The dreams of a successful football season were dashed for Georgia fans when star wide receiver AJ Green was suspended four games by the NCAA for selling one of his game-worn jerseys for $1,000. Although he did violate an NCAA rule, Green's actions were defensible seeing that the NCAA and Georgia athletics can profit off of him, but he cannot. College football is the most profitable of the collegiate athletics, but it has become a sham as the NCAA and other associations make millions of dollars off of an amateur athlete and coaches receive six-figure salaries, yet the athlete does not have the ability to profit. Essentially, college football represents unpaid labor in that the talents of the athletes are used to generate revenue for the NCAA and universities.
NCAA bylaws state that by consenting to participate in NCAA sanctioned events, student athletes forfeit all right to individual entitlement and transfer all right to their image to the university (Matzkin, 235), meaning the universities can market athletes and make money without having to compensate the athletes. AJ Green was punished for profiting off of his image by selling his own jersey, but one can buy a replica Green jersey for between sixty and one hundred fifty dollars on the University of Georgia website. The most controversial example of universities and the NCAA using the images of athletes to make money is with video games, most notably EA Sports's popular NCAA Football franchise.
In 2009, former Arizona State quarterback Sam Keller filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, EA Sports, and the Collegiate Licensing Company claiming that it was an exploitation of student athletes. While there is a rule against using player names, EA Sports gives users the option to upload rosters with the players named (Thomas). Even though there is no name on the uniform, the video game likenesses are easily identifiable because most of their characteristics like appearance and hometown are almost exactly the same (Thomas).
