O'Bannon v. National Collegiate Athletic Association
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
802 F.3d 1049 (2015)
Former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon (plaintiff) discovered his likeness used in a video game without consent or compensation and sued the NCAA and its licensing partner (codefendants) under the Sherman Antitrust Act, challenging NCAA rules that barred paying student-athletes anything beyond scholarships covering tuition, fees, room and board, and books. The district court found the compensation rules an unlawful restraint of trade and enjoined the NCAA from prohibiting schools from paying athletes up to $5,000 in deferred compensation; the NCAA appealed.
Whether NCAA rules limiting student-athlete compensation to scholarships, while also prohibiting small additional deferred cash payments, violate antitrust law under the rule of reason.