After five years and a dizzying number of legal twists, a lawsuit that could forever change collegiate athletics finally gets its day in court Monday. The class-action antitrust suit, filed in 2009 by former UCLA hoops star Ed O'Bannon, challenges the NCAA's rules prohibiting student athletes from earning money in exchange for playing college sports.
The lawsuit has been rolled up with other similar challenges over the years, and its aim has shifted from securing retroactive compensation for athletes to gutting the NCAA's business model. In a preliminary filing last week, the plaintiffs said they sought to stop the NCAA and colleges "from colluding further to deny college athletes the ability to license their names, images and likeness, or receive a share of revenue" from college sports.
There's no indication which way the judge in the case will rule, though the losing side will assuredly appeal.
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