US: NCAA pushes through with antitrust trial delay attempts

The NCAA continues to seek ways to have an antitrust trial against the association delayed despite having earlier requests to do so denied. This time, reports say, the NCAA wants the trial put off until February.

The trial, set to begin next month, was filed by onetime collegiate athlete Ed O’Bannon accusing the association of violating antitrust law with its horizontal agreements with member institutions that use the likeness and names of NCAA athletes in products like video games.

But according to NCAA lawyers, plaintiffs “cannot explain how the Court can conduct a meaningful bench trial and be assured that its factual findings will not impinge in any way on a common issue to be presented by the Keller jury.” The Keller jury refers to a lawsuit against the NCAA filed by Sam Keller that challenges the association’s rights-of-publicity. The Keller and O’Bannon cases were combined.

But the NCAA filed a motion Tuesday to have the trial delayed until February because of the cases’ overlap.

In its argument, the NCAA argued that the Seventh Amendment requires legal claims to be tried with a jury before equitable claims if they share a common topic, reports say. The NCAA’s Seventh Amendment did not convince US District Judge Claudia Wilken, however.

Judge Wilken reportedly suggested a bench trial next month with a partial verdict or partial judgment; then, she said, the final decision could be made by a jury trial combined with the Keller case.

Full content: CBS Sports

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