OS Roundtable: College Football's Future Edition

Feature Article

Submitted on: 07/22/2013 by Chris Sanner, Matthew Coe, Robert Kollars

OS Roundtable: Should college football fans be excited or worried after last week's events which signaled the end of the NCAA's participation in college video games?

Chris Sanner: After last week's intense ride of emotions, where I thought NCAA Football gaming was for sure dead to thinking the future was never brighter to (now) something more in between both opposites, it's definitely a wait and see approach for me.

EA and the CLC agreeing to a three year extension is definitely telling, as their previous agreement spanned six years. The O'Bannon court case will likely be nearing resolution in three years, so I think both parties have a stopgap measure in place for now to wait out the courts.

I don't necessarily think O'Bannon winning kills college gaming, it might just deepen the partnership and possibilities -- but it all depends on how marketable a college game with real players and more authenticity (but higher licensing costs) is to EA.

What we do know is College Football games are a high enough priority for EA to continue them onwards without the NCAA's involvement and with ongoing litigation hanging over the series' head. If nothing else, that's a positive sign that EA feels the franchise is worth keeping on in a yearly release lineup.

Matthew Coe: College football fans should be more worried than excited now that the dust has settled in the NCAA/EA divorce. Not necessarily because the NCAA name is now gone, but because the end of the the NCAA's participation gives individual schools the impetus needed to pull out of College Football 15 if they choose to do so. I've been following this case fairly closely and the fallout from the NCAA's decision isn't over just yet.

There exists a very real chance as of right now that several universities may opt out of being included in College Football 15 due to the pending litigation, although that chance seems to have diminished with the new CLC agreement EA . We have already seen statements from the Athletic Directors at Stanford and Kansas about re-evaluating their schools involvement. I fear that this may become a trend as the lawsuit continues and now involves six current college football players. With the climate being what it is now, I don't think we'll get to see any of the things that could make fans excited about the NCAA's restrictions being lifted from the game.

Things such as recruiting violations, some kind of discipline/suspension mechanic or bowl bans, schools losing scholarships, or goalposts being torn down will likely still be held out of the game.

Nothing about this case or the future of college sports video games is black and white. This is an uneasy time for everyone involved in the lawsuit and for fans of college football and college football video games. I myself have gone from shock at the first announcement, to calm after understanding that the CLC controls the licensing, to concern now as I see the very real possibility that individual schools both in the CLC and the many others not represented by the group, could be absent come College Football 15. If this lawsuit somehow gets settled out of court, that decision will potentially impact the future of "amateurism" and obviously trickle down to College Football 15 for better or worse. I'm not saying advocating doom and gloom, but I am saying that fans of college sports video games should be more worried right now than excited.

Robert Kollars: Should you be excited or worried? I guess it depends on the type of person you are. Me? I am neither, because I myself will have absolutely zero impact on what the outcome of the O'Bannon case is. What you should be is patient, because that's what this case and story is going to require, and a lot of it.

As Matthew mentioned above, this case is anything but black and white, and with the removal of the NCAA, fans of this series are now hoping that all 126 FBS programs will still want to participate in College Football 15. The administrators of these schools are no different than a lot of us on this site(other than having legal teams at their disposal) as they are waiting to see what direction this case takes. Anyone who acts as if they know exactly what the outcome is going to be, is just that - acting.

I am cautiously optimistic that the college football series form EA will continue, but at this point I am not sure when I sit down to play if it will be Notre Dame vs. Florida State or South Bend vs. Tallahassee. The perfect scenario to me is EA and the NCAA settle out of court, and then work out a deal where in the future they are allowed to use names and likeness and the players will have small sum of money or escrow waiting for them after they graduate. This way we avoid paying college players, and hopefully any further lawsuits.

Is this possible? I am not sure as I am not a lawyer and do not pretend to be one. What I do know is this: the chances of seeing a resolution anytime soon to this case is highly unlikely.

That is why one should neither be excited nor worried - just simply patient.

NCAA Football 14 Videos

Member Comments

# 1 JLoco11 @ 07/22/13 01:06 PM

In the long run, the NCAA trademark will mean little... nothing more than an add in so that EA would get access to March Madness.

As long as college football remains profitable, EA will produce it. When the game no longer becomes profitable, then it will be time to worry

# 2 BadAssHskr @ 07/22/13 01:23 PM

I obviously don't have any clue how this ruling is all going to play out and effect the future for us.

But for whatever reason, i'm excited about the NCAA dropping off. I don't know what it is, but coming out on next gen, and new name, i'm kind of optimistic for good things.

# 3 LastExit @ 07/22/13 02:00 PM

I think Robert Kollars has it right - we need to be patient and see how this lawsuit (expected to go to court next year, I think) plays out before we begin to be real concerned about the future of the CFB franchise.

What does concern me is what EA may do to shield themselves from future litigation. Sure, they have random rosters in the retail version but what does concern me is them making a move like disabling the ability for the user to edit the rosters - that way they could claim that their game bears no likeness to real players and even the users can't do it on their own. Again, we need to be patient and see how this plays out but I wouldn't fault EA for being proactive to protect themselves.

# 4 thinkjoey @ 07/22/13 02:17 PM

I like the NCAA gameplay...but I love it even more knowing that I can export the draft classes to Madden

That way I have two games to play until next year. Easier to stay interested.

