ASU swimmer is a lead plaintiff in name, image, likeness lawsuit
Arizona State swimmer Grant House is a lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA, charging unlawful restriction of name, image and likeness benefits.
House and Oregon women’s basketball player Sedona Prince are bringing the lawsuit, filed Monday in
U.S. District Court in Oakland, California. They are represented by Hagens Berman, a law firm that previously won settlements against the NCAA including in a lawsuit also against Electronic Arts with former ASU quarterback Sam Keller as a lead plaintiff.
“We think the only way the NCAA changes and act responsibly toward student-athletes is through
litigation,” attorney Steve Berman said. “Years ago we started the first case (Keller), which was a pretty clear violation of privacy laws. We forced payment there and forced them to stop that practice.
“Then recently we forced the NCAA to force the cost of attendance. That resulted in $208 million being paid back to student-athletes. Now we’re taking the next step because the landscape keeps evolving. The NCAA keeps saying if we pay them more than grants in aid then people won’t watch NCAA sports. The facts are becoming pretty clear the fans want the studentathletes to share in the benefit of the riches coming into the NCAA.”
House, from Maineville, Ohio, was one of ASU’s top men’s swimmers as a freshman and sophomore before redshirting in the 2019-20 season to prepare for the since postponed U.S. Olympic Trials. He plans to return to ASU for the 2020-21 season when he will be a junior and still continue working towards the Tokyo Olympics.
House is not making further comments on the lawsuit according to Berman.
“The way the rules are right now, the NCAA puts college athletes who are shooting for the Olympics at a huge disadvantage,” House said in a statement. “Our ability to fund our Olympic training efforts are essentially squashed by the NCAA rules on name, image and likeness. While Olympic athletes in general rely heavily on endorsements and other image deals to afford the cost of competing and training, the NCAA shuts us out of that opportunity entirely.”
Berman said, “Olympic athletes have a tough row to hoe in terms of paying for their training. If you’re not an NCAA Olympic athlete you can use your name and likeness to raise some money to help pay for your training. Here because of the NCAA, he’s at a disadvantage. That’s just grossly unfair.” Prince is a 6-foot-7 forward who began her college career at Texas before transferring to Oregon. She has yet to play for the Ducks, being denied immediately eligibility by the NCAA after sitting out at Texas in 2018-19 due to a broken leg.
As reported by USA Today, the suit asks that the NCAA be prevented from having association-wide rules that “restrict the amount of name, image, and likeness compensation available” to athletes. It also seeks unspecified damages based on the share of televisionrights money and the social media earnings it claims athletes would have received if the NCAA’s current limits on NIL compensation had not existed.
This has the potential to put, conservatively, hundreds of millions of dollars at stake. As allowed under federal antitrust law, the suit seeks to cover athletes who played in any of the past four years and carry forward through the date of a final judgment. In addition, if a jury decides to award damages to an antitrust plaintiff, the amount is tripled.
The NCAA is working toward a way to pay college athletes for name, image and likeness in part due to legislation (enacted or pending) in multiple states including Arizona that would allow such payments.
Berman said he expects an answer from the NCAA to the complaint within 60 days, likely with a move to dismiss the lawsuit that then will be argued in court. If the lawsuit is allowed to proceed, the timing likely will be delayed due to criminal trials put on hold due to the pandemic.