men’s basketball, the sports covered by the decision.

Hausfeld is also reportedly considering ways to expand the ongoing case before the National Labor Relations Board that is hearing a dispute over Northwestern University football players’ efforts to unionize, say reports.

Full content: USA Today

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