NCAA Football 14 News Post

SEC, Pac-12, Big Ten Won't License Trademarks in Future Video Games

10:56 AM - August 14, 2013 by vhhsfu0509

The Southeastern Conference announced today that it will not, as a conference, license its trademarks in the EA Sports NCAA Football video game. This decision does not involve member universities as of yet, as this only involves the SEC conference name and logo.

However, this could be the type of event that opens the flood gates to future defections from the game. While the future of the College Football series looked somewhat on stable ground after EA and the CLC agreed to a three year deal, this news rattles the very foundations and future of the series.

"Each school makes its own individual decision regarding whether or not to license their trademarks for use in the EA Sports game(s)," the SEC said in a statement. "The Southeastern Conference has chosen not to do so moving forward. Neither the SEC, its member universities, nor the NCAA have ever licensed the right to use the name or likeness of any student to EA Sports."

This is another move in response to the Ed O'Bannon case which could end collegiate video games forever given unfavorable rulings from the courts.

Today's news only brings more questions as to the viability of the product going forward.

UPDATE: ESPN's Kristi Dosh is reporting that the Big XII says they have yet to make a decision on the inclusion of their marks in future College Football video games.

UPDATE #2: ESPN is now reporting the Big Ten is out as well.

UPDATE #3: In a statement to Joystiq, a CLC representative said "150 collegiate institutions, including SEC schools, have approved renewal of the EA college football license, to begin with the 2015 edition. As with any licensed product, individual schools continue to make their own decisions."

We are putting in a question with the CLC on whether this means schools can still opt out of the game at any time or not as the wording certainly seems to leave that possibility open.

Update #4: Jeremy Fowler of CBS is reporting that the Pac-12's marks also won't be in the new game.

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Member Comments

# 201 Cryolemon @ 08/14/13 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slick589


	I wonder what EA will do? In all honesty it's only gonna take one individual school backing out of the game to send the rest of the cards tumbling down.

Agreed, it's only going to take one college to jump and that will kill it in my opinion.

# 202 OReilly10 @ 08/14/13 04:27 PM

So its over.

It would be great if we got a nice comprehensive "F.U." patch from EA that somehow increased customization possibilities and also added the playoff option.

# 203 DrPhibes @ 08/14/13 04:30 PM

Pandora's box has been opened.

EA had a good run, but the series has been living on borrowed time for a while (going back even to Sam Keller, when the first smoke appeared).

I don't believe any university of any type of CFB prominence would even consider individually signing on. There is too much potential risk and there is no deal lucrative enough for them to go through a potential headache over a video game. It just won't be worth their while.

# 204 malky @ 08/14/13 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cryolemon


	Agreed, it's only going to take one college to jump and that will kill it in my opinion.

Which is going to happen, if you have eyes

1 NCAA bail
2 Stanford and Kansas thinking about leaving the clc
3 SEC bail
4 BIG ten bail
5 PAC 12 bail

Seriously if you can't figure out the next few steps, you're not paying attention

# 205 fistofrage @ 08/14/13 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrPhibes


	Pandora's box has been opened. EA had a good run, but the series has been living on borrowed time for a while (going back even to Sam Keller, when the first smoke appeared). I don't believe any university of any type of CFB prominence would individually sign on. There is too much potential risk and there is no deal lucrative enough for them to go through a potential headache over a video game. It just won't be worth their while.

Actually, the first smoke appeared when EA had the Hawaii "Mascot" in the game and he wasn't licensed through the school or something. But he sued them for using his likeness and they quickly settled with him. I think that was 2003 or 2004. If they couldn't say he was just a random generic person dressed up in Hawaiian garb, then they couldn't really say the same thing about a player who's height, weight, hair color, position, throwing hand, and uniform number all matched up directly with their real life counterparts.

# 206 Ky3217 @ 08/14/13 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenGerman


	Just to name a few... Alabama's athletic department made $124 million dollars last year, Texas' made $120 million, Ohio State made $116 million, Florida's made $106 million, and Tennessee made $101 million. Like I said, just do a little research and you will see where I'm coming from. I won't get into the whole "college athletes already get paid enough in scholarships" nonsense, but I will note that there are a lot of people (myself included) who could argue that that is not at all true either. Anyway, athletic departments make a lot of money (not all, but most D1 schools), and plenty enough to give each of their athletes 50-100 bucks a week to quell all of this stuff.

Congratulations. You named a few of the very small number of schools that actually make money. And no, most D1 schools do not make money. In fact, only 23 did.
http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports...ms-in-the-red/

And actually no. After you factor in expenses, the colleges you named didnt make nearly as much money as you think they did.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...idies/2142443/

Compare a scholarship athlete to a student who has to pay their way through college, and you will see that they indeed do, get enough.

So once again, schools cant afford it. At least not right now. Maybe they could if they say, cut a bunch of sports programs. Im sure that would please a lot of people.

# 207 awill25 @ 08/14/13 04:38 PM

Guys, I don't know whats so hard to see right now. I mean take the rose colored glasses off. No University in the land wants to deal with the liability from a video game. IT IS NOT THAT PROFITABLE FOR THEM. They don't need the "advertising" of being in a video game either. Just silly to think so. In the past, the NCAA delt with everything. I'm sure the schools probably could care less about being in the game. What's it to them? But with possible ramifications, and the monster that is the NCAA not there to buffer the friction...this is GAME OVER. Sad day, yes. But lets be realistic.

