Ten Student-Athletes Sue ESPN, Networks

Ten former college football and basketball players, nine of them from Tennessee, have filed a class action lawsuit claiming their images were improperly used without their permission.

Courthouse News Service report the lawsuit comes on the heels of high profile victories for student-athletes in the courts, but also just days after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the rights to publicity question this term.

The lawsuit targets ESPN, the four major television networks and eight NCAA athletic conferences, and licensing companies with ties to the athletic conferences.

The plaintiffs include former Vanderbilt, Tennessee, UT-Chattanooga and Washington football players as well as Tennessee State and Maryland Eastern Shore basketball players.

In their complaint they argue that the television networks, athletic conferences and licensing agencies, conspired to exploit rules forbidding student athletes from "competing in the marketplace for the value of their rights to publicity."

The plaintiff's claims are similar to those contained in a lawsuit filed by former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon.

In August a federal judge ruled in O'Bannon's favor, finding that NCAA limits on what players can receive for playing sports violates antitrust laws. The case is now on appeal before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

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