Ed O'Bannon and Sam Keller may be discussing possible settlements in their class-action lawsuit against the NCAA, but early indications are that the negotiations are accomplishing nothing.
Sources have told Yahoo Sports lawyers for the NCAA and for O'Bannon and Keller have made little progress in two court-ordered settlement talks with a mediator. O'Bannon, a former basketball player at UCLA, and Keller, a former college quarterback, are very likely to take their case to court June 9 in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.
Lawyers from both sides met these past two Mondays in San Francisco to discuss pre-trial settlements with a mediator. An unnamed source told Yahoo Sports both meetings have "gone nowhere."
O'Bannon and Keller have been embroiled in this lawsuit for years and are challenging the NCAA's model of amateurism. The NCAA, predictably enough, is not willing to bend a centimeter towards beginning to compensate its athletes, despite the billions of dollars in revenue major Division I basketball and football bring in.
Thanks to the National Labor Rights Board (NLRB) in Chicago, O'Bannon and Keller will bring some new ammo to the trial, which now seems inevitable.
The NLRB ruled in favor of the Northwestern football players who started a petition in Jan. to form a union for college athletes. Peter Sung Ohr's decision found college athletes to be considered employees and therefore can unionize if they want to. While an appeal is expected to be filed with the NLRB in D.C., the decision can only work to O'Bannon and Keller's advantage.
"What this judge held is they are athletes first and foremost," Michael Hausfeld, O'Bannon's lead attorney, told AL.com of the NLRB ruling. "That's not what definition of amateurism is, and (the NCAA) can't contend the findings. They have a problem. He ruled that they were employees because they were. If they're employees, they can be paid."
The NCAA has said it cannot comment on an ongoing legal process. The governing body for college sports is already considering changing some rules to give athletic directors at "power conference" schools more autonomy. What that means has not been entirely clear, but the NCAA is likely to be forced to make some major changes one way or another, whether they reach a settlement agreement or not.
"There's plenty of room to compromise," Hausfeld said of the settlement talks. "But in order to understand what's on the table, you have to bring your chair to the table."
