50 Most Influential: Ed O’Bannon

Lead plaintiff

O’Bannon v. NCAA

CHANGE FROM 2012: NEWCOMER

The O’Bannon case has morphed into something more than just a lawsuit. It has come to represent both a threat and an opportunity to the future of intercollegiate athletics, depending on which side you talk to. The former UCLA basketball player filed the lawsuit in 2009 seeking the rights to his likeness, but it could lead to a completely new economic model for college sports if a court decides that athletes are entitled to a share of licensing royalties from TV, jersey sales or other revenue-producers. O’Bannon could be flipping over the business of college sports as we know it.