Athletes could get several thousand dollars each in NCAA video game settlement

Steve Berkowitz | USA TODAY Sports

Settlements of a series of lawsuits relating to the use of college football and men's college basketball players' names, images and likenesses in NCAA-branded video games are likely to result in many of the affected athletes getting at least $1,000 and could result in some receiving $6,700 or more, new legal filings show.

The documents were submitted late Thursday night to U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken as part of the process to gain her final approval of a combined $60 million in settlements of claims against the NCAA, video game manufacturer Electronic Arts and Collegiate Licensing Company, the nation's leading collegiate trademark licensing and marketing firm.

The settlements -- which Wilken approved on a preliminary basis last July -- applied to athletes who were on the roster of a team included in a game that was published or distributed from May 2003 through September 2014. Athletes still playing college sports are allowed receive money from the settlements without affecting their NCAA eligibility.

Under the deals' terms, athletes had until Thursday to submit a claim, and the final payments will be determined by a variety of factors, including the number of athletes who made claims that are determined to be valid.

Thursday night's filings stated that nearly 16,200 athletes had completed forms, which are still being reviewed by a claims-administration firm.

According to the documents, that figure means about 16% of the athletes eligible for the $40 million settlement involving EA and CLC have filed claims and about 24% of the athletes eligible for the $20 million settlement involving the NCAA have done so.

Claims administrator Kenneth Jue wrote that, based on information provided by nearly 320 schools, notices were mailed to mailed to nearly 93,000 potential claimants. In addition, the settlement notice was provided through magazine and web advertisements, a website, social media and other means.

"The claims rates for both settlements are very high compared with the range of claims rates we typically receive" for settlements in which notice was provided through these means," Jue wrote.

According to a filing from one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, Leonard Aragon, the group of potential claimants "goes back to the 1930s (because of historic video games) and the majority … attended school between 2002 and 2012."

Athletes are eligible to receive money from either or both settlements.

"We are very pleased with the number of claims filed in the settlement over the last few months, and the preliminary estimates of the dollar value" of each claim "underscore the substantial benefits conferred on current and former college athletes by the settlement," another of the plaintiffs' attorneys, Sathya Gosselin, said via email Friday morning.

If Wilken grants final approval following a hearing that is scheduled for July 16 in Oakland, payments to athletes will be based on factors including:

--The validated claims rates.

--Whether a player's name appeared on a team roster.

--Whether his assigned jersey number appeared on a virtual avatar.

--Whether his photograph appeared in the game.

--Which years he appeared in a game as an avatar and/or had his photograph used in the game.

--The number of years in which a player was on a roster, appeared in the game as an avatar and/or had their photograph used in the game.

Another factor in the ultimate payouts for the athletes will be Wilken's rulings on the fees and expenses being sought by the plaintiffs' lawyers, proposed additional payments to the named plaintiffs in the cases and objections that have been raised by three potential claimants.

Of the $60 million in combined settlement money that has been proposed, the lawyers are seeking fees not to exceed $19 million and expenses not to exceed $3 million. A total of nearly $200,000 would be set aside as "participation awards" for named plaintiffs, including former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon, former Nebraska and Arizona State football player Sam Keller and former Rutgers football player Ryan Hart.

Objections to the settlement raise issues including the amounts of money that the plaintiffs' lawyers can get and the prospect of athletes who didn't file a claim not being able to get any of the money. "Why not compensate all identifiable" athletes in the video games, "as opposed to the handful … that submit claim forms?" wrote Caroline Tucker, the attorney for Darrin Duncan, a former Western Michigan football player who is objecting. "As it stands, some (athletes) will receive a windfall while other valid (potential claimants) will receive little to nothing."

If Wilken gives final approval, athletes who made a valid claim will receive at least $74.

According to Thursday night's filings, based on the current claims rates and attorney fee-and-expense requests, an athlete who appeared on a roster in one of the games in one year and is not otherwise identifiable in the game would get $129 from the EA settlement.

A player depicted in one of the games or whose photograph was used in one of the games in one year from 2003 to 2005 would get about $230 from the EA settlement and/or about $130 from the NCAA settlement.

A player depicted in one of the games or whose photograph was used in one of the games in one year from 2005 to 2014 would get about $850 from the EA settlement and/or a little less than $500 from the NCAA settlement.

Those amounts get multiplied for each year of use of the player's name, image or likeness. So, as one of the documents filed Thursday night stated, the most any one athlete would get from the NCAA settlement is about $2,440 – an amount based on appearing in the game for five years. (The similar payout from the EA settlement would be about $4,260.)

The roughly $2,440 is "hardly an astronomical sum," said the document, which was filed as a response to one of the objections, but it is "an excellent recovery considering all the variables at play in the lawsuit."