NCAA Football 14 News Post

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

11:56 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

# 221 Cryolemon @ 08/14/13 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by awill25


	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!!

Maybe you should write a country song about the demise of NCAA lol

# 222 ncaa98 @ 08/14/13 05:52 PM

I bet next years MADDEN will be the best one ever!

# 223 BadAssHskr @ 08/14/13 05:54 PM

Ea needs to roll with what they have, go online, sell yearly "enhancements."

Whats the over under on EAs response to the matter time frame wise?

# 224 awill25 @ 08/14/13 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cryolemon


	Maybe you should write a country song about the demise of NCAA lol

Haha....Truthfully, that day is coming as well. There NCAA is in huge trouble. Don't know if anyone saw but Jay Bilas absolutely killed them last week by going on their online store and searching player names in the product search window, only to have those players jerseys appear as items for sale. This killed the NCAA's assertion that they don't use players' likeness for profit! Later that day they disabled the search feature, and the next day came out with a statement that they would "exit the business" of selling players jerseys. HAHA what a mess.

/Back on toipic

# 225 BenGerman @ 08/14/13 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankstallone83


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

Right, I saw that. All of the schools I named were still making plenty of money, despite the expenses. Like I said, I get the point that not all schools make a ton of money, but that doesn't change my argument that players should and will be paid sooner rather than later.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/...otball-players

That's from Steve Spurrier. I get that not everyone agrees, but I really wish people would dive a little deeper before trashing the opinion that athletes should be paid.

# 226 ncaa98 @ 08/14/13 05:56 PM

ACC, BIGXII, B1G, PAC-12 & SEC are gonna form a new division of CFB soon and pay their players. At that point we should get those teams in a game.

# 227 frankstallone83 @ 08/14/13 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncaa98


	I bet next years MADDEN will be the best one ever!

Ha! Not sure if you're joking since that's been the battle cry for Madden for 8 years or if you were thinking what I'm thinking; the possible silver lining of maybe some of the better talent from NCAA will move to Madden.

I preferred Madden last gen but imo this gen NCAA has been the better, more fun game.

# 228 ncaa98 @ 08/14/13 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BadAssHskr


	Ea needs to roll with what they have, go online, sell yearly "enhancements." Whats the over under on EAs response to the matter time frame wise?

What about Next Gen. Systems that come out soon?

# 229 fidzilla @ 08/14/13 06:00 PM

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports...idies/2142443/

Most schools athletic departments aren't turning a profit. In fact only 23 of 228 D1 public schools are able to be 100% self sufficient.

# 230 BenGerman @ 08/14/13 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by awill25


	Haha....Truthfully, that day is coming as well. There NCAA is in huge trouble. Don't know if anyone saw but Jay Bilas absolutely killed them last week by going on their online store and searching player names in the product search window, only to have those players jerseys appear as items for sale. This killed the NCAA's assertion that they don't use players' likeness for profit! Later that day they disabled the search feature, and the next day came out with a statement that they would "exit the business" of selling players jerseys. HAHA what a mess. /Back on toipic

Which is another thing. If people don't believe schools make money off of their athletes (they do), then you better believe the NCAA does.

# 231 ncaa98 @ 08/14/13 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankstallone83


	Ha! Not sure if you're joking since that's been the battle cry for Madden for 8 years or if you were thinking what I'm thinking; the possible silver lining of maybe some of the better talent from NCAA will move to Madden. I preferred Madden last gen but imo this gen NCAA has been the better, more fun game.

EA will try to capture market share with Madden from all the loss from NCAA. They are both still Football.

# 232 porterhouse7070 @ 08/14/13 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duece


	The Toronto Raptors should've just let Ed O'Bannon ride the pine for 15 years and then we would not have this problem.

Oh, thats cute. Blame

Canada

# 233 porterhouse7070 @ 08/14/13 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncaa98


	EA will try to capture market share with Madden from all the loss from NCAA. They are both still Football.

Createable draft classes?

That would be almost just as good. See NBA 2k series...

# 234 ncaa98 @ 08/14/13 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenGerman


	Which is another thing. If people don't believe schools make money off of their athletes (they do), then you better believe the NCAA does.

Title IX is the problem. If I can't afford a PS4 should you have to buy me one?

# 235 mva5580 @ 08/14/13 06:05 PM

Well as others have said, the game is dead. If the conferences are pulling out, that means the teams IN the conferences are going to pull out too. That really doesn't take much to figure out.

