NCAA Football 14 News Post

NCAA Will Not Renew EA Sports Contract, NCAA Football Series is Dead in Name Only

03:24 PM - July 17, 2013 by FloorGeneral

The NCAA has decided today, unilaterally it appears, to not renew their license with EA Sports for the NCAA Football video game beginning next year.

In the statement, the NCAA said, "The NCAA has made the decision not to enter a new contract for the license of its name and logo for the EA Sports NCAA Football video game. The current contract expires in June 2014, but our timing is based on the need to provide EA notice for future planning. As a result, the NCAA Football 2014 video game will be the last to include the NCAA�s name and logo. We are confident in our legal position regarding the use of our trademarks in video games. But given the current business climate and costs of litigation, we determined participating in this game is not in the best interests of the NCAA."

EA should still be able to work out individual school, conference, awards, etc. licenses from the CLC -- which should mean the series should be able to live on. At the end of the day, this is the NCAA taking it's name and logo off of the game, but nothing more it appears. So while the series can't be called "NCAA Football" anymore, perhaps with the ESPN license the series can be called "EA Sports College Gameday 15" next season.

The only way this ends the NCAA Football series altogether is if one of two further scenarios happen: 1)If EA Sports decides it is done with the series altogether, which is doubtful given it's a top seller in the US. 2)If the CLC won't play ball with EA Sports, and thus EA has to negotiate licenses individually from member institutions

It is possible EA Sports will not continue development of the game after this year because of either reason, or because of fears of financial fallout from the Ed O'Bannon lawsuit. However, there is no guarantee EA will face huge financial problems from the O'Bannon lawsuit, and in a sense -- the threat of the O'Bannon lawsuit ending the series is the same today as it was yesterday.

I EA wants to they can continue the game with purely cosmetic changes and greater creative freedom without the NCAA hovering above the game. And let's face it, the less the NCAA is involved in anything, the better it will be.

So in a sense, the only thing different today versus yesterday with regards to the NCAA Football series is that it is no longer the NCAA Football series going forward. Everything thing else remains the same.

UPDATE: Brett McMurphy of ESPN is reporting ESPN has been told EA Sports will still have a college football video game beyond 2014, next year's game will be called College Football 15.

UPDATE #2: According to ESPN's Sports Business reporter Darren Rovell the CLC, which handles school, bowl, awards, etc. licensing, says it plans to work with EA in the future despite the NCAA dropping out.

UPDATE #3: EA Sports Executive Vice President Andrew Wilson speaks. In a statement, Wilson said, "EA SPORTS will continue to develop and publish college football games, but we will no longer include the NCAA names and marks. Our relationship with the Collegiate Licensing Company is strong and we are already working on a new game for next generation consoles which will launch next year and feature the college teams, leagues and all the innovation fans expect from EA SPORTS.

We took big creative strides with this year's college game and you�ll see much more in the future. We love college football and look forward to making more games for our fans."

Game: NCAA Football 14Reader Score: 8/10 - Vote Now
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Member Comments

# 641 TDTGodfather @ 07/18/13 11:52 AM

I can't read through 36 pgs right now but if the CLC plays ball then the game will remain virtually unchanged. And might eliminate the NCAA watching over content.

So with that, can this open the door for some great changes (& actually some reverts) like being able to set up your own playoff system (like the old days) and bringing back player discipline & probation?

Maybe being able to eliminate and create conferences like having 4-6 superconferences and such.

I always thought you could bulk up RTG by adding more off the field RPG elements. Dealing with parties, pressers (kind of like NBA 2k Series), girlfriends, defining your player's personality, how u get along with teammates, etc.

# 642 zanner @ 07/18/13 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old School SD Fan


	If EA has to approach 100 schools individually for licenses this game will be over. Or they will at least be forced to limit themselves to fewer schools, likely just the major programs. But if they can pull it off perhaps they can put life back into this title by returning celebrations and more of the exciting atmosphere of college ball which was removed due to stodgy NCAA oversight.

Depends on how much money is involved.. Fifa has a TON of teams across a lot of countries...

# 643 Perfect Zero @ 07/18/13 12:08 PM

My question to those of you that say that losing the NCAA is good is this: Why would the schools themselves want bigger hits, suspensions and the like? I doubt any school would allow their licensor to allow this.

