NCAA....it's Your Move.

With one strategic maneuver, the plaintiffs in the O'Bannon v. NCAA lawsuit have placed the debate of paying college athletes front and center. Filed in 2009, the suit initially sought damages under antitrust law, claiming that the NCAA and EA Sports conspired to pay student-athletes nothing for the use of the name and likeness in video games.

This past Friday, as the sports world prepared for the start of another exciting college football season, the attorneys for O'Bannon and other plaintiffs, sought to have their case certified as a class action. Additionally, based on information they have obtained during discovery, the plaintiffs now contend that the money derived from television, video games and other products that use athletes' names, images and likenesses be shared with players.

The lawyers "do not seek compensation to be paid to current student-athletes while they maintain their eligibility" but rather "that monies generated by the licensing and sale of class members' names, images and likenesses can be held in trust" until their college careers are over.

Make no mistake, the reverberations of this strategy in the United States District Court in California could radically alter college athletics forever.

[With news this big, I am certain that there will be detailed and thoughtful analyses coming soon from others....perhaps from "our own" Michael McCann....]