NCAA Football 14 News Post

Supreme Court Rejects Hearing of O'Bannon Case

05:08 PM - October 3, 2016 by RaychelSnr

The future of college sports video games is murky at best after the Supreme Court refused to hear the Ed O'Bannon case.

At this point, that means the O'Bannon case as currently decided is how things are. At this time the ruling stands as follows (Per the USA Today article linked above):

Quote:


	"Instead, Monday�s decision leaves intact the 9th Circuit�s dual rulings that: The NCAA�s regulations are subject to antitrust scrutiny, and rules limiting football and men�s basketball players to receiving tuition, fees, room, board and books violate antitrust laws. While antitrust law requires that schools be allowed to provide these athletes with scholarships that cover all of their costs of attending college, including travel and personal incidentals, �it does not require more,� such as what it termed �cash sums untethered to educational expenses.�"

Just over a month after Peter Moore declared that 'we'll be back' when it comes to NCAA Football, the future of college sports video games seems murky and uncertain.

For college video games to return will require a couple of things.

First, EA (or another publisher) will have to know there is no threat of litigation to proceed. Second, schools will want to know there is no threat of litigation to proceed as well.

Several schools began to pull out of EA's next gen college football title at the end, and that was one of several items which led EA to scrap the title. In an era of video games where people obsess over the authenticity of shoes and haircuts, having generic teams (and players) seems like a hard thing to sell.

What would lead to a game being possible is likely a resolution from the NCAA and member schools allowing players to get money for licensing their image -- which it seems there isn't much movement on at this time. While its a good thought to think that people would buy a game with generic teams and players with customization -- those types of games have never sold enough in the marketplace to justify high development costs required of AAA sports titles in 2016.

In short, without a way to license players officially (along with schools) its doubtful we see college sports games return to consoles.

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Member Comments

# 21 cookjn @ 10/04/16 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrookJacoby


	Just like in all sports, the fans are interested in the stars, not the teams. A game with all the schools but generic players simply won't sell well in this day and age, even if there is customization galore. Even with that option, the software developer might be liable as O'Bannon's lawsuit specifically addressed the ability to create your own rosters as infringing on their publicity rights. The only way to be able to get a game is to have a bunch of developers write an open source game on the PC or phone/tablets for free. That is not an easy task at all, and the results will certainly pale to what most sports game fans are willing to accept.

I disagree with this sentiment. College football stars just aren't on their teams long enough to make a real impact with the average fan. How many fans can tell you about Jauan Jennings or Jourdan Lewis? How many fans knew who Lamar Jackson was around the time a new NCAA would have been theoretically released? As long as EA makes a game that replicates the excitement of college football and gives us each team's relative talent level, I firmly believe that people will buy it.

# 22 Aggies7 @ 10/04/16 01:32 AM

Maybe it's just me, but I can't wrap my head around not being able to release a NCAA game with real teams/stadiums/fight songs and no rosters. When you start each game players are randomly generated before each game in Play Now or at start of Dynasty in that mode.

Therefore, everyone would have different rosters in their dynasty, avoid any players saying their likeness was being used.

And obviously the key would be No Custom Rosters or player editing.

Maybe I'm just missing something in this whole thing that would make the above non compliant with the issue.

# 23 Mike Lowe @ 10/04/16 01:38 AM

For those looking for a college fix, try an online league using Bowl Bound. The game is updated to have the post season tournament, etc.

I loved NCAA 14 as well, and while it's not a console game, we're having a blast in our SSG college football league.

It's special beating someone without a gamepad.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

# 24 Cam Fan @ 10/04/16 02:57 AM

Not to fear chums. There is talk to allow limited likeness compensation to athletes. I always considered this an option more viable than the courtroom route. Take a quick read:
In an interview with SI Now's Maggie Gray, Big East Commmissioner Val Ackerman stated that she believes within a year or two, NCAA student-athletes could receive endorsement deals.
Here's the link for details:
http://www.thegamingtailgate.com/for...orsement-Deals

Here's the SI.com video:
http://www.si.com/more-sports/video/...t-commissioner

# 25 Cam Fan @ 10/04/16 02:59 AM

Here's the link to my previous post
http://www.operationsports.com/forums/college-football/878505-big-east-commish-says-ncaa-considering-endorsement-deals.html

# 26 Junior Moe @ 10/04/16 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cookjn


	I disagree with this sentiment. College football stars just aren't on their teams long enough to make a real impact with the average fan. How many fans can tell you about Jauan Jennings or Jourdan Lewis? How many fans knew who Lamar Jackson was around the time a new NCAA would have been theoretically released? As long as EA makes a game that replicates the excitement of college football and gives us each team's relative talent level, I firmly believe that people will buy it.

I cosign this one times 1000. College, more than any other sport IMO is about the schools and emotions. Yes. The players are a big part of it. I have lived and died (big time Saturday) with my Bulldogs for about 20 years now. It's the schools, rivalries, atmosphere, games like Saturday at Tennessee that hurt like hell but I love it. I could never get that vested in an NFL game. As a Georgia fan I been there a lot. Given where we are with litigation it seems the only plausible path is what 2K has done (complete fictional, non editable/sharable rosters, even going so far as to not allow the possibility); just blow it out. Get the schools, conferences and NCAA. Ensure that the rosters are don't come close to infringing on a players likeness. No cute stuff. This is just the reality. Its far better than some all generic college game. I cant see that selling at all. A real NCAA Football (or basketball) game with our favorite schools, stadiums and rivalries running on that Madden engine. That's something right there.

# 27 jWILL253 @ 10/04/16 08:18 AM

They need to just license the players already and provide compensation (provided by NCAA, not EA) within reason.

They keep trying to dance around that issue and it's not going to work.

# 28 ndfan1993 @ 10/04/16 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jWILL253


	They need to just license the players already and provide compensation (provided by NCAA, not EA) within reason. They keep trying to dance around that issue and it's not going to work.

This is the problem and what makes this, in terms of the existence of the NCAA and Feds, impossible. What is reasonable compensation? What about Title IX?

# 29 Grey_Osprey @ 10/04/16 09:02 AM

Since NCAA '14 was previously released, could they update/patch it without fear of further litigation? If so, wouldn't it be great to see a patch that A) provided a slider to increase scouting difficulty, B) updated conferences/added teams, and C) ported the game over to PS4.

I know it will never happen, just wishful thinking out loud. Ok. Back to the real world. sigh....

# 30 Bradysenior @ 10/04/16 09:38 AM

Couldn't they go back to the old Bill Walsh format? Which had a college football playoff to decide the champion. Or another thing I thought of couldn't EA do a college game based on past players

Team names based on Cities of colleges- editing possible
Full customization on Teams, Conferences, Players, Jersey Editor to build current equipment w/ ability to import into dynasty
Playoff and ranking system w/ ability to set playoff to 4, 8, or 16 teams