If this NCAA Football game was something that actually mattered to the schools, they would put up more of a fight over it. Clearly it's a blip on the radar and not something worth fighting for, so they're just going to steer clear of the (potential) issues that go along with it.

For those of you who think this isn't that huge of a deal and people will still buy a game with a large amount of generic content....come on. People don't buy these games to play as the Lincoln Cornpullers with generic logos/uniforms/etc, they buy them to play as their favorite teams and see college football represented digitally. Would you REALLY care about how many alternate uniforms the Eugene Quackers have?

I'd love to say the game had a good run but at the same time considering how half-assed it's been forever now, perhaps this is an end they deserve.

# 236 BenGerman @ 08/14/13 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncaa98


	Title IX is the problem. If I can't afford a PS4 should you have to buy me one?

Wait, what?

If I am using your likeness to make money (which the NCAA does), would you or would you not feel entitled to some of that money. I know I would. Being a student athlete is the only job in the country that you aren't allowed to make money off of. It's stupid, and just about everyone is beginning to acknowledge that. Like I said, everyone should go check out the Jay Bilas thing from the other day. How is that even fair for those players?

# 237 awill25 @ 08/14/13 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenGerman


	Which is another thing. If people don't believe schools make money off of their athletes (they do), then you better believe the NCAA does.

It's sickening really.....how much the NCAA makes off of college athletes. Anyone who argues that college athletes should not be financially compensated automatically loses credibility to me. Free education blah blah blah.....If that's the argument then a kid on scholarship in the band should not be allowed to make money using his musical talents while in school. SAME THING! And because the NCAA is a sham, we are going to lose a great video game. It's not EA! The real criminal is the NCAA. I 100% agree with O'Bannon. We are just caught in the crosshairs of a storm!

# 238 ncaa98 @ 08/14/13 06:08 PM

Right now the NCAA, conferences, schools everyone is scared they are gonna be the next ones sued and are trying to avoid lawyer fees and public humiliation.

# 239 FloorGeneral @ 08/14/13 06:09 PM

I got about halfway through page 2, so excuse me if this was addressed already, but the ppl that are blaming, and spewing negative words at Ed O'Bannon are extremely naive and..well, there's other words that come to mind, but I'd probably get a warning for putting them down here.

The point is, you ppl need to get past the fact that you might lose your PRIVILEGE to play a VIDEO GAME, and look at the bigger picture. What's happening with the lawsuit was gonna happen sooner or later, and the fact that it was Ed O'Bannon who had the guts to stand up is neither here nor there. The fact is the NCAA makes boatloads and boatloads of money every year off of "Amateur Athletes", while the players get nothing*.

******

Spoiler

******

So with the recent (meaning the past 10-15 years or so) explosion in the popularity of College Athletics (re: Football and Men's Basketball), these players have to sit back and watch the Suits count stacks thanks to their (the players) efforts on the field/court. Call me crazy, but if I were Ed O'Bannon, or Desmond Howard, or Johnny Manziel or whoever, I wouldn't be all that happy either. You play as yourself (and there's no doubt that it is YOU, name or not) in NCAA Football 'XX, and at first you're like "SWEET", but how long does it take for you to notice the sales, and the amount that EA pays to your school, or your organization before you say "huh...they're getting that much? But what about us? WE'RE the ones making all that possible.

I don't wanna start a "to pay, or not to pay" argument, because that's a whole 'nother mess of a topic in itself, but to talk down on someone you don't know for actually standing up for what they believe in, and whittle it down to "greed" is just wrong IMO. Is his motivation greed? Maybe. Is his motivation to expose the hypocrisy that the NCAA has, and continues to perpetuate each and every day? Maybe. Whatever his motivation, I for one applaud him, and if this ordeal does cost us the ability to play a College Football Video Game, then them's the breaks. Instead of blaming O'Bannon, you should instead look at, and thank the NCAA for making this happen. They're the villains (as far as I'm concerned) in this deal.

# 240 mva5580 @ 08/14/13 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by awill25


	It's sickening really.....how much the NCAA makes off of college athletes. Anyone who argues that college athletes should not be financially compensated automatically loses credibility to me. Free education blah blah blah.....If that's the argument then a kid on scholarship in the band should not be allowed to make money using his musical talents while in school. SAME THING! And because the NCAA is a sham, we are going to lose a great video game. It's not EA! The real criminal is the NCAA. I 100% agree with O'Bannon. We are just caught in the crosshairs of a storm!

I'm not saying that there aren't legitimate points in there, but seriously. What's your solution? I've yet to see an idea that doesn't cause more problems than it solves.

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