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alp227

(31,962 posts)
Tue Jun 10, 2014, 01:46 AM Jun 2014

Ex-UCLA star Ed O'Bannon takes stand in antitrust suit against NCAA

Source: LA TIMES

As a much-anticipated federal trial began here Monday, the walls that have long separated college athletes from the riches of a multibillion-dollar sports enterprise began to show some cracks.

The occasion was the opening of an antitrust lawsuit filed on behalf of current and former men's basketball and football players. It seeks an injunction against the NCAA that would effectively allow athletes to profit from the use of their names, images and likenesses in television broadcasts, rebroadcasts, video games and more.

Lead plaintiff Ed O'Bannon — a star UCLA basketball player in the 1990s — took the stand first, stating that he spent 40 to 45 hours a week on basketball during the season, choosing a major that would fit with his schedule and taking his senior finals in a hotel ballroom during the Final Four.

"I was an athlete masquerading as a student," said O'Bannon, now a 41-year old automobile sales and marketing employee in Las Vegas. "I was there strictly to play basketball … and I did basically the minimum to make sure that I kept my eligibility academically so I could continue to play."

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-obannon-trial-20140610-story.html



Other coverage:

San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle, ESPN, AP
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