It's in the hands of Judge Claudia Wilken now.
The last time we updated you, EA Sports had come to an agreement on a settlement with the plaintiffs involved with Ed O'Bannon. The NCAA, however, remained defiant and insisted on letting this go to a class-action trial.
It has not gone well for the NCAA.
Wilken spent most of last week chastising the NCAA and their defense of keeping the system the way it is. 24 witnesses have testified during the trial over the course of the 15 day trial. If last week is any type of precursor, then there are going to be some major changes to the NCAA model when it comes to student-athletes. Mark Emmert still remains confident, stating that he believes the amateurism will win out.
The problem, though, is that nobody else thinks that.
Deadspin came out with an article last week about a key turning point in the trial. The turning point, of course, is that the NCAA, an organization that truly believes that student-athletes want to line up in droves to thank them, couldn't get a single student-athlete to testify for them. Now, as Deadspin's article points out, anyone that was a student-athlete in 2005 to present day was considered a plaintiff and could not testify. That still leaves a very long period of time to find someone willing to step up to the plate. Unfortunately for the NCAA, they couldn't find anybody that wasn't already in a position of major power that works directly with the organization.
Wilken is expected to make a decision in the next few weeks.
