O'Bannon vs NCAA Trial Concludes, How Judge Claudia Wilken Holds the Future of Collegiate Athletics in Her Ruling

The O'Bannon vs. the NCAA trial has officially reached its end and U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken, who should return a ruling in a matter of weeks.

According to USA Today, the three-week trial wrapped up Friday and produced thousands of pages of transcripts from 24 live witnesses. After allowing a pre-trial motion in which the plaintiffs asked not to seek individual damages, Wilken dismissed the jury and decided to rule on the decision herself.

Ed O'Bannon, a former basketball player at UCLA, and 19 other plaintiffs are seeking an injunction against the NCAA to force them to pay student-athletes. The plaintiffs argue it is unfair that the NCAA and Division I athletic programs share billions of dollars in revenue and the student-athletes get none of it.

Wilken could strike down the NCAA model of amateurism with her ruling, meaning Division I basketball and football players would be compensated for use of their name, image and likeness (NIL). The NCAA has maintained all along that they will appeal any decision that goes against them, potentially extending the matter for several years. It took O'Bannon and his legal team five years just to get into a courtroom.

On the last day of the trial, USA Today reported, Wilken raised question and statements that indicated she could choose not to impose any changes on the NCAA. That could mean she will leave it to the NCAA and its participating members to adopt changes themselves.

The NCAA is already trying to do that and has crafted a proposal to give more autonomy to the five "power conferences." Since the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC make more money than any other Division conference, the NCAA feels they should have more autonomy over decisions affecting their funds. Under the proposal, these schools would be able to go beyond covering their student-athletes' cost of admission.

As Conference USA commissioner Bob Banowski testified during the trial, smaller conferences feel like this is an example of unfair favoritism. Appearing as a witness for the NCAA, Bunowski said paying college athletes would sink football and basketball programs at non-power-five schools.

Lawyers for both the O'Bannon plaintiffs and the NCAA told USA Today they felt they made strong cases. If true, Wilken will need every last minute of the several weeks she is expected to take in making her ruling.