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College Athletes Likeness Case Study

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Players’ Rights to Their Likeness and its usage in video games
Collegiate athletics has experienced rapid financial gain over the last twenty years. With that known, student-athletes have demanded a larger piece of the pie due to the fact that without the athletes no one would be making any of this money. At the point this suit was filed in 2009 the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) had refused to adopt policies that would allow for players to be compensated.
Student athlete likeness has been a big issue in the world of college sports for a while now. Many current and former college athletes have been and are suing EA Sports and the NCAA over the use of their likenesses in their best-selling game franchises. Games like March …show more content…

Stating that it fell under our first amendment right of free speech. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff Sam Keller. Keller was a quarterback for Arizona State and Nebraska. Keller's suit was filed initially in 2009.
Rob Carey, one of Keller’s attorneys said “From the standpoint of the lawsuit the implications are quite significant, it is a separate lawsuit but it's in the same district and the same precedent will apply in the O'Bannon case."
The court voted in favor of Keller. The decision stated that the Arizona State quarterback in the 2005 and 2008 EA game had the "same height, weight, skin color, hair color, hairstyle, handedness, home state, play style, facial features, and classification as Sam Keller. (SAMUEL MICHAEL KELLER, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, Plaintiff, v. ELECTRONIC ARTS, INC.; NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETICS ASSOCIATION; and COLLEGIATE LICENSING COMPANY, Defendants., 2010)
EA continued to claim that the First Amendment protected its right to create and release these EA games. EA lost the appeal in district court. They also lost in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Carey said “one of the next steps now is to apply for class certification.” The NCAA also elected not to renew its contract with …show more content…

To me that means that they are getting the money for the games just not while the games are being sold but later when they are out of college.

"Mr. Russell’s complaint and those like it would cause the NCAA to lock up its archive of championship contests, and they would be held hostage unless every student-athlete, coach, band member, cheerleader and fan in any photo or camera shot received compensation," He said. "That is not how the law works, nor should it be.”
Russell added to 24 other players who were partaking in the litigation.
Over the years the NCAA has made exponential growth in all facets. The policies that were in place to govern the NCAA twenty years ago cannot be used to govern today. A lot of changes are beginning to take place in regards to the NCAA’s policy on player compensation. This is in large part due to the suit discussed above. EA is no longer manufacturing college athletic video games. In my opinion, athletes should be compensated for companies marketing their likeness. This is a very profitable athlete driven business and athletes are not receiving fair treatment. I agree with all of the rulings in each of the above

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