OCCC Sports Marketing Research Do You Have Rights to Your Avatar Case Study

Chapter Review

Case Study

Do You Have Rights to Your Avatar?

The NCAA has all student-athletes sign a variety of forms each year. Form 05-3a states the following: “You authorize the NCAA [or third party acting on behalf of the NCAA (e.g., host institution, conference, or local organizing committee)] to use your name or picture to generally promote NCAA championships or other NCAA events, activities, or programs.”

The NCAA licensed the rights to create video football game avatars to Electronic Arts (EA) Sports and Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC). Ed O’Bannon, who played basketball for a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins championship team, filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA, EA, and CLC. O’Bannon’s UCLA jersey number and physical attributes were very apparent in the video game. EA and CLC settled out of court, agreeing to a $40 million settlement for using the images of former athletes in the video games. EA, whose last published game in the series was NCAA Football 14, stopped producing a college football video game with NCAA player likenesses. O’Bannon and others believe that the NCAA benefited by licensing rights to athletes’ images years after they had left the NCAA team, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for the NCAA and the universities.

O’Bannon wanted to find a way to provide more compensation for student-athletes. In addition to receiving their university education, he believed college athletes should be paid for playing. The NCAA stopped selling individual player jerseys online after being criticized for not allowing players to sell their jerseys or autographs. The NCAA used the concept of amateurism as its defense, while at the same time turning collegiate sports into big business.

The conflict between the NCAA and amateur athletes is made more difficult by the limited number of college sports teams that are actually profitable. According to data compiled by USA TODAY Sports, only about “23 of 228 athletics departments at NCAA Division I public schools generate enough money on their own to cover their expenses.”

Revenues are generated from media rights contracts, ticket sales, and donations.

Think Critically

1. Why would current or former college athletes object to the use of their likenesses in a video game?
2. What will likely happen to the price of game tickets if colleges have to share the revenue with players?
3. Do you think there is a need for NCAA’s Form 05-3a? Why or why not?
4. Besides giving college athletes partial scholarships or paying them as employees, what are some other alternative ways to operate student-athlete programs? 300+ words, 50 points. Cite references.

400+ Words, 4+ References, APA Formatting.