EdO vs. NCAA

This case could be really big. Yahoo! Sports yesterday broke the story. Among the followups: SI had a nice analysis of the case today; LA Times followed up today; the New York Times blogged about it; and the Indianapolis Star (the NCAA is based in Indianapolis) too.

From the Yahoo! Sports story, here's one reason why Ed may have been an excellent plaintiff, on some kids telling Ed they were playing, as him, when they chose the classic 1995 Bruins championship team:

They knew O’Bannon – his tendencies, his number 31, even the mechanics of his lefty jump shot – from playing a video game that featured classic college teams.

“They literally played me on a video game,” O’Bannon told Yahoo! Sports on Saturday. “You could play the ’95 Bruins. It didn’t have my name, but it had my number, left-handed, it looked like me. It was everything but the name.

and here's something else, also from the Yahoo! Sports story:

The lawsuit cites myriad conflicts between NCAA practice and policy – such as EA Sports paying some former college stars such as Michael Crabtree and Kevin Love to appear on video game covers. There’s another deal involving figurines in college uniforms and Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and others. The suit suggests that’s proof that there is value to a player’s likeness that should apply to all former student-athletes.