EA Sports Will Not Publish College Football Game Next Year, Future Plans in Doubt

[ainokmw]

Quote: Originally Posted by Forestman

Could this happen to Madden?

Yes and No.

Nothing catastrophic like this, though.

EA is licensed to use NFL teams/logos and NFL players. The issue is that EA is only licensed to use NCAA teams/logos, but the NCAA players are not a registered body that can allow EA to use their likenesses. The NCAA and EA have been dancing a fine line by having player numbers, heights, weights, hometowns, etc. but not actually using player names. For example, DE #7 from South Carolina is suspiciously like Jadaveon Clowney, even though it doesn't have his name. Former players say the NCAA is using their likeness without consent (or, more importantly, compensation) thus the lawsuit by former players.

In the NFL, players likenesses are controlled by the NFLPA, the Players Association (the players union), who grant EA the license to use the likenesses of players in exchange for money, which is doled out to the players. The NFL doesn't control this, but they do control the licensing of NFL teams and logos.

As of now, EA has licensing with the NFL and the NFLPA. There is a situation where EA could lose one or both, in which case they couldn't make an NFL Madden game.

The real tricky situation that came about with the exclusive licenses in 2005 is what happens if EA negotiates with the NFL for exclusive NFL license, but 2K Sports (or someone else) negotiates with the NFLPA for the players likenesses. Then you could have a situation where EA can make a Madden game with made-up players, and 2K Sports (or someone else) could make a game with Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, but playing for made-up teams.

This often happened in the old days. The classic Tecmo Bowl game only had the NFLPA license, which is why Thurman Thomas would spike the ball for a "fictional" Buffalo football team.

[BDawg35]

NCAA release day used to be a national holiday for me. Not as much in recent years, more due to life changes, but I still always look forward to the new game. I'm getting really good games in my dynasty in NCAA '14, so this will be a pretty good version to keep playing for the foreseeable future until (or if) a new version is made.

I would hope EA continues to provide support to this year's version, as I'm sure many of us will be playing it for years to come.

[statum71]

I wonder would we be here if Ed O'Bannon and Sam Keller had made it in the pros.

Yes, I know O'Bannon had a short career with the Nets. But I'm talking about making it "for real."

[SgtSwagnificent]

Wonder what this means for the future of Team Builder. Such a great feature, and I'm thinking the NFL won't allow it in Madden since they seem to refuse to add it in after 4 or 5 years. I'm so sick of everything getting ruined over money.

[SgtSwagnificent]

Wonder what this means for the future of Team Builder. Such a great feature, and I'm thinking the NFL won't allow it in Madden since they seem to refuse to add it in after 4 or 5 years. I'm so sick of everything getting ruined over money.

[GoDevils95]

Quote: Originally Posted by da ThRONe

I'll just focus on this part. At what point are we going to hold the people who actually made millions of dollars on these young men likeness accountable? There is a reason why EA settle this suit and it's not because EA just enjoy handing money out. They where well aware of what was taking place. We should applaud the fact that this injustice has been corrected. At a point I loved EA's NCAA and was optimistic that moving over to next gen that EA would be able to get NCAA Football up to my standard. So I feel some sense of a loss, but IMO this settlement means more big picture than me enjoying a video game.

All these athletes did was destroy something very, very cool for minimal gain. They also didn't benefit from this NCAA football game? It increased the sport's popularity / increased their personal popularity = and thus this drove up interest in everything they decided to go to college and play sports for. The NCAA set up everything. Yet the players are suing and destroying this game.... why? Because they can.

EA settled b/c they were technically "wrong". It was a biz decision to settle instead of fighting. They were wrong....but how did EA exploit athlete's? The athlete signed up for this. Now that NCAA football vid game will be gone in the future....how will this help the athlete? It won't. It just basically said...."if I can't make money off of myself....nobody can". How did this help the athlete? They're aren't getting paid. EVER. They just killed something awesome. F*ck Sam Keller and Ed O'Bannon. Total punks.

[GoDevils95]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mouse

yeah society is really going to the pits because some athlete won't let me use his likeness in a video game without being compensated for it.

The mentality of the supporting members of the lawsuit is that if they can't get theirs.....nobody else will. What's next??? Should cows starting filing lawsuits against dairy farmers? Should fish against fishermen? Where do we draw the line? You're exploited the moment you're born into this world.....until you get old enough / smart enough / and experienced enough to do the exploiting. That's the American way. It's called "capitalism". The NCAA will NEVER pay it's athletes. NEVER. If they did....the player would then be considered an employee of the university. Game changer. Universities will drop their athletic programs before they ever pay players. It's the reality. This lawsuit will not further the cause for the players. It simply killed something b/c it could. I don't think anybody ever thought the players would do this b/c it didn't gain them anything. Well....I guess a few hundred bucks each. Big deal. The consumer lost as much as EA did. College football lost out. Younger kids will follow the sport less. The dumb athletes of yesterday just really hurt their sport. Part of me would love to see CFB fans turn their back on the sport.....much like they have towards boxing / horse racing / and NHL. Send all these people a reality check.

[tessl]

Quote: Originally Posted by GoDevils95

The mentality of the supporting members of the lawsuit is that if they can't get theirs.....nobody else will. What's next??? Should cows starting filing lawsuits against dairy farmers? Should fish against fishermen? Where do we draw the line? You're exploited the moment you're born into this world.....until you get old enough / smart enough / and experienced enough to do the exploiting. That's the American way. It's called "capitalism". The NCAA will NEVER pay it's athletes. NEVER. If they did....the player would then be considered an employee of the university. Game changer. Universities will drop their athletic programs before they ever pay players. It's the reality. This lawsuit will not further the cause for the players. It simply killed something b/c it could. I don't think anybody ever thought the players would do this b/c it didn't gain them anything. Well....I guess a few hundred bucks each. Big deal. The consumer lost as much as EA did. College football lost out. Younger kids will follow the sport less. The dumb athletes of yesterday just really hurt their sport. Part of me would love to see CFB fans turn their back on the sport.....much like they have towards boxing / horse racing / and NHL. Send all these people a reality check.

At the division 1A athletic director meeting this week the group was unified in opposing any form of paying players. The tax implications of that for athletic departments and the colleges would be potentially devastating.

I was amused when SEC commissioner Slive and some SEC coaches came out in favor of paying players. Could it be the SEC simply wants to make legal what they are already doing under the table?