ESPN, ABC, Fox, CBS, NBC Served With Class-Action Lawsuit By Players Over NCAA Profits

ESPN and other television networks and media conglomerates — including ABC, Fox, CBS, NBC, WME, IMG and more — were handed a class-action lawsuit this week by 10 college football and basketball players who are seeking a portion of their sports' television profits for themselves and NCAA athletes nationwide.

"The Broadcast Defendants have all entered into lucrative, anticompetitive contracts with the NCAA and Conference Defendants for 'first-tier' and 'second-tier' broadcasting rights," the lawsuit states. "The agreements between the Broadcast Defendants, the Licensing Defendants, the Conference Defendants, and the NCAA exclude Student Athletes from participating in the marketplace for the licensing, sale, and use of Student Athletes' names, images, and likenesses."

Click here to read the 40-page document in full, as obtained by deadline.com.

Simply put, college athletes are prohibited from profiting from the use or sale of their names or likenesses — but the television networks certainly aren't.

According to the suit, the television networks have "created a marketplace resembling a plantation type arrangement where Defendants financially benefit in the collective amount of billions of dollars, while Student Athletes, the driving force of college sports, receive nothing more than their cost of attendance."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the television industry has raked in "tens of billions" from the broadcasting of NCAA athletic competitions.

The suit also notes that, although all NCAA student-athletes must sign releases when signing with their teams, they are "forced to sign as a condition of playing football or basketball in college" and therefore the contracts should be voided "as a matter of public policy" and because they are "vague, and therefore void and/or unenforceable," as reported by Deadline. 

There has been a growing debate in recent months over whether college athletes should get paid, and this suit serves to add fuel to that fire. Right now student-athletes are awarded scholarships to cover the cost of their academics, but while coaches and the media profit financially from their work, the student-athletes do not.

Should student-athletes get paid? Comment below!