HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

by Steve Berkowitz, USA TODAY

Former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon, one of the lead plaintiffs in an anti-trust lawsuit related to the use of college athletes’ names and likenesses, indicated in a deposition in the case that he believes that college sports should remain amateur and that athletes should not get paid while they are in school.

O’Bannon’s comment appears in a filing made late Thursday by lawyers for the NCAA and other defendants as part of their effort to prevent the case from being certified as a class action. The defendants are arguing, in part, that lawyers for O’Bannon and the plaintiffs have changed their legal strategy in a way that is unfair, allegedly now making the case much more about current athletes than about former athletes like those originally attached to the suit.

Michael D. Hausfeld, interim co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs, on Friday said in an e-mail to USA TODAY Sports that he had no comment on the defendants’filing.

Lawyers for former and current football and men’s basketball players are seeking damages from the NCAA; video-game maker Electronic Arts; and Collegiate Licensing Co., the nation’s leading collegiate trademark licensing and marketing firm. The 15 named plaintiffs, including O’Bannon, Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell, say their names, images and likenesses were used illegally by the NCAA.

The former players allege that the defendants violated anti-trust law by conspiring to fix at zero the amount of compensation athletes can receive for the use of their names, images and likenesses in products or media while they are in school. They also are challenging the NCAA’s practice of requiring athletes to sign forms under which they allegedly relinquish in perpetuity all rights pertaining to the use of their names, images and likenesses in ways including TV contracts, rebroadcasts of games, and video game, jersey and other apparel sales.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers have said that while they are seeking monetary damages on behalf of former athletes, they “do not seek compensation to be paid to current student-athletes while they maintain their eligibility” but rather “that monies generated by the licensing and … [For more on Ed O'Bannon indicates athletes shouldn't be paid in school, click here.]