Sixteen former men's college basketball players, including Kansas stars Mario Chalmers and Sherron Collins, UConn guard Ryan Boatright and Arizona guard Jason Terry, have sued the NCAA and several conferences over unauthorized use of their name, image and likeness in March Madness highlights.
Chalmers hit a 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to tie Memphis and force overtime in the 2008 national championship game. After Chalmers hit one of the most spectacular shots in NCAA men's basketball history, the Jayhawks dominated the Tigers in overtime to win 75-68 and capture their first national championship in 20 seasons.
Defendants in the class-action lawsuit, which was filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, also include the Big East, Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC and Turner Sports Interactive.
“Neither the NCAA nor its partner TSI has paid Mario Chalmers, Sherron Collins and other members of the 2008 Kansas Jayhawks national champion men's basketball team for the continued use of their names, images and likenesses to promote and monetize March Madness,” the lawsuit states. “The same applies to thousands of former NCAA athletes across all sports whose names, images and likenesses continue to be displayed for commercial purposes by the NCAA, its member conferences and its partners like TSI.”
The suit accused the defendants of “systematically and intentionally” misappropriating the plaintiffs' publicity rights while “profiting tens of millions of dollars from plaintiffs' and similarly situated class members' participation in the competition.”
The lawsuit accused the NCAA and the other defendants of violating the federal Sherman Antitrust Act through unreasonable restraint of trade, a group boycott and a refusal to negotiate.
“For decades, the NCAA has leveraged its monopoly power to exploit student-athletes from the moment they enter college until long after their college careers end,” the lawsuit states. “The NCAA has conspired with conferences, universities, licensing companies and apparel companies to price student-athletes' labor at near zero and turn student-athletes into unwitting, unpaid, lifelong boosters of the NCAA.”
Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Alex Oriakhi (UConn/Missouri), DeAndre Daniels (UConn), Roscoe Smith (UConn/UNLV), Vincent Council (Providence), Matt Pressey (Missouri), Eugene Edgerson (Arizona), AJ Bramlett (Arizona), Jason Stewart (Arizona), Gerard Coleman (Providence/Gonzaga), Justin Greene (Kent State), Ron Giplaye (Providence/East Tennessee State) and James Cunningham (Arizona State/Tulsa).
On June 10, 10 members of the 1983 NC State men's basketball team sued the NCAA and the Collegiate Licensing Company in Wake County Superior Court in North Carolina for unauthorized use of their name, image and likeness. Known as the “Cardiac Pack,” coach Jim Valvano's team defeated heavily favored Houston 54-52 on a Lorenzo Charles dunk in the final seconds.
“For more than 40 years, the NCAA and its co-conspirators have systematically and intentionally appropriated the Cardiac Pack's publicity rights, including their names, images and likenesses, associated with that game and that play, reaping tens of millions of dollars from the Cardiac Pack's legendary victory,” the lawsuit says.
On May 22, the NCAA's board of governors voted to accept the terms of the settlement in House v. NCAA and other related antitrust cases. As part of the settlement, which still needs to be approved by a federal judge, the NCAA will provide more than $2.7 billion to former athletes over the next decade for back damages related to the association's name, image and likeness restrictions, sources previously told ESPN.
The conferences also agreed to create a system that will allow schools to pay approximately $20 million per year in revenue sharing to athletes.
ESPN's Dan Murphy and Pete Thamel contributed to this report.
