On Friday ESPN’s “College Football Live” ran an update on the Ed O’Bannon case, and the opening shot of the piece was The Duck straddled on the Harley, his fuzzy fist high in the air as he led the Webfoots out of the tunnel before a packed, electrified Autzen Stadium, the cell phone cameras flashing like jewels under the lights at Rich Brooks Field.
The producers needed a visual for a dry subject, but the one they chose is revealing about Oregon’s unique place in the college football marketplace, and the central role they’ll have in the debate over paying college players.
The Ducks are one of the most successful franchises in college sports, brilliantly branded and monetized. They’re sexy, flashy and entertaining, with a product and style that appeals to young people.
It’s in the game: Oregon is one of the feature teams in the NCAA football video game, and the appeal and profitability of Duck football is at the heart of the debate on athletes’ compensation. (easports.com photo)
The O’Bannon case centers around the NCAA profiting from the players’ names, likenesses and images, specifically in the sale and marketing of NCCA-licensed games by EA Sports. O’Bannon and his lawyers are arguing that players and former players are entitled to compensation for the profit generated by those games.
Oregon is the most popular team among players of EA Sports NCAA College Football 2014. The dazzling offense, featuring avatars of players named #6 and #8, is the most fun to play of any of the teams in the game. The #8 quarterback can zip the ball into tight spaces, and juke out of trouble under a heavy pass rush. #6, a small, shifty running with blazing speed, is a threat to score suddenly every time he touches the ball. The uniforms are cool, and the noise in the Oregon home stadium is loud and constant.
There’s a lot of money at stake in the lawsuit. EA Sports reported a record company net revenue of 3.8 billion dollars in fiscal year 2013. According to the Drake report, a study of the role of money in big-time college sports and the feasibility of paying athletes, the total payout from the BCS bowls during 2007-11 was $722 million. Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News estimates the PAC-12 Conference’s total revenue at $253 million per season, about $21 million per team. March Madness now generates more than a billion dollars in ad revenue, more than the post-season in either the NBA or the NFL.
If O’Bannon, his lawyers and co-plantiffs are successful, the players will get their hands on a share of that money.
He’s been joined in the suit by several other former players, including basketball legend Oscar Robertson and two members of the 1966 Texas Western team, the first all-black starting lineup to win an NCAA title. In 2012 a suit by Hall of Famer Bill Russell was consolidated with O’Bannon’s.
But the amplifiers were turned up to 11 by three events this week:
6 current NCAA football players, including two from PAC-12 rival Arizona, joined the O’Bannon lawsuit. One of them is Jake Fisher (no relation to Oregon tackle Jake Fisher), a star linebacker who had 119 tackles last year. The other is Jake Smith, a walk-on kicker who suffered an ACL injury last season, now competing for the Wildcat’s starting job this fall.
The two Jakes told ESPN reporter Tom Farrey that they joined the lawsuit because they felt it was right, that current and former athletes ought to have a share in the enormous profits their work and talent generate for the member schools of the NCAA.
Also this week, the NCAA severed ties with EA Sports, releasing a statement that said:
The NCAA has made the decision not to enter a new contract for the license of its name and logo for the EA Sports NCAA Football video game. The current contract expires in June 2014, but our timing is based on the need to provide EA notice for future planning. As a result, the NCAA Football 2014 video game will be the last to include the NCAA’s name and logo. We are confident in our legal position regarding the use of our trademarks in video games. But given the current business climate and costs of litigation, we determined participating in this game is not in the best interests of the NCAA.
The NCAA has never licensed the use of current student-athlete names, images or likenesses to EA. The NCAA has no involvement in licenses between EA and former student-athletes. Member colleges and universities license their own trademarks and other intellectual property for the video game. They will have to independently decide whether to continue those business arrangements in the future.
The backpedaling is evident, and clearly related to the fallout from the gathering momentum of the O’Bannon lawsuit.
Finally at SEC media days, former Heisman Trophy winner and South Carolina Gamecock Head Coach Steve Spurrier spoke openly about his proposal to play college football student-athletes a stipend of $300 per game, with the funds to come out of head coaches’ salaries, which average over $2 million a year in Division 1 college football.
The NCAA and other critics of O’Bannon’s suit say that if successful, the legal mandate to pay players would ruin college sports. They cite Title lX concerns, the welfare of minor sports that don’t produce revenue, and a potential bidding war for top players (which, it could be argued, already exists.) Many fans object to the idea of making college football the equivalent of AAA baseball, that it would ruin the special feeling of Saturdays in a college football town, watching amateurs play for the love of their school and the game.
Opponents also say that players are adequately compensated by the value of their scholarships and profit handsomely by the opportunity to receive training, enjoy lavish facilities and be supported academically.
In other words, that playing football at a school like Oregon is payment enough.
But it isn’t a simple or one-sided argument. Arizona linebacker Fisher, a candidate for the Bednarik Award as the best linebacker in college football, told ESPN’s Farrey:
Honestly, I stepped forward for the future well-being, safety and health of student-athletes. We have both met a ton of people since we’ve been here who have lingering effects from injuries, not getting a great education, not having all the capabilities or the opportunities that a regular student would have, and honestly, we would just like to try to fix that
The demands of practice, meetings and weight training limit the time and energy athletes have for academics, and by NCAA regulations they’re not allowed to have a job like regular students. Most proponents of pay-for-play are thinking in terms of something modest, a stipend that would allow players spending money during the season, perhaps the opportunity to bring their parents to games.
It’s particularly important, proponents say, because a great many athletes come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and simply don’t have the financial resources to support the normal life of a college student. It makes them prey for agents and boosters, creating the gray area that allows shady characters and opportunists to infect the sport.
The debate will continue and the outcome will likely change college football forever. But it’s important to remember that the NCAA didn’t even allow college athletic scholarships until the 1940’s and the standard of “tuition, room and board and books” wasn’t established until 1957. A new media age, with 12-year, 2.7 billion dollar TV contracts (the ESPN/Fox deal Larry Scott negotiated in 2011) creates new realities.
The Drake Report proposes that the monies to compensate athletes ought to come out of coaches’ salaries, which, over the last 25 years, have increased 8.3 times faster than the salaries of university presidents, and 25 times faster than full professors. In January the Daily Emerald reported that Mark Helfrich’s 5-year contract will pay him 1.8 million dollars a year, low on the scale of PAC-12 coaches. Forbes magazine produces an annual report of college football valuations; in 2012, it listed Oregon football 15th, with revenue of $52 million and a profit of $32 million.
And #6 and #8, the stars of EA Sports NCAA Football 2014, got tuition, room and board and books. In another context, it would be considered a fair deal and a great opportunity, or colonial exploitation, depending on your point of view.
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