Judge Dismisses NC State's 'Cardiac Pack' NIL Compensation Lawsuit
Published
Aug. 7, 2025 11:25 a.m. ET
share
x
link
A North Carolina judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the 1983 N.C. State men's basketball team, shutting down the national championship team's request for name, image and likeness compensation.
The team was known as the "Cardiac Pack" for a series of close, nail-biting victories, including a 54-52 win over Houston in the 1983 national championship game. Lorenzo Charles sealed the victory with a buzzer-beating dunk, and coach Jim Valvano rushed the court — a moment that encapsulated the thrill of March Madness and was used in promotions for years.
The players filed a suit requesting a jury trial and "reasonable compensation" in June.
"For more than 40 years, the NCAA and its co-conspirators have systematically and intentionally misappropriated the Cardiac Pack's publicity rights — including their names, images, and likenesses — associated with that game and that play, reaping scores of millions of dollars from the Cardiac Pack's legendary victory," the lawsuit said.
According to WRAL News, the NCAA requested the case be dismissed after a similar lawsuit filed by a former Kansas basketball player was dismissed in April.
"In this lawsuit, twelve former members of North Carolina State University's ("NC State") 1983 NCAA men's basketball championship team have sued the NCAA for using without permission their names, images, and likenesses contained in copyrighted game footage from that season," Superior Court Judge Mark A. Davis wrote in a 44-page order released Thursday. "Because their claims are untimely, barred by their failure to allege a violation of a legally enforceable right, and preempted by the federal Copyright Act, dismissal of this action in its entirety is appropriate."
ADVERTISEMENT
The House vs. NCAA Settlement, approved in June, promises nearly $2.8 billion in back pay to athletes who competed from 2016 onward and lost NIL opportunities.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!
share
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
2025 College Football Odds: Why Wagering On Buffs' Under Is Still Best Bet
On July 27, gambling text message threads received a bombshell: Colorado head coach Deion Sanders would step down. He would do so the following morning during his scheduled press conference where he would give the public an update on his health. Sharp groups hammered the Colorado win total from 6.5 at -180ish — a hefty price — down to a consensus 5.5 games. But the information turned out to be incorrect. Coach Prime announced he had bladder cancer that required surgery and now he's cancer-free. A positive result considering the circumstances, and Sanders announced he'd still be on the sidelines for his Buffaloes this season. I wrote weeks ago that I liked Colorado under 6.5 wins as one of my favorite win total wagers of the 2025 season. Does that change now that Colorado is sitting at 5.5 wins? If you tailed me, should you buy some Over 5.5 for a middle at six wins? The Buffs return only six starters from their nine-win team last season. They lost Shedeur Sanders, their quarterback. They lost their Heisman-winning receiver and cornerback, Travis Hunter. The Buffs also lost their top four wide receivers. The CU defense improved more than 50 spots in efficiency rankings but lost a number of key pieces. It replaced all these players with more transfer portal additions, but how many times can Colorado hit a home run with portal players? It's just not a proven path to continued success in this sport. Colorado will need these portal players to win. It will need production from a new quarterback, receivers, four offensive linemen, the entire linebacker corps and multiple secondary players for a chance to succeed this season. It seems untenable for Deion & Co. to have the same success this season that they had in 2024. This is a new offense that can't be bailed out by Sanders or Hunter. It's stagnant. There's no motion. There's no variation in formations. The offense doesn't use a tight end and it doesn't run the football. Is CU going to change the offense now that Sanders is no longer the quarterback? I'm doubtful. The defense improved greatly last season, but this year, that unit will rely on its returning defensive-line depth, mixed with all new linebackers. The team just isn't as talented this season. Colorado's conference schedule in 2025 is much harder than it was in 2024. The Buffaloes faced six of the seven Big 12 teams to finish under .500 in conference play last year. They play five of the seven favorites to win the league, plus a trip to West Virginia later in the year when it's possible the Moutaineers have it together with Rich Rod. CU also hosts Georgia Tech in Week 1 and I don't believe it will win that game. I think Under 5.5 is still a play if you missed out on the 6.5. I'm not going to try to middle on six, and I'm fine with sitting on my Under 6.5. PICK: Colorado Under 6.5 wins Geoff Schwartz is an NFL analyst for FOX Sports. He played eight seasons in the NFL for five different teams. He started at right tackle for the University of Oregon for three seasons and was a second-team All-Pac-12 selection his senior year. Follow him on Twitter @GeoffSchwartz. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!
