A pair of ex-college football stars have filed a lawsuit against the NCAA and Big Ten Conference.
Braylon Edwards and Denard Robinson, two former players at the University of Michigan, have sued the NCAA and Big Ten over “wrongfully and unlawfully denying” them the opportunity to make money off their name, image, and likeness, per ESPN.
“The lawsuit says the NCAA and Big Ten Network ‘have systematically exploited these iconic moments’ that the players created during their careers at Michigan. The lawsuit is on behalf of those who played for Michigan before 2016,” Jake Trotter of ESPN.com wrote Tuesday afternoon.
The statute of limitations from the famed House v. NCAA ruling begins in 2016. That ruling helped set the stage for the NIL wave that ensued throughout college sports. After years of exploitation, student-athletes are now able to make money off their name, image, and likeness. Still, there are hurdles and obstacles. One of them has seemingly been found throughout this lawsuit. Edwards and Robinson played prior to then, as Edwards starred at Michigan in the early 2010s while Denard did in the early 2010s.
Despite that, they argue they were taken advantage of.
Plaintiff attorney Jim Acho said via ESPN, “The NCAA knew for decades that preventing players from monetizing the one thing of value they have — their name — was wrong and unlawful. Today, they recognize that players should have that right. But what about all the past players who were unlawfully denied that right? The money made off those players’ backs was in the hundreds of millions. … The players never saw a dime.”
Time will tell to see how far this lawsuit goes, but they were later joined by others who decided to sue the NCAA under the same grounds.
[ESPN]
