Meet Jeffrey Kessler, the attorney who has the NCAA on the ropes after latest win vs. powerful sports leagues

Now would be a good time for Jeffrey Kessler to call it quits. The 69-year-old father of two and grandfather of four has hit the ultimate legal walk-off. By force of his will, experience and smarts he has taken down an entire industry – college sports. Or at least reshaped it. 

Through his efforts, the NCAA lies in shambles after last week’s announcement of a settlement in House v. NCAA (bundled with other cases).  College athletes are about to receive a windfall the size of Nicaragua. All because Jeffrey Kessler is one big pain in the butt. 

Don’t worry, the nation’s most influential sports lawyer has heard the term before. 

“As long as my clients don’t think I’m a pain in the butt – I feel that’s my audience,” Kessler told CBS Sports. “Frankly, if all the adversaries thought I was wonderful I was probably not doing my job.” 

We know this because as lead attorney in the House case, Kessler won the big one. The NCAA and FBS conferences are on the hook for $2.8 billion in damages. Going forward, the power conference schools may end up paying $30 million per year for the next 10 years in revenue sharing and to fully fund scholarships. 

Athletes past and present will get paid. We just don’t know how much. Like a Hitchcock thriller, the suspense is killing us. It has already laid low the NCAA.

“He’s a powerhouse,” said former Clemson cornerback Martin Jenkins, a lead plaintiff in a previous Kessler case that led to this moment, “an absolute powerhouse. I think [this] will just add to his legacy.”

The effort took decades, thousands of billable hours and resulted in a nice nine-figure fee for Kessler and his partner in House, Steve Berman. Kessler brushes off his individual impact in representing scores of athletes but the lingering perception is he won the big one – because he usually doesn’t lose. 

“He interrupts judges all the time,” Berman said. “They would say, ‘Mr. Kessler…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/meet-jeffrey-kessler-the-attorney-who-has-the-ncaa-on-the-ropes-after-latest-win-vs-powerful-sports-leagues/

Author : Dennis Dodd

Publish date : 2024-06-05 17:43:07

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