NBC Sports
4 hours ago
- NBC Sports
U.S. women's gymnastics program begins new Olympic cycle, possible new era
Simone Biles was recently in an uncharacteristic place at a gymnastics event: the spectator seats. At a July tune-up meet, Biles watched the gymnasts who this week will compete for the title she won a record nine times: U.S. all-around champion. We don't know yet whether any of Biles and two-time Olympians Suni Lee, Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles will return to elite competition in the run-up to Los Angeles 2028. The headliners at this week's Xfinity U.S. Championships include a mix: veterans like two-time Olympic alternate Leanne Wong, first-year seniors like 16-year-old Claire Pease (who won that July event in front of Biles) and those somewhere in between, like Hezly Rivera, a 17-year-old who was on the 2024 Olympic champion team. Nick Zaccardi, After nationals and an early fall selection camp, four women will be named to compete at October's World Championships, where there are only individual events. It is guaranteed that a new all-around champion will be crowned after two days of competition Friday and Sunday in New Orleans. Not only is Biles absent, but so is the only other woman to claim the title in the last six editions (Konnor McClain, 2022). Others are now stepping into the spotlight. Joscelyn Roberson, a 2024 Olympic alternate who trained with Biles in Texas leading up to Paris, said she received such adulation from young fans at a recent meet that, 'I feel like they're acting like I'm Simone.' It's a new feeling. 'If I ever got super, super nervous (in the past), I could be like, 'Oh, no one's watching me. They're watching Simone. They're watching Jordan. They're watching Suni and Jade. They're not watching me,'' Roberson, a rising University of Arkansas sophomore, said in a press conference Wednesday. 'But now it's kind of hard because you are older and you're one of the oldest, even though we are still so young. It's like, OK, maybe they are kind of watching me. It adds a different level of nerves, but I love it. I love a big crowd.' Wong, who graduated magna cum laude from the University of Florida with a degree in health education and behavior, is the veteran of the group at 21. She decided to continue in elite gymnastics after finishing her NCAA career in the spring. 'I just took the summer to do some other life things,' she said, including a mission trip to Costa Rica, moving into a new house and having her wisdom teeth removed. 'It was like, all right, let's just go back to gymnastics because I'm not ready to put it away yet.' Pease can become the first woman to win U.S. junior and senior all-around titles in back-to-back years since Shawn Johnson in 2006 and 2007. Pease was inspired last year by watching Rivera, one of her training partners outside Dallas, make it all the way to Paris. Taylor Hancock, Rivera, the youngest U.S. Olympian across all sports in Paris, has gazed at her gold medal about once a month over the last year to wow herself all over again. She also put Olympic rings above her bed. 'My mindset is kind of like, I achieved my dreams, I achieved my goals, but I still have more (goals), so I kind of like to put that (the Olympics) in the back of my head for now,' Rivera said last month. 'Every time in the gym, I don't think that I went to the Olympics. I'm just kind of training like I've almost never been, in a way.' Training partners Jayla Hang, who has the highest all-around score of any American in 2025, and Simone Rose, who was second to Pease at a July tune-up meet, are motivated by 2024. For Hang, it's from not making the Olympic Trials after placing 16th at last year's U.S. Championships. For Rose, it's from making it to the Olympic Trials, where she placed 10th in the all-around as the second-youngest gymnast in the field. 'It really helped me see I truly belong here,' she said. The last three Olympic teams included returning gymnasts from the previous Games, including a record-tying four in 2024. But before that, the teams in 2004, 2008 and 2012 included zero returning Olympians. Skye Blakely, the 2024 U.S. Championships runner-up to Biles, is among those pushing for 2028. She made it to each of the last two Olympic Trials, but didn't compete either time due to injuries sustained preparing for the meet, including an Achilles tear last year. Blakely plans to perform on two events this week — uneven bars and balance beam — in her first elite meet in 14 months. 'Knowing that trials didn't go the way I thought it was going to at all, and having this big injury, I was truly blessed at one moment to know that I still had on my heart the goal to want to go to the Olympics,' she said.
Fox News
6 hours ago
- Fox News
NC State's 1983 national championship team has NIL case dismissed by judge
Print Close By Ryan Morik Published August 07, 2025 Members of the 1983 N.C. State men's basketball team tried to make up for lost time, but a judge was not having it. Members of that national championship squad, coached by Jim Valvano, filed a suit requesting NIL compensation last year. "For more than 40 years, the NCAA and its co-conspirators have systematically and intentionally misappropriated the Cardiac Pack's publicity rights -- including their names, images, and likenesses -- associated with that game and that play, reaping scores of millions of dollars from the Cardiac Pack's legendary victory," the lawsuit said, via ESPN. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON However, a North Carolina judge dismissed the lawsuit this week, citing the "untimely" argument and "failure to allege a violation of a legally enforceable right." "We are proud of these Cardiac Pack players who stood up in the national fight for justice against a system that colludes to exploit young and often vulnerable student athletes," lawyer Stacy Miller, who represented the former NC State players, said in a statement to WRAL. The Wolfpack, who were coined the "Catpack," entered the March Madness tournament (then just 52 teams) as a No. 6 seed and won several nailbiters en route to the championship. Their first game was a 69-67 thriller against No. 11 Pepperdine. N.C. State then upset No. 3 UNLV, 71-70, before dismantling No. 10 Utah in the Sweet 16, 75-56. 2026 NFL DRAFT NO. 1 PICK ODDS: ARCH DROPS AFTER ARCHIE'S COMMENTS Their toughest task up to that point had been going up against No. 1 Virginia, but they earned a 63-62 win to make the Final Four. They took down No. 4. Georgia 67-60 before taking on No. 1 Houston, nicknamed Phi Slama Jama, in the championship. They won the title after an air-ball from Dereck Whittenberg was snagged in midair and dunked home by Lorenzo Charles just before the buzzer - neither player was involved in the suit. N.C. State was on the bubble for most of the season to even make the tournament but earned their bid by winning the ACC Tournament, similarly to the 2024 Wolfpack team that made it to the Final Four. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The Cinderella run was turned into an ESPN 30 for 30 titled "Survive and Advance," which has now become a staple motto for other Cinderella teams. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter. Print Close URL
