When Arizona senior linebacker Jake Fischer arrives at the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, Calif., next Friday, he may find questions about football few and far between. He is the most high-profile of the six current student-athletes that were added as plaintiffs Thursday to the lawsuit against the NCAA and video-games studio Electronic Arts over the use of likeness rights without compensation.
Fischer and Wildcats kicker Jake Smith, Minnesota tight end Moses Alipate and wide receiver Victor Keise, Vanderbilt linebacker Chase Garnham and Clemson cornerback Darius Robinson joined the lawsuit less than two weeks after a federal judge in Oakland, Calif., allowed the plaintiffs' attorneys to add at least one active player before deciding whether to grant class-action status, which could expose the NCAA to hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
Former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon is the lead plaintiff in the case, which alleges that the NCAA violated anti-trust laws by retaining the likenesses of current and former players in perpetuity and selling them to EA for use in its popular college football and basketball video games without compensation.
The NCAA announced Wednesday that it would not renew its contract with EA, which in turn said the series would continue without licensing from college athletics' governing body.
Fischer, a Pac-12 first-team All-Academic and CoSIDA Academic honoree last season, was also named All-Pac-12 honorable mention by conference coaches. His No. 33 will be featured on the Nike-branded jerseys that Arizona will sell on campus and online this fall.
Follow Dan Greenspan on Twitter @DanGreenspan.
