Former ASU quarterback Sam Keller talks exclusively to 12 News about his lawsuit against EA Sport and the NCAA
Analysis by Robert Iussa, chairman Rose Law Group Intellectual Property Dept.
I really like this controversy and one I’ve thought is long overdue. There are a lot of layers here, but basically it stems from prominent collegiate players, and almost always football players, that have their likeness and image used by the NCAA, and in this case also one of their licensing partners EA sports, to significantly benefit monetarily from the use of such image and likeness without any compensation to the player….at least any “above the table” compensation.
Seems Not Fair Right? But, it gets arguably complicated. The counter-argument is that these players, although not monetarily compensated, do receive a huge benefit; they receive a scholarship (free education, room, board, etc., and in reality amounts to 10’s of thousands of dollars in “compensation” per athlete by not having to pay for such things)…
But the counter-argument further continues as prominent players receive premiere coaching to enhance their skills thereby increasing the player’s value subsequently to an NFL team, and if the school is a prominent school, any national exposure enhances such value even further (and maybe even more WRT possible future endorsement deals), and finally the players willingly entered into the scholarship contract waiving their rights to their likeness and image for the benefit of the NCAA.
Moreover, the NCAA contends that they need the huge dollars garnered by such deals to support ALL the collegiate sports, which includes all those sports that make little money, no money or lose money. Should that really be the mindset though? It really begs a number of additional questions.
Should a nationally recruited kid going into college have the ability to pay his own way and preserve rights to his likeness and image?
Should the NCAA be allowed to license such likeness and image to third parties like an EA sports?
Should premiere players be compensated? How much? What line is drawn to establish monetarily compensated athletes from non-monetarily compensated athletes.
It seems that current system is broken, and most agree that it is, but what is the alternative? And what sort of Pandora’s box is opened if players are compensated.
Related: Paying college athletes
