Thousands of athletes who played college football or basketball and had their likenesses used in a video game are about to finally get paid, CBS Sports reports.
Yesterday, US District Judge Claudia Wilken approved the combined $60 million dollar settlement that EA Sports and the NCAA will have to dish out to former players who had their likenesses used in video games, with EA Sports taking the $40 million dollar brunt of it. This will end the claims against the game manufacturer, the Collegiate Licensing Company, and the NCAA over the issue of players’ names, images, and likenesses that were used between 2003 and 2014.
More than 20,000 claims, including over 400 from current athletes, have already been made against EA Sports and the NCAA and the deadline to file is July 31. Claims can be made here.
Players who were most prominently featured and who were in the most games could receive as much as $7,200, said Steve Berman, one of the attorneys fighting for the players. It is possible that that number could increase, though, according to Rob Carey, the second attorney fighting on behalf of the players. Carey says that Judge Wilken could order the standard attorney fee of 33-percent be lowered to 30-percent, which would obviously increase the money pool for the players.
This decision will mark the first time collegiate athletes can legally be paid, and if there are no appeals to slow down the process, payments could start going out as soon as September. This continues a tidal wave of support behind collegiate athletes getting paid for their services on the field beyond just an education, due to the fact that most can’t rely on family support and don’t have the time for a part-time job and therefore don’t have the money to feed or clothe themselves off the field or court.
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