O'Bannon Legal Team Reacts to NCAA Decision

In a brief sent over to us by the O'Bannon defense team at the law firm Hagens Berman, the law firm alleges that the NCAA is trying to duck its responsibilities to the student athletes who they claim have been wronged by both the NCAA and EA.

“This announcement makes plain that the NCAA is attempting to mitigate the damage by ducking its responsibilities" co-lead counsel Steve Berman said in a statement. "We look forward to taking this case to trial and winning compensation for student-athletes whose likenesses were used without their permission, in violation of both the NCAA’s rules and the law.”

According to Berman, they are delighted the NCAA has left the video games business, "“While we are heartened they’ve stopped the practice, we believe they owe those student athletes a great deal more than their implied promise to stop stealing their images."

The O'Bannon suit is scheduled to be certified (or not) as a class action suit very soon, which will carry with it enormous possible penalties for both EA and the NCAA.

In response to the lawsuit, the NCAA's credit rating outlook was downgraded to negative by Moody's in late June. While this doesn't mean the rating has been downgraded, there is fear that should O'Bannon win, the organizations solvency could come into question.