# 644 Strategizer @ 07/18/13 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfect Zero


	My question to those of you that say that losing the NCAA is good is this: Why would the schools themselves want bigger hits, suspensions and the like? I doubt any school would allow their licensor to allow this.

Yeah I don't see those things changing. Even things like rushing the field are technically prohibited by schools.

# 645 BrandH @ 07/18/13 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old School SD Fan


	You REALLY think I have the time or interest to read 33 pages? Get a life Mr. Critic. I still say there is the possibility the number of schools covered in this game will be scaled back.

You only need to read the last page to figure it out. Seeing irrelevant comments that have already been proven not to be the case is annoying.

# 646 acarrero @ 07/18/13 12:20 PM

This changes the game completely. I don't think we'll see another college football game like the NCAA series for quite some time. Yes, maybe we get something similar, but so many questions now as to how it can be handled. How much money will it take to sign up individual schools? Will we have actual players (minus the names of course) like we've had all these years? Lots of questions. Let's not pretend this is anything but a crushing blow to college sports gaming.

# 647 seasprite @ 07/18/13 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old School SD Fan


	I still say there is the possibility the number of schools covered in this game will be scaled back.

And you would be terribly wrong

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 648 seasprite @ 07/18/13 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrMBrown


	I don't know. Would O'Bannon and Keller care about the athletes getting their fair share had they made it big in the NBA and NFL respectively?

Don't think that is relevant at all, it's still money they should be entitled to whether they now are in the NBA or bag groceries for a living.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 649 laxman490 @ 07/18/13 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LowerWolf


	With the NCAA out of the way, I can see EA adding an option for a full-blown 16-team playoff in the next game. That's a plus. When they do rename the series, I hope they fix the year and make it College Football 14. Bugs me that it's NCAA 14 for the 2013 season.

they do that cause technically the season goes into the 2014 calendar year. all sports game do this, except baseball (maybe?) since their season is confined to the same calendar year.

# 650 BucksFan5Covers @ 07/18/13 01:40 PM

Its going to be the same as NCAA 14 but instead The NCAA wont be included in it. Thats it.

# 651 FSUNolez @ 07/18/13 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by laxman490


	they do that cause technically the season goes into the 2014 calendar year. all sports game do this, except baseball (maybe?) since their season is confined to the same calendar year.

Exactly. Basically, it has to do with what year the Championship Game is played. This year's College Football National Champion will be the 2014 BCS National Champion.

# 652 BleedGreen710 @ 07/18/13 02:21 PM

Glad to see this thread has finally slowed down. Last night when the news first broke, I would refresh while reading the last page and suddenly theres 2 new pages lol

# 653 BenGerman @ 07/18/13 02:30 PM

I've had this discussion a million times with other people, and there is a lot to talk and think about. I think athletes should be given a stipend of about fifty bucks a week. I have a ton of friends involved in college athletics right now, and while they all have some time to socialize, it's pretty much impossible to work and play a sport at the same time. So when my friends and I all go eat on Friday nights or whatever, they get the shaft because they don't have a little extra spending money like we do.

That also prevents smaller schools from being able to pay their student athletes (if you have 20,000 students, and 200 student athletes, that's a $16 hike in tuition a year). It also prevents choosing which school you're going to go to as an athlete into and turning it into a business decision. If players get paid for their likeness in school, they are going to pick whichever school can sell their likeness best, and education gets thrown by the wayside. Schools could choose to up tuition or the athletic programs could pay for it.

I wonder how something like that would figure into this stuff going on with EA? If players are getting some kind of stipend (as Spurrier suggested the other day), would people be able to use their likeness? I'd guess no, but I'm sure it blurs the line a little bit.

# 654 killrnut @ 07/18/13 03:07 PM

I am so sick of this argument that college athletes don't get paid. They DO!!!! Far more than you might realize or think about. Beyond full ride or partial scholarships.

Think of a player for your favorite school that was average. Not great, never lived up to expectations, just average. If that guy stays out of trouble and doesn't put his foot in his mouth, he will NEVER have trouble putting food on the table, assuming he stays in that area.

A company in Ann Arbor, MI is hiring for some position. Doesn't matter what. There are two leading candidates. One played football at Michigan. One didn't. All, or most else being equal, who do you think is gonna get hired??? And I use Michigan strictly as an example. It happens everywhere.

