College Football Players Association Support Non-Employee Status

[Knight Shift]

Sources: NCAA in talks to settle NIL antitrust case

The leaders of college sports are involved in "deep discussions" to reach a legal settlement that would likely lay out the framework for sharing revenue with athletes in a future NCAA business model, sources told ESPN.

www.espn.com

 

[Retired711]

Sources: NCAA in talks to settle NIL antitrust case

The leaders of college sports are involved in "deep discussions" to reach a legal settlement that would likely lay out the framework for sharing revenue with athletes in a future NCAA business model, sources told ESPN.

www.espn.com

On a whim, I looked up Judge Wilken, the judge presiding over the cases. To my amazement, she was a year ahead of me at law school. But I have no recollection of her. (BTW, the infamous Lance Ito -- who I met -- was in her graduating class.)

 

[Knight Shift]

On a whim, I looked up Judge Wilken, the judge presiding over the cases. To my amazement, she was a year ahead of me at law school. But I have no recollection of her. (BTW, the infamous Lance Ito -- who I met -- was in her graduating class.)

Now I have multiple questions/comments on a slight thread derail.

I forgot you graduated from Boalt Hall. Did you go to Berkeley undergrad?

And I had always thought Boalt Hall was the "official" name of the law school, but that was never the case. Wikipedia says they removed Boalt's name from the law school building in 2020. I see why they did that, and all I can say is golly gee willikers.

Is Judge Ito really infamous? Did he handle the trial badly? He also handled the trial of Charles H. Keating Jr, but the sentence was overturned because Judge Ito improperly instructed the jury during sentencing. Lost Angeles closed his courtroom in 2012 due to budget cuts.

 

[Retired711]

Now I have multiple questions/comments on a slight thread derail.

I forgot you graduated from Boalt Hall. Did you go to Berkeley undergrad?

And I had always thought Boalt Hall was the "official" name of the law school, but that was never the case. Wikipedia says they removed Boalt's name from the law school building in 2020. I see why they did that, and all I can say is golly gee willikers.

Is Judge Ito really infamous? Did he handle the trial badly? He also handled the trial of Charles H. Keating Jr, but the sentence was overturned because Judge Ito improperly instructed the jury during sentencing. Lost Angeles closed his courtroom in 2012 due to budget cuts.

Yes, I also went to Berkeley undergrad -- so I am a double Golden Bear. I was at the game in 1969 where Cal *almost* upset Alcindor's (as he was known then) UCLA Bruins.

Most people referred to the law school as Boalt, and the building was called Boalt Hall, but the official name was always the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. The place went through a long marketing study and decided it should be informally known as BerkeleyLaw.

I think virtually all observers agree that Ito did a poor job handling the trial. He allowed the attorneys to drag out the trial. It was as though he enjoyed being in the spotlight.

In the Keating case, his error was to not instruct the jury that it could find Keating guilty only if it was satisfied that he had intended to defraud investors. The prosecution had argued that intent was irrelevant and he agreed. But the appeals court did not.

Ito retired in 2015. FWIW, it was a Republican governor, George Deukmejian, who appointed him to the bench.

 

[Knight Shift]

Yes, I also went to Berkeley undergrad -- so I am a double Golden Bear. I was at the game in 1969 where Cal *almost* upset Alcindor's (as he was known then) UCLA Bruins.

Most people referred to the law school as Boalt, and the building was called Boalt Hall, but the official name was always the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. The place went through a long marketing study and decided it should be informally known as BerkeleyLaw.

I think virtually all observers agree that Ito did a poor job handling the trial. He allowed the attorneys to drag out the trial. It was as though he enjoyed being in the spotlight.

In the Keating case, his error was to not instruct the jury that it could find Keating guilty only if it was satisfied that he had intended to defraud investors. The prosecution had argued that intent was irrelevant and he agreed. But the appeals court did not.

Ito retired in 2015. FWIW, it was a Republican governor, George Deukmejian, who appointed him to the bench.

