College Stars to NCAA: Stop Using My Image

In 1995, Tyus Edney made one of the most legendary shots in UCLA’s storied basketball history, driving the length of the court in 4.8 seconds and hitting a floater over a leaping defender to give the Bruins a dramatic win on the way to an NCAA title.

Last year, Coke used the footage of that play to help sell its new Coke Zero. Ironically, Edney received zero dollars from Coke Zero for the use of his name and image — but the NCAA did.

Now the second in a series of lawsuits questioning the NCAA’s use of players images and likenesses has been filed. This time Edney’s teammate Ed O’Bannon is at the front of a class action suit against the NCAA saying that once a player leaves college he should get paid if the NCAA and a school is still going to make money off him.

I don't know if college athletes should be paid when they're in school. That's a whole different topic. I'm not going to get into that.

My biggest thing right now is, once we leave the university and are done playing in the NCAA, one would think we'd be able to leave with our likeness. But we aren't able to. If you don't take your likeness with you, you should at least be compensated for every dime that is made off your name or likeness.

That makes sense. Well, to everyone but the NCAA, which looked up long enough from counting the money it makes from the NCAA Basketball Tournament to say that it “categorically denies any infringement” on the rights of athletes.

This isn’t the only ongoing lawsuit about player images and likenesses — video game manufacturers have games that closely follow college football and basketball teams, but the players again get no money. So they have sued.

Saying that the NCAA is hypocritical is no more controversial than saying California politicians can’t manage a budget — it’s obvious beyond the point of debate. Players show up on campus and sign papers saying they will not make money off their name and likeness, to preserve the alleged amateur status of college sports, then the NCAA turns right around and makes money off of the make and images of players. Universities are no better — how much money has USC made on Reggie Bush’s number? Or UCLA on Ed O’Bannon’s?

The players deserve their fair share of that. And it may take the courts to make things fair.

Kurt Helin lives in Los Angeles where he is runs the NBA/Lakers blog Forum Blue & Gold (which you can also follow in twitter).

Copyright NBC Owned Television Stations