NY Times Endorses O'Bannon Ruling

There are two important consequences of a long-awaited ruling last week by a federal judge, Claudia Wilken, in the so-called [former UCLA athlete] O’Bannon case. College athletes will almost certainly be better off financially. And the notion that these athletes are pure amateurs — “students first, athletes second” — will be impossible to sustain.

In her 99-page decision, Judge Wilken issued an injunction against a ban on payments to players for the commercial use of their names, images and likenesses, which she said violated antitrust law. She also ruled that college sports’ governing body, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, may not prohibit universities from offering cost-of-living stipends in addition to scholarships...

Full editorial at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/opinion/the-obannon-ruling-college-athletes-win.html