NCAA v. O’Bannon- Is Pay for Play OK?

Video Blog– Senior Vice-President Michael Falsafi discusses the merits and potential outcome of this highly controversial antitrust lawsuit.  At this stage, the NCAA will be forced to make a decision as to whether they should accept a reasonable settlement with the former players who brought on the suit and acknowledge that these student athletes must be paid for their services, or risk appealing again with the risk of an even greater settlement being levied against.   The true concern here is that such a massive settlement could turn catastrophic, ultimately bankrupting the organization.   Pay for Play quite possible is about to become a reality in college sports.  No longer will we watch super rich universities reaping billions of dollars in profits from a product produced by the players.

The best strategy for the NCAA would be to try and go back to the negotiating table with the various plaintiffs and see if they can collaboratively create new standards for future student athletes in terms of additional benefits and other non-monetary compensation.   Additionally, if they are able to come up with some sort of amenable standard moving forward, the NCAA will also have to determine what kind of retroactive benefits they want to instill to satisfy the actual plaintiffs in this lawsuit.

Michael Falsafi

Senior Vice-President – Lipton Legal Group, A PC – Beverly Hills

Read more about CTE in the NFL at:  https://www.liptonlegal.com/top-5-nfl-players-who-suffered-from-cte/