As the debate wages on the stance on paying college players is beginning to change; we have seen courts hear players cases for being able unionize, and now the court has ruled in favor of collegiate athletes versus a prominent video game company and the NCAA. In what had been an ongoing legal battle over player likenesses being used in a video game and them not receiving compensation “A federal judge approved the $60 million combined settlement in lawsuits against the NCAA, Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) and publisher Electronic Arts yesterday, paving the way for student-athletes to finally get paid for appearances in college football and basketball video games.”2 The magnitude of the decision is almost indescribable; as a former college athlete this brings a great hope in moving forward to a point that all student athletes are compensated. The decision resonated with everyone involved in college athletics. "This landmark decision marks the first time student-athletes will be paid for the likeness or image, and stands as a huge victory in the ongoing fight for student-athletes' rights,"1 Steve Berman attorney for the plaintiffs said in a statement. 
Although this ruling does not have to take into account issues like title IX, it shows that there is a justifiable wrong being done to student athletes. Combined with the ongoing discussion over how or why student athletes should be compensated; a ruling like this has the potential to set a precedent moving forward that influences the decisions made on distributing revenue among athletes as well as coaches and athletic program budgets. It’s safe to assume that if the NCAA series of video games were to continue, they would do so following a plan that includes the compensation of players for their likenesses to be used in the video game. This opens the conversation for something like players being paid a certain percentage of merchandise sold; especially merchandise with their number or reference to them on it.
references:
http://www.polygon.com/2015/7/17/8991709/ea-sports-ncaa-player-likeness-lawsuit-settlement-approved
This is definitely setting a precedent for better things to come in the future for athletes in my opinion. Most people try to rationalize that it is impossible for all players to get paid like professionals, but in cases like this all sides should win. The NCAA has made a killing off of merchandise and video games sales of athletes for years. Amateur or not, it is basically stealing from the pockets of these athletes to not include them in the profits that they are actually generating. It may just be a drop in the bucket compared to how much the NCAA makes, but this is a moral victory of what is to come for college athletes
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