NCAA successfully appeal $42 million fee bond in O’Bannon case

On Friday, May 20, 2016, California U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled in favour of the NCAA’s fee bond appeal, granting the organization’s request to not post bond while it appeals the O’Bannon decision. The NCAA filed the fee bond appeal¹ in the Ninth Circuit Court on May 10, 2016, arguing that it was unnecessary to reserve more than $42 million in attorneys’ fees and costs associated with the O’Bannon case.

The NCAA claimed that the fee bond would place undue detriment on the organization, which uses about “90 cents of every dollar”² for student-athlete support. Attorneys for the players in the suit asserted that the NCAA opposed the fee bond in order to invest and profit off the funds, while the NCAA maintained that all organization funds are used to support student-athletes, which is the intended use of NCAA finances.