Remember when Sports Illustrated published a damning report accusing the Oklahoma State football program of payments to players, drug use and hostess programs on top of academic fraud? That report, which came out in 2013, has since been ripped to shreds with plenty of holes being poked at it, and now a lawsuit over the report is being tossed out of court.
According to The Oklahoman, a lawsuit filed by current state representative John Talley was dismissed by a judge in Oklahoma City last month after citing the report by Sports Illustrated based the report off recorded interviews. Talley filed a lawsuit arguing the magazine’s depiction of him was “wrongly portrayed as an overzealous booster who improperly paid OSU football players.”
“The audio recordings ... establish that they accurately reported what OSU football players named in the article said about being overpaid for work, being paid for sham work, being paid for speaking engagements, and staying on plaintiff’s property rent-free,” the judge wrote, according to The Oklahoman.
The judge also referred to evidence Talley did, in fact, pay an Oklahoma State football player (Zac Robinson) for speaking in Oklahoma City.
As with most legal disputes, it is expected an appeal will be filed.
In 2014, the NCAA announced the evidence in the Sports Illustrated story was unfounded.