The outcome represents a multi-level victory for the athletes plaintiffs' lawyers. One of them, Steve Berman, already has another case related to this one pending before the same U.S. district court judge who handled the Alston case, as well as a previous case on behalf of former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon that helped set up the Alston case.
The new case not only asks that the NCAA be prevented from having association-wide rules that “restrict the amount of name, image, and likeness compensation available” to athletes but also seeks unspecified damages based on the share of television-rights money and the social media earnings the plaintiffs claim athletes would have received if the NCAA’s current limits on NIL compensation had not existed.
In addition, under previous rulings at the district level, the plaintiffs' attorneys have been awarded more than $33 million in fees and costs — an outcome that will be reinforced by Monday's unanimous ruling.
Including a $208 million settlement connected to the damages portion of the original version of the Alston case, the court challenge has cost the NCAA and its 11 conference co-defendants a combined total of well over $250 million in settlements to athletes and legal fees. Some of the NCAA’s costs have been covered by insurance, but an association lawsuit against a group of insurers over other coverage ended in March — after more than five years — with a loss in the Indiana Supreme Court.
“It is our hope that this victory in the battle for college athletes’ rights will carry on a wave of justice uplifting further aspects of athlete compensation. This is the fair treatment college athletes deserve,” Berman said in a statement Monday.
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