It has been some time since the partial certification for class-action was handed down back in November by Federal Judge Claudia Wilken, and while the appeals process in federal court can be a shaky one, there have been some new developments and possible strategies coming out from this result back in November.
I mentioned back in August when this first truly came to a head that the plaintiffs had a few options available to them with partial certification, and while there is no telling what they will utilize, it bears mentioning that they may very well try to break the record for individual lawsuits at one time. The thought of every player involved with the NCAA Football franchise in years past all filing individual suits is the stuff of nightmares, but that may be the road for the players with the partial certification. What does it mean? We don't know just yet, but this isn't even the biggest story that is developing out of this mess.
The State of Mississippi has a proposed amendment that may very well skirt around the entire mess of paying players during their time in uniform, though this only affects those playing on the gridiron. The proposed amendment is a reward-based system, stating that all money obtained through the bowl system for BCS-schools, namely Ole Miss and Mississippi State, would withhold an amount of the money over the course of a player's career and, if he graduates on time with a four year degree, would earn a percentage of that money upon his eligibility ending in collegiate athletics. Does this proposed amendment hold up to the hundreds of pages of NCAA Bylaws? There's no saying, considering it hasn't even been put to a vote by the schools yet, but this seems to be a viable option. The NCAA can probably step in and make some argument against it, but they don't have a say until it actually passes at the university and, eventually, state level.
This saga continues and, while it's lost some steam since November 9th, it doesn't appear to be anywhere close to over just yet.
