O'Bannon v. NCAA

Ed O'Bannon (plaintiff), a former UCLA basketball player, found his likeness used in a video game without consent or payment and sued the NCAA and its licensing arm (defendants) for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act. The NCAA's amateurism rule allowed grants-in-aid covering tuition, fees, room, board, and books, but barred any pay for athletic performance or use of name, image, and likeness, including small deferred cash payments the district court had ordered permitted.

Whether NCAA amateurism rules limiting student-athlete compensation to scholarships and prohibiting even small deferred cash payments violate antitrust law.