I like Ito's hourglass collection. I was just a law student at the time. In my third year, I took all night classes, and spent the first part of my day watching the trial. I was never interested in criminal law, and I was more interested in the spectacle than the legal proceedings.

 

[Retired711]

I like Ito's hourglass collection. I was just a law student at the time. In my third year, I took all night classes, and spent the first part of my day watching the trial. I was never interested in criminal law, and I was more interested in the spectacle than the legal proceedings.

BTW, Ito was also heavily criticized for allowing TV coverage of the trial.

 

[Knight Shift]

BTW, Ito was also heavily criticized for allowing TV coverage of the trial.

I posted in the OJ thread how the trial really spawned the success of CourtTV, which also covered the Menendez brothers murder trial. I'm somewhat indifferent about TV coverage in the court room. On the good side, it gives laypeople a chance to see a court room in action. But I can see how it creates a distraction and when you have very animated counsel like F Lee Bailey and Johnny Cochrane, the trial becomes a spectacle.

Back to the OP, by reading the full ESPN story, there is a long way to go before the case(s) are settled.

 

[Retired711]

I posted in the OJ thread how the trial really spawned the success of CourtTV, which also covered the Menendez brothers murder trial. I'm somewhat indifferent about TV coverage in the court room. On the good side, it gives laypeople a chance to see a court room in action. But I can see how it creates a distraction and when you have very animated counsel like F Lee Bailey and Johnny Cochrane, the trial becomes a spectacle.

Back to the OP, by reading the full ESPN story, there is a long way to go before the case(s) are settled.

It seems clear that Her Honor wants the cases to settle; as you know, that is a tremendous incentive to both sides to bring that about. Nobody wants the judge angry at them in a case of this magnitude. If nothing else, the judge doesn't want to have to preside over a long trial when there are certainly many other cases on her docket.

 

[Knight Shift]

Update

 

[Retired711]

Update

The problem is that Congressional legislation would be needed to authorize a collective bargaining agreement -- which is after all, an agreement between employers and employees -- without the players being considered employees. A more likely scenario is that the schools agree to pay players as part of a settlement of the current anti-trust suits, which the NCAA may well lose and which could subject them to triple damages.

 

[RU76]

It seems clear that Her Honor wants the cases to settle; as you know, that is a tremendous incentive to both sides to bring that about. Nobody wants the judge angry at them in a case of this magnitude. If nothing else, the judge doesn't want to have to preside over a long trial when there are certainly many other cases on her docket.

The typical "trial" judge in a state court does not want to try any cases, no matter how many are on the docket. Judges become judges to get 1) a raise, 2) medical for life 3) status of being addressed as Judge so and so at cocktail parties and/or finding a soft landing after being eased out of a law partnership. This does not apply to federal court judges.

 

[Retired711]

The typical "trial" judge in a state court does not want to try any cases, no matter how many are on the docket. Judges become judges to get 1) a raise, 2) medical for life 3) status of being addressed as Judge so and so at cocktail parties and/or finding a soft landing after being eased out of a law partnership. This does not apply to federal court judges.

The cases are in federal court, not state court. That's where federal antitrust cases are heard. And, btw, I have enough experience with state court judges to tell you that, while there are bad apples, many (particularly here in New Jersey) do their duties conscientiously and were damn good lawyers.

 

[Retired711]

The problem is that Congressional legislation would be needed to authorize a collective bargaining agreement -- which is after all, an agreement between employers and employees -- without the players being considered employees. A more likely scenario is that the schools agree to pay players as part of a settlement of the current anti-trust suits, which the NCAA may well lose and which could subject them to triple damages.

On further review . . . I'm not sure my solution works for the long-term. It puts the court in the position of having to approve every subsequent change in the settlement (for instance, to grant cost of living increases). in perpetuity. Courts do not like having to do that. So there has to be some kind of collective bargaining either through unionization or some kind of legislation to allow collective bargaining with non-employees.