Another problem is that once you start paying the Football, or Basketball players, you have to pay EVERYONE, all the way down to Women's swimming and other sports no one cares about. As an example, the University of Akron, where the football team sucks and wins but one game a year, and the Soccer team is awesome and won the national championship a few years ago. I want to hear that conversation where the soccer team finds out they aren't being paid but the football team is. Or at Iowa where the wrestling team that's been national champs 4 times since 2000 isn't being paid but other sports are. and so on....

Keeping with Akron soccer as an example, once enough of a crapstorm is raised about it and they start getting paid, you then obviously have to start paying players on ALL NCAA soccer teams, for the sake of maintaining competitive balance in both the MAC and NCAA. This trickle down effect will make its way to all NCAA sports given enough time. The problem then, is how do you determine which sports get paid more? You could pay all scholarship athletes equally, but I really don't see this happening, considering this isn't what happens under the current model of granting scholarships. Some sports are given enough scholarships to cover a whole roster, while lesser followed sports are only given a few scholarships for coaches to slice and dice as they see fit. Like reflected in the current schlarship model, the NCAA isn't going to want to pay full rosters of teams in sports that generate no revenue, or operate at a loss. Which leads to the next option.... You could do it based on revenue generated by the programs, but then we're back to complaints by Akron Soccer and Iowa Wrestling and other dominant programs of less popular sports. You could do it based on winning within the sport, but that would piss off most of the small schools, as well as simply creating an even bigger gap in recruiting between the haves and have nots of each sport. The point? I don't see how you pay players and have it be balanced fairly for all involved in college athletics.

TL;DR- College athletes are already paid in more ways than once, and if you start paying players $$$, good luck trying to balance it fairly.

# 655 Retropyro @ 07/18/13 04:21 PM

If the player likeness in NCAA Football is as real as the lawsuit say's, why does it take so much time to go through every team and edit the entire roster? I'm thinking because the "likeness" is not really close at all.

# 656 GisherJohn24 @ 07/18/13 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retropyro


	If the player likeness in NCAA Football is as real as the lawsuit say's, why does it take so much time to go through every team and edit the entire roster? I'm thinking because the "likeness" is not really close at all.

i think in the earlier NCAA games before you could change them yourselves, they look similar to the real college guys right out of the box without any modifications necessary. I think those are the games they are pissed at, not so much the current ones. Someone else might correct me ,but I think this is for past NCAA games. Maybe on PS2 and XBOX...

# 657 BenGerman @ 07/18/13 04:55 PM

Quote:


	TL;DR- College athletes are already paid in more ways than once, and if you start paying players $$$, good luck trying to balance it fairly.

Unfortunately, your whole argument is based on the notion that most student athletes are well renowned in their area. A lot of sports don't get the attention that football and basketball do. Like I said, all student athletes should be given a stipend (think allowance), because they aren't able to get a job and have extra cash to spend. What if they want to go out to dinner with friends? It's not like the university pays for that.

Another thing, if football athletes are getting paid, why shouldn't other student athletes be paid? That's ridiculous. They all put in similar work loads for their university.

# 658 bigbob @ 07/18/13 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retropyro


	If the player likeness in NCAA Football is as real as the lawsuit say's, why does it take so much time to go through every team and edit the entire roster? I'm thinking because the "likeness" is not really close at all.

Because EA doesn't have the most up-to-date information before they release the game. The rosters are set at least a month in advance, and that's probably an understatement.

Every single freshman in the game is taken directly from websites like Rivals, Scout etc.

It takes a lot of time to edit the entire roster because it takes a lot of time to edit the names. Numbers change, players get suspended, hurt etc.

# 659 MysteriousPanther @ 07/18/13 05:02 PM

The way it went down yesterday, does mean college football fans can get to see some competition with 2K Sports vs EA Sports?

# 660 Quint75 @ 07/18/13 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herky


	I really hope 2K picks up the license but we are probably looking at a 2 year cycle before that is polished.

SMH. There is no license to pick up. The NCAA did not decide to forego renewing the license just to sign a new one with someone else. They want to get out of gaming (at least for now) because of possible liability in lawsuits like the one now pending.

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