O'Bannon/EA Case Money Divvied Up, Now to Ask When Can We Get NCAA Back?

[Burns2211]

NCAA 14 was/still is my favorite game. There's something about college sports that the pro sports games just can't seem to capture. I don't know what it is. But here's hoping to NCAA Football and Basketball making a return in the near future!

[Clemsonpanther]

Quote: Originally Posted by Vipertheshowoff

We could only hope that in the next few years that they'll be another game haha. I know this has zero to do with this thread, but I was asking around and seeing if anyone has a dynasty that I can join. Preferably one that hasn't started yet or if it has, it is in preseason, and it doesn't matter what year.

I have one. Ps3 PM me

[Vipertheshowoff]

Quote: Originally Posted by Clemsonpanther

I have one. Ps3 PM me

Not on PS3 man. 360.

[phenom2311]

No roster edit? LOL

Anyway, the solution is actually simple. Unwarranted fear and paranoia of litigation has set in though, and lack of innovators or forward thinkers will prevent developers, schools, and the NCAA from moving forward in creating a viable game.

[jwilphl]

Quote: Originally Posted by DBMcGee3

This would be a question for the lawyers I guess, but couldn't they just refrain from using "player likenesses" and allow people editing options? If every team was made up of generic players, so that none of the jersey #s or positions correlated with those in real life, would the athletes still have a suit? Even if file sharing could only be done with flash drives or whatever, we could still get accurate rosters and the game developers wouldn't be in the wrong, would they?

This is generally correct. There was more to the suit than just the video-game related likeness, and though I haven't read every document related to the suit, the essential issue was whether the myriad of actors could legally generate revenues associated with the class members' likenesses. [From an anti-trust standpoint, this relates to group boycotts/refusals to deal. These "concerted actors" are acting to suppress the class' ability to sell their likeness and, in turn, the group reaps monopolistic-like rewards for the privilege.]

In addition, the court had to determine whether the NCAA's rules (regarding relinquishment of players' rights associated with these revenues) were "anti-competitive" in the sense that they were contrary to anti-trust law. The basis of the suit, at least from EA's standpoint, could be cured by getting away from the likeness of both current and former players, absent explicit contracts with each individual as opposed to "group licensing."

O'Bannon claimed the NCAA's practice of group licensing meant he could not individually choose to license himself out; this meant the supply of his license was restricted to the number of instances in which the NCAA/CLC chose to barter it, and in turn the price for his likeness was artificially inflated (basic economic supply and demand function). [In terms of anti-trust law, this relates to output and/or capacity restrictions which are illegal under the Sherman Act].

The problem, of course, from EA's standpoint is doing the roster manipulation. If they randomly generated all rosters, it would still be possible to end up with players that look similar to the real-life counterparts. They would likely want to vet each and every player on every team to make sure there is no possible likeness. There's almost always bound to be some overlap, though, and I think that's why many schools and the NCAA will be reticent to get back on board.

Of course a big portion of the problem was the historical teams, and those are most certainly gone for good. I believe this is where O'Bannon's standing arose from (his likeness being on one of the historical teams featured, and as he claimed without his consent and without him receiving royalties for the use).

An in-game editor would probably withstand legal scrutiny, as EA wouldn't technically be marketing players' likenesses and the NCAA would most certainly have nothing to do with the editor itself, but I think one could argue there's still a bit of a grey area. In my own opinion I don't think an editor is illegal per se, but it could possibly be challenged, and EA most certainly wants to avoid any grey areas.

• For clarification's sake, anti-trust is not my field of expertise, but I do have some limited experience in it.

[will72684]

Why not just change the race of every player to a different one? White to black and black to white. Seems pretty simple to me.

[Lucas_III]

Quote: Originally Posted by will72684

Why not just change the race of every player to a different one? White to black and black to white. Seems pretty simple to me.

Why not take it a step further and add all races to the game. (completely serious here) It definitely would give them more player face combinations to work with.

[itsbigmike]

Quote: Originally Posted by will72684

Why not just change the race of every player to a different one? White to black and black to white. Seems pretty simple to me.

...Because they also use the players grade, number, equipment, handedness, height, weight and home state.