College Players Set to Get Their Share of a $60 Million Settlement with EA

[dubcity]

Quote: Originally Posted by jmik58

An NCAA game with random (generic) players wouldn't appeal to enough people. Many are aware you can edit or download an edited roster, but a game shipping with fictitious rosters would be a hard sell on a mass scale.

People bought college games for years and years before roster sharing was even a thing. I think having the licensed schools, coaches and stadiums would be enough.

[superxero27]

Quote: Originally Posted by SilverBullet19

I remember, I had that title, and I do agree it wasn't done well. It had bad graphics, movement, and felt very half-a**ed. I won't, however, base my opinion on that.

Yeah 2k3 was bad, but it was based on the previous NFL 2k2 architecture. NFL 2k3 was a massive improvement, and I sometimes wonder what might have been it they had kept the college game out for one more year and leveraged that great NFL engine.

[superxero27]

Quote: Originally Posted by itsbigmike

They also run themselves ragged having to burn the candle at both ends with training, practice, film study, actual school study, classes and trying to have a normal social life. They're working far beyond a full time job on top of going to this school, while their coaches make anywhere from six-to-seven figures on the backs of their hard work -- not to mention the lack of a penalty when the coach they signed on to play for bolts for a better job because these kids excelled on the field. Great, they get the education, but how many are being shoehorned into false degrees that do nothing for them in the future? This says nothing of the schools committing academic fraud to keep their players on the field. When you're not learning anything because your courses aren't worth a crap, the scholarship money means little. If the coach's' success is worth, collectively as a coaching staff, multi-millions of dollars, how much is the players worth? More than their scholarships.

Beyond all this though, there is another problem. Compare a student on a full-ride football scholarship to a student on a full-ride academic scholarship.

Both students are going to college "for free." Both students have to meet some sort of academic eligibility in order to maintain that scholarship. Both students have to balance class, extracurriculars, and everyday life.

The student on the academic scholarship can get a job wherever they want to bring in additional income to offset the costs of those things that aren't free (and there are a lot of those costs). The athlete cannot, either due to time/schedule constraints or NCAA eligibility rules. The academic student would be able to profit from their likeness if anyone were interested (for example publishing their research for a per-access fee). The academic student would be able to accept all kinds of other financial assistance from outside influences (since they don't have to report to the NCAA), whereas the athlete cannot.

When you realize that the full-ride athletes are probably more likely to come from poverty than the full-ride academics, and that (as the NCAA loves to point out) the vast majority of them will "go pro in something other than sports" you see the machinations of a flawed system. Allowing athletes similar access to profit from their likeness as a regular student would help address this imbalance. And it's not like the video game companies aren't willing to do so. EA is basically standing outside waving fistfulls of money begging to be let in.

[Hoops737]

I hate O'Bannon with the fire of a thousand suns.

Thank you for taking away my favorite game, jerk.

[kc_brigade88]

I see both sides to the coin in this situation. I do understand that the athletes get a bunch of free stuff (google how much money is needed for football equipment for 1 player). A lot of money is brought in by these players. I do understand they have no social life because of practice and all that as well.

My biggest concern here is this...would every player be getting the same amount? How does that work? Would you pay FCS players if those teams are put back into the game? Is it only $1,500 for football? How much is likeness for college basketball? (Since D-I is all 300+ in a basketball game). What about basketball schools that don't have football? (Creighton, Wichita St., etc etc.)

[dovuto86]

I hope you people realize that an NCAA game will never happen again. They would have to pay each player individually, meaning players from the power 5 conference colleges would get paid way more than the mid majors/ lower tiered schools. This will mess up recruiting terribly and put the mid majors/ lower schools at a huge disadvantage making college sports less competitive. If a top 10 quarterback recruit out of high school wants to go to Tulsa because its his hometown college, he wouldnt do it if they paid athletes because hed make way more money if he went to oklahoma or alabama. and also if a quarterback becomes a star at a college like Tulsa hed transfer the next season to an oklahoma or alabama so hed make way more money on endorsements and game license fees. Also if they try to even it out so that each player makes the same then the power 5 conference players would reject it asap because they feel they deserve way more money than the lower mid major players.

[dovuto86]

It's not the player's fault, they should be compensated. It's not EA's fault, they are willing to compensate the players for their likenesses. The NCAA's ridiculousness is the real culprit. They allow this climate where schools, apparel companies, TV networks, and they themselves squeeze every dime they can out of these players w/o throwing anything back their way.


Its called their scholarship and room and board... They make hundreds of thousands of dollars just from not having to pay for their tuition and room and board.

[SilverBullet19]

Quote: Originally Posted by OBJ_Catch

This is, as well as every single people who say that players don't get any compensation, wrong. Plain and simple. I think people forget one thing, when it comes to these players : They have, for a huge part of them, full-ride scholarships. They get to play football, and maybe make it to the NFL, be a 1st round pick and become millionaires in the best case scenario. Worst case scenario ? They get a College degree if they don't **** up, and they don't have to pay. The avg. scholarship for FBS schools in 2014 was 18,273$. If they have money, they probably will have to pay for the room, sure. But let's say they spend 5 years in the school, it's worth roughly 100k$, way less, or more, depending on the College they go to. On top of that, some of them have access to top-notch facilities and treatments that even those who pay the full tuition and fees don't get access to. This argument has to stop being used. It's wrong, ignorant, and has nothing to do with the matter of likeness. Also, College players aren't allowed to receive any sort of compensation for that. So yeah, they'd have to wait until the end of their college career to have access to it. A fully customizable game isn't out of the question, as said by some people. On top my head, I could quote the PES series, where you could find patches made by fans, which would allow you to have every kits, every stadium, fake signs and billboards, balls, cleats, everything that couldn't be included by the developers for licensing reasons. I can also think of the Steam Workshop, or the modding of games like GTA.

Obviously the scholarship is great, but it doesn't cover everything. Players often scramble for enough food, and have no money for fun activities outside of football. All this while companies make millions off of them.

Your logic is flawed. You essentially say "They get enough, so tough crap they don't need to be paid." Tom Brady has a fat contract, so do Dez Bryant and Tony Romo. Even with that, they still get paid for their jersey sales, to be in Madden, and anything else with their name. They don't say "well, my signing bonus was plenty so Nike can have every dime from my jersey sales, no biggie."

Imagine you're a student on scholarship. As a project you design a video game. Your professor then markets it, sells it, and makes millions. He turns to you and says "oh you don't get any of this money. Sure, its your product and design, but you're getting a free education! That's more than enough." You would be livid and rightfully so, because your professor is profiting off your work.