The college sports world is focusing on the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit now in the trial stage starting today. Before that lawsuit officially opened, the NCAA announced it had settled another lawsuit, which was slated to get started after the conclusion of the O’Bannon trial.
The NCAA reached a settlement in the video game lawsuit led by former Arizona State quarterback Sam Keller by agreeing to pay former college football and basketball players a total of $20 million. This lawsuit was split from the O’Bannon lawsuit and is not related to the $40 million settlement previously reached by EA Sports and the Collegiate Licensing Company. Though not directly tied together, the outcome of that settlement was something the NCAA felt inclined to act on.
“With the games no longer in production and the plaintiffs settling their claims with EA and the Collegiate Licensing Company, the NCAA viewed a settlement now as an appropriate opportunity to provide complete closure to the video game plaintiffs,” said NCAA Chief Legal Officer Donald Remy.
The NCAA will split the settlement money to an undetermined number of former college athletes at division one schools that may have been tied to the video games. Not every football or basketball player will end up seeing a cut, but odds are prominent players will definitely be expecting a check at some point in the future. The final details of the settlement still need to be determined.