N.C.A.A. Dodges a Bullet, but Change Is on the Way On Friday, after United States District Judge Claudia Wilken made her latest ruling in O'Bannon v. the N.C.A.A., two men involved in the matter spoke with each other by telephone. One was Ed O'Bannon, a former U.C.L.A. basketball star; the other, Sonny Vaccaro, the sneaker marketing executive turned perpetual N.C.A.A. antagonist. Vaccaro felt more optimistic than disappointed about the 24-page ruling. But he also felt torn, about his feelings and the outcome. Wilken had certified the lawsuit as class-action, but with a significant catch. She ruled that current and former Football Bowl Subdivision and Division I men's basketball players can challenge N.C.A.A. restrictions on athlete compensation. Should they win, should they receive even a slice of licensing deals or television revenue, it would change the model for college athletics. It would strike down the long-faulty notion of big-time college sports as an amateur endeavor. Perhaps someone would finally banish the term "student-athlete." But Wilken certified a class for the purposes of injunctive relief only, which would prevent the N.C.A.A. from acting in the same way in the future, but not for damages. Wilken said the plaintiffs had not identified a legitmate method to calculate damages to former players. That left O'Bannon and about 20 current or former athletes, many of whom Vaccaro helped to join the case, without what they desired in the first place: compensation for their likenesses and images after their playing career ended. If their case makes history, they are unlikely to profit from it. "This is what I wanted," Vaccaro said O'Bannon told him. They'll have rights. I never had rights. I didn't think I would ever have rights. Both sides, naturally, claimed victory last week. The N.C.A.A., in a statement, said the ruling validated its argument that the case was wrong on facts and law. Its statement ignored the other half of the ruling, the half the other side celebrated as a win. The organization undoubtedly avoided potential damages to former players that could have escalated into billions of dollars, even as the very real threat to the system that governs college sports remains. Vaccaro held onto that throughout the weekend. He cares deeply about this case, as much as anyone involved. He watched Baylor batter Oklahoma, Stanford upset Oregon and Alabama steamroll Louisiana State. Again, he thought about how much money those games generated and how little of it went to the players. He disagreed with the N.C.A.A. on what Friday's ruling meant. He thought about O'Bannon, who had spied a college basketball video game at a friend's house and thought he saw himself - same U.C.L.A. uniform, same build, same facial features. At first, it flattered him, and then it bothered him, and then he became the face for much more than a likeness lawsuit. He became the face for whether college athletes should be paid, and Friday's ruling, a setback for him personally, is the first step for that to happen. "O'Bannon and those guys won in the sense we're going forward," Vaccaro said. Those damages, whatever they would have been, if we win, going forward, there's no limit to what the numbers are in the future. This is not going to be like the N.F.L. settling the concussion lawsuit, where they don't owe anybody after that. The N.C.A.A. needs to change; even the organization agrees on that, even if it does not want football and men's basketball players to receive additional compensation - cash the N.C.A.A. mostly pockets. So many recent events have built toward change, from botched enforcement investigations to the dozens of athletic directors who met recently to lobby for more of a voice in college sports. The sanctions the N.C.A.A. levied recently against Miami - mainly accepting the university's self-imposed postseason ban of two seasons and lost scholarships - were indicative of an organization with diminished power. The Committee on Infractions basically confirmed what Yahoo Sports wrote two years ago, when it spoke to the booster Nevin Shapiro in jail and published a list of transgressions he detailed, including cash payments to players and parties on yachts. It even found an absence of institutional control. Yet where the N.C.A.A. clobbered Penn State, it gave Miami a slap on the wrist. Weeks before Friday's ruling, the video game manufacturer EA Sports and Collegiate Licensing Company settled with the O'Bannon plaintiffs for about $40 million. That left the N.C.A.A. on an island - its approval rating as low as ever and its president, Mark Emmert, favoring reform but hamstrung by so many universities with so many missions, an ineffective governance structure and a rule book bigger than the Harry Potter series. The O'Bannon case scared athletic departments because of the implications. It should scare them. And it should change how major college sports work. Players deserve more of a voice, additional compensation or not, and they are starting to speak up. As with the "All Players United" slogan written on gear across the country. Or when Grambling football players refused to play a game because of the unacceptable conditions at their facility. Vaccaro watched the events at Grambling with great interest. That neither the university nor the N.C.A.A. penalized or publicly admonished the players spoke volumes, Vaccaro said, about the power those players exhibited. "This is where we're headed," he said. Going forward is where the billions are. I want to live to see that day in court. I want to see that for Ed O'Bannon. The people he and those guys helped won't even know they helped them. But change is coming.