# 208 Sparkles @ 08/14/13 04:39 PM

Yupp it looks like we're done here :/

# 209 BA2929 @ 08/14/13 04:40 PM

Well EA, now that you don't have a game that more than 1,000 people are going to buy next year (that was a sarcastically low number, calm down), how about giving us the playoff option I wanted in this year? I'm not going to buy '15 now and that will be the first time I haven't purchased the NCAA franchise since NCAA '98. So, be a pal and give me the playoff option this year via download, k? I'll even pay $5 for it.

Thanks.

# 210 bad_philanthropy @ 08/14/13 04:41 PM

EA does still have the license until June '14 I believe. NCAA '15 released in May?

# 211 superxero27 @ 08/14/13 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenGerman


	Just to name a few... Alabama's athletic department made $124 million dollars last year, Texas' made $120 million, Ohio State made $116 million, Florida's made $106 million, and Tennessee made $101 million. Like I said, just do a little research and you will see where I'm coming from.

Congratulations on picking the outliers and asserting those as proof of your claim. Unfortunately, most athletic departments are NOT profitable. Research, indeed, but don't just stop when you find some info you like.

# 212 awill25 @ 08/14/13 04:43 PM

I feel like drinking a beer and listening to country music all day! Maybe it is sad that a grown man is quite upset about the end of a video game....but thats where I am. Man, some good memories. And Great memories playing it with buddies in high school!!

# 213 superxero27 @ 08/14/13 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bad_philanthropy


	EA does still have the license until June '14 I believe. NCAA '15 released in May?

Given the litigious mess EA finds itself in right now, I would be shocked if they leveraged the license to produce one more version.

# 214 bad_philanthropy @ 08/14/13 04:46 PM

Sad that NCAA Football as we've known it is done for the time being. We can only hope at the conclusion of the court stuff it can come back in some way resembling what it has been. Was a great marketing tool for football programs and schools themselves.

# 215 fistofrage @ 08/14/13 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bad_philanthropy


	EA does still have the license until June '14 I believe. NCAA '15 released in May?

Pretty sure they have the license until June because its implied or agreed upon that new versions will come out in July. I highly doubt EA has any intentions of releasing a game in May.....but on a side note, it would be an easy money grab. Just release the same broken game again with really fouled up rosters and announcers that won't say anyones name.

# 216 BenGerman @ 08/14/13 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ky3217


	Congratulations. You named a few of the very small number of schools that actually make money. And no, most D1 schools do not make money. In fact, only 23 did. http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports...ms-in-the-red/ And actually no. After you factor in expenses, the colleges you named didnt make nearly as much money as you think they did. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...idies/2142443/ Compare a scholarship athlete to a student who has to pay their way through college, and you will see that they indeed do, get enough. So once again, schools cant afford it. At least not right now. Maybe they could if they say, cut a bunch of sports programs. Im sure that would please a lot of people.

From ESPN: http://espn.go.com/ncaa/revenue

There are several methods that might help pay for a student athlete stipend, including upping tuition of students by a very small margin. The fact is, student athletes (not just football, as you mentioned earlier) aren't being paid enough. Steve Spurrier has gone to lengths explaining this kind of thing to people, so maybe you could find a transcript of his -- as I'm sure he explains it much better than I am. You said earlier that college athletes get paid more than their fair share through scholarships. What about the 50+% who don't have full scholarships?

The problem is a deep and complicated one. I submit that there is no easy answer, but I think you are mistaken if you believe that schools won't be paying student athletes sooner rather than later. I get your opinion, and I see where you are coming from, I just don't agree in the slightest. I'll end the conversation here, because I don't want to detract from the actual purpose of the thread. Once student athletes are paid, schools presumably wouldn't have to worry about lawsuits.

# 217 bad_philanthropy @ 08/14/13 04:47 PM

I was only joking about the May '14 release. Obviously that is not going to happen.

# 218 Moose Factory @ 08/14/13 04:48 PM

I wish EA would just combine college football with madden and do something revolutionary already! This all may force them to.

# 219 BenGerman @ 08/14/13 04:49 PM

I could see a heavily customizable game that is attached to Madden as sort of a DLC, at some point. I think, unless this whole issue with player likeness is resolved, that would probably be our best hope for a new game.

# 220 frankstallone83 @ 08/14/13 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenGerman


	From ESPN: http://espn.go.com/ncaa/revenue There are several methods that might help pay for a student athlete stipend, including upping tuition of students by a very small margin. The fact is, student athletes (not just football, as you mentioned earlier) aren't being paid enough. Steve Spurrier has gone to lengths explaining this kind of thing to people, so maybe you could find a transcript of his -- as I'm sure he explains it much better than I am. You said earlier that college athletes get paid more than their fair share through scholarships. What about the 50+% who don't have full scholarships? The problem is a deep and complicated one. I submit that there is no easy answer, but I think you are mistaken if you believe that schools won't be paying student athletes sooner rather than later. I get your opinion, and I see where you are coming from, I just don't agree in the slightest. I'll end the conversation here, because I don't want to detract from the actual purpose of the thread. Once student athletes are paid, schools presumably wouldn't have to worry about lawsuits.

Those are gross revenues....not income. Click on the expenses tab and subtract one from the other to see how much money they made.

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