Judge approves $60M settlement in EA Sports and NCAA lawsuits

A federal judge approved the $60 million combined settlement in lawsuits against the NCAA, Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) and publisher Electronic Arts yesterday, paving the way for student-athletes to finally get paid for appearances in college football and basketball video games.

"We are pleased with the decision from Judge Wilken to approve the $60 million combined settlement that will be distributed to hundreds of student-athletes," said Steve Berman, managing partner at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and lead counsel for the plaintiffs, in a statement to Polygon. "This landmark decision marks the first time that student-athletes will be paid for their likeness or image, and stands as a huge victory in the ongoing fight for student-athletes' rights."

Pending a 30-day waiting period for objections to the approval, the settlement could take effect and the players could start getting paid their share of the $60 million as early as September, Berman told CBS Sports. Individual payouts will vary depending on the nature of a student-athlete's appearance in a game, and on the number of games in which the player appeared from May 2003 through September 2014.

The settlement fund's administrating firm has received more than 20,000 claims so far, according to documents that the company filed with the court. The firm reported a claim rate of about 19 percent for the EA settlement and 29 percent for the NCAA settlement, both of which are "very high compared with the range of claims rates we typically receive," the company said. The court today extended the deadline for filing claims to July 31. Claims can be filed on this website.

The player-likeness lawsuits are separate from former student-athletes' antitrust complaints against the NCAA. Judge Wilken ruled in favor of the players in the antitrust case in August 2014, and the court heard an appeal from the NCAA this past March.

• SOURCE
 
• CBS Sports and Polygon