With that said...I doubt it will affect anything besides the name of the game and in game ads

# 5 lord_mike @ 07/22/13 03:35 PM

I don't understand why EA isn't arguing first amendment. They won their case against Jim Brown using just that argument. It's OK to "paint" a picture of a celebrity and sell it without the permission of the person you painted, if you look at the history of case law. Why are video games any different?

# 6 sportzbro @ 07/22/13 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BadAssHskr


	I obviously don't have any clue how this ruling is all going to play out and effect the future for us. But for whatever reason, i'm excited about the NCAA dropping off. I don't know what it is, but coming out on next gen, and new name, i'm kind of optimistic for good things.

Yea, I would have to agree. I feel that, overall, it's going to open the doors up for a lot of creativity without the constraints of the NCAA... That is, if the dev. team gives us the proper tools to create & edit on next gen.

# 7 The_Gaming_Disciple @ 07/22/13 06:48 PM

I am worried that a patch is not coming soon to fix the openly apparent problems with this games, and how no one from the gaming community does not have any info yet as to whether or not EA is going to address these current issues...

# 8 den den @ 07/22/13 06:53 PM

I do think the possibility is there for a change coming to college football games, but I also think there is opportunity to look at other schools in Division II to be added to make the game better. Some of the smaller schools I'm sure would love to sign on for the exposure. Of course, you still need the powerhouse schools to make the game legit, but how about considering what it would mean to the "little guys" to be involved with a video game by EA Sports ! NCAA 14 took some big steps with this game, but I think they should be starting to think about scenerios and what ifs right now for the vision they have for the future.

# 9 josephid @ 07/22/13 07:43 PM

EA should just put some more resources into making a better create a player, stadium, team, logo, etc.... Give us the ability to make just about anything? Make a better website where we can do all this or in the game. Gamers would probably be happier then this years game?

NHL is a joke with logos, I always want to make my high school team and all I get is a handful of crappy logos.

# 10 Lila03 @ 07/23/13 08:49 AM

my co-worker's mother makes $69 an hour on the laptop. She has been out of a job for 6 months but last month her payment was $12533 just working on the laptop for a few hours. Read more here ......... yad7.com

# 11 thinkjoey @ 07/23/13 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lila03


	my co-worker's mother makes $69 an hour on the laptop. She has been out of a job for 6 months but last month her payment was $12533 just working on the laptop for a few hours. Read more here ......... yad7.com

reported. Peace out

# 12 BrockOchoGOAT @ 07/23/13 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lord_mike


	I don't understand why EA isn't arguing first amendment. They won their case against Jim Brown using just that argument. It's OK to "paint" a picture of a celebrity and sell it without the permission of the person you painted, if you look at the history of case law. Why are video games any different?

This is a great point. Video games are not any different. The difference is only in the changing times, and a painting is not good enough to use as a complete presidence in court. However, I think that people have a "when" and not an "if" attitude towards EA losing the lawsuit, and that should not be the case. EA and everybody on their side is still the heavy favorite, even if they end up paying millions in a settlement.

# 13 BDawg35 @ 07/30/13 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lila03


	my co-worker's mother makes $69 an hour on the laptop. She has been out of a job for 6 months but last month her payment was $12533 just working on the laptop for a few hours. Read more here ......... yad7.com

Post #12 is obvious spam. Why is it still up?

# 14 gatorsinRENO @ 07/31/13 03:17 AM

What we need is for another company to rise up and challenge EA, break the monopoly so that there can be healthy competition, and if the other company fails, then maybe we will get a good game out of EA once or twice

# 15 Goblue8899 @ 01/16/14 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BizDevConglomerate


	I may delusional, but I don't see why this matters. Backbreaker showed the world that you don't agreements to have the team's, leagues logos etc to have an awesome game. I see it that, whoever produces the next game can use a teambuilder option and mimic the leagues. I. E. Create a football game that can be whatever league according to the amount of teams, divisions, and postseason. This way we can have a game that gives us COLLEGE, CFL, ARENA, AND EVEN HIGH SCHOOL. I play college to export rosters to the NFL, but this can also be accomplished by using dlc add-ons, or by creating agreements with EA fir madden or who ever else makes a game. What this would mean is, there would take more creativity and effort to innovate and do something great. Push the envelop. I dont want to imply they aren't using a strong effort, but this last ncaa edition needs to be the last. They added physics from madden, the shoes are the same, they added gloves, and cutscenes, ultimate team is ok, the sky looks good, and dynasty is ok. But after a week, it's still dry. The amount of time it takes to change accessories is still too long

That is a great idea. Also I was a fan of the real FCS teams, the whole FCS east predators, that's just stupid, teams like south Alabama play the same FCS team five times a year. But I didn't like how you could only switch them out with the FBS teams. It would be sweet if there was FCS and DII and DIII teams.

# 16 scottyrogers10 @ 01/16/14 11:53 PM

Between you and hovaturnup this forum has been destroyed. Congrats.... seriously quit bumping these old threads.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

# 17 ftball11 @ 01/17/14 02:28 AM

I think EA renewed the CLC License simply to keep other companies from snagging it up. Maybe they renewed it for future use. Either way, EA shut down the whole department so unfortunately (for now) I don't think this news changes anything.

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