Ex-Michigan stars looking for $50M in NIL claim

• Jake Trotter, ESPN Elder WriterSep 10, 2024, 11:18 AM ET

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  Jake Trotter covers college football for ESPN. He signed up with ESPN in 2011. Before that, he worked at The Oklahoman, Austin American-Statesman and Middletown (Ohio) Journal papers. You can follow him @Jake_Trotter.

4 ex-Michigan players, consisting of previous quarterback Denard Robinson and wide receiver Braylon Edwards, have submitted a class action lawsuit against the NCAA and Big 10 Network looking for more than $50 million for being “wrongfully and unlawfully denied” the chance to earn money off their name, image and likeness.The lawsuit says the NCAA and Big 10 Network” have actually methodically made use of these renowned moments “that the players produced during their careers at Michigan. The claim is on behalf of those who played for Michigan before 2016. Only because 2021 have college athletes been

able to benefit off NIL.The NCAA declined comment on the lawsuit.In Might, the NCAA, its power conferences and attorneys representing Department I athletes consented to settle 3 major antitrust claims that threatened to upend business design of college sports. The defendants agreed to pay approximately $2.7 billion in damages.Any Division I professional athlete who played a sport from 2016 to present day is eligible for previous damages. The 2016 cutoff is

due to the statute of restrictions on the preliminary House v. NCAA claim, which was filed in 2020. “The NCAA knew for decades that preventing players from monetizing the something of worth they have– their name– was wrong and illegal,”said Jim Acho, the complainants ‘lawyer.”Today they acknowledge that players should have that right. However what about all the past players who were unlawfully denied that right? The money escaped those players’ backs remained in the hundreds of millions. … The players never ever saw a penny.”… We are here to right that incorrect.”Former Michigan defensive end Mike Martin and linebacker Shawn Crable joined Robinson and Edwards in the fit versus the Big 10 Network and NCAA.

Robinson played quarterback for the Wolverines

from 2009 to 2012 and was the Big 10 Offensive Player of the Year in 2010. Edwards won the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation’s top wide receiver, in 2004.