Oregon, Arizona State athletes challenge NCAA in federal court

Attorneys filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in federal court Monday that seeks to prevent the association from limiting the amount of money athletes can make off their names, images and likenesses.

The antitrust lawsuit by attorneys representing two current college athletes also seeks damages for potential past earnings athletes have been denied by current NCAA rules. Arizona State swimmer Grant House and Oregon women's basketball player Sedona Prince are the plaintiffs.

They are suing the NCAA and the Power Five Conferences - the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference - for unspecified damages. The suit seeks class-action status.

The latest legal challenge comes as the NCAA is the process of changing its rules to allow college athletes to earn money from third parties for things such as social media endorsements, sponsorship deals and personal appearances. The NCAA is also seeking help from Congress in the form of a federal law regarding name, image and likeness compensation that would superseded legislation being pushed at the state level.

Florida's governor signed an NIL bill into law last week that would go into effect July 2021.

The lead attorney in the latest case against the NCAA - Steve Berman from Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro - is a familiar legal foe for the association. His firm has won two antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA in the past decade: Tthe Ed O'Bannon case that challenged the NCAA's use of athletes' names, images and likenesses, and the so-called Alston case that accused the NCAA and major conferences of illegally capping compensation to athletes.