Basketball coaches at some of the country’s biggest names in college athletics, and executives at one of the biggest names in athletic apparel, now face federal charges involving allegations that schools and student athletes were getting paid to lock players into deals with financial advisers, endorsers, and even tailors. [More]
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Why Do So Many Men Get Vasectomies During March Madness?
By 3.16.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Maybe you’re watching the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on a small window on your work computer, or on your strategically placed smartphone at your desk. There’s also a higher than usual chance that you’re enjoying March Madness while recovering from your very recent vasectomy. [More]
Court: NCAA Athletes Are Not Employees, Not Entitled To Minimum Wage
By 12.7.16
Even though collegiate athletes brings in untold fortunes for schools, TV networks, merchandise makers, ticket vendors, and the hospitality and travel industries, they are not — according to a federal appeals court — employees of their schools and are therefore not entitled to be paid anything. [More]
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Arguments On Possible Pay For NCAA Athletes
By 10.3.16
Nearly exactly a year after a federal appeals court ruled that the NCAA’s amateurs-only requirement violates federal antitrust laws — while simultaneously shutting down a plan to pay certain college athletes for their work — the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to not hear any further appeals in this dispute. [More]
NCAA Final Four, Championship Game To Be Broadcast In Virtual Reality
By 3.30.16
Not everyone can shell out hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars to attend the final three games of this year’s college basketball tournament. But if you have the right gear — specifically a Samsung Gear headset — you can feel like you’re in the arena all from the comfort of your own home. [More]
Lawsuits Claim DraftKings, FanDuel Profited Off College Athletes Without Authorization
By 1.28.16
When you place a bet on a football game, you’re just gambling on the outcome of a competition between two teams, each with dozens of players on their roster. But when you play fantasy football, you’re effectively using each player in your lineup like an individual game piece in a contest to beat another fantasy team. And a pair of new lawsuits allege that DraftKings and FanDuel are breaking the law by profiting off college athletes who have become unwitting pawns in other player’s games. [More]
Federal Appeals Court Won’t Reconsider Plan That Would Pay College Football, Basketball Players
By 12.16.15
If you’re a college athlete hoping to score some cash from your time on the basketball court or on the football field, you’re out of luck: a federal appeals court has decided against reconsidering its ruling striking down a plan to pay some NCAA athletes. [More]
Federal Appeals Court Nixes Plan To Pay College Football, Basketball Stars
By 9.30.15
A federal appeals court has ruled that colleges are violating antitrust laws by profiting from student-athletes’ names and likenesses while these same students are forbidden from receiving any money. However, the same appeals panel struck down the lower court’s plan that would have allowed NCAA member schools to pay certain athletes up to $5,000 a year in deferred compensation. [More]
Sling TV’s Final Four Faltering Raises Concerns About Launch Of HBO Now
By 4.6.15
Even though Dish’s Sling TV streaming service had two full months of active, national usage under its belt — and even though the company says it expected high demand during the Final Four of the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament — some Sling users were left staring at error messages instead of watching the end of Kentucky’s almost-perfect season. And with HBO expected to launch both its standalone streaming HBO Now service and live access via Sling this week, there’s cause for concern. [More]
Coca-Cola Makes Splash At Final Four With “Drinkable” Coke Zero Billboard
By 4.3.15
The whole point of food advertising is to make you crave the product and buy as much of it as you can right then and there. But for this weekend’s Final Four of the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, Coca-Cola is showing off a billboard that actually satisfies that craving by dispensing the beverage on the spot. [More]
Domino’s Offering 50% Off All Pizzas Ordered Online Through March 22
By 3.17.15
Because sitting in front of the TV watching basketball game after basketball game can really get your appetite worked up, Domino’s is trying to capitalize on March Madness by offering a 50% discount on all pizzas ordered online this week. [More]
Ashley Furniture Franchisee To Hand Out $1.5M In Refunds After Ohio State Win
By 1.13.15
Ohio State surprised a lot of people last night by blowing out the University of Oregon 42-20 in the NCAA football championship game, but while many people in the Buckeye State were overjoyed by the resounding win, one furniture company was probably hoping that the game would have been closer. [More]
NCAA Settles With Student Athletes For A Decade Of Using Their Likenesses In Video Games Without Permission
By 6.9.14
Just last week, video game giant (and two-time Worst Company In America winner) EA agreed to settle a lawsuit with student-athletes whose likenesses it had used in NCAA sports video games without their permission. Today, lawyers representing the students announced that they’ve also reached a settlement agreement with the NCAA. Between the two cases, students who were eligibly for up to $951 each in compensation are now eligible for… roughly $1000 in compensation. [More]
EA To Pay College Athletes Up To $951 Each For Stealing Their Likenesses
By 6.2.14
What are you worth? Or rather, how much would you want to be paid to have your likeness used in a wildly popular and profitable sports video game? According to video game giant (and two-time Worst Company In America winner) Electronic Arts, the price tag for a college athlete’s face is just shy of one thousand bucks. [More]
EA Ditches Plans For College Football Game After Settling Lawsuit With Former Students
By 9.26.13
For several years, reigning two-time Worst Company In America Electronic Arts has been fighting a lawsuit filed by former college athletes that accused the video game publisher, along with the NCAA and a third-party licensing firm, of illegally profiting off the likenesses of student-athletes. Now that it looks like the case could finally go to trial, EA has reached a settlement with the plaintiffs — and has ditched plans to put out a college football game in 2014. [More]
Another Former College Football Player Sues EA For Using Athletes’ Likenesses In Video Games
By 9.5.13
In the midst of a right to publicity lawsuit (which is part of a larger antitrust lawsuit) currently underway against video game publisher Electronic Arts, another athlete has lawyers filing a proposed class-action suit claiming that EA’s use of college athletes’ names and likenesses in its games is “blatant and unlawful.” [More]
Companies Profit Off College Football Players’ Names Without Having To Mention Players’ Names
By 8.6.13
Manufacturers of licensed NCAA jerseys are not allowed to produce items with players’ names on the back, allegedly to maintain the “amateur” image of college athletics and allow apparel companies to claim they aren’t making truckloads of cash on the shoulders of scholar/athletes who receive no direct money for all the tickets and merchandise sold each year. But search results on the NCAA’s own e-commerce site shows that the organization and apparel companies make money off players’ names without having to actually mention those names. [More]
EA Makes Case That It Shouldn’t Be Part Of Lawsuit Over NCAA Games
By 7.31.13
Even though reigning, two-time Worst Company In America Electronic Arts is no longer in the video game business with the folks at the NCAA, the once-inseparable couple are both defendants in an antitrust lawsuit brought by former college athletes who allege that NCAA-branded games illegally made money from the players’ likenesses. Now EA is distancing itself even further from NCAA, claiming it was just doing what NCAA told it to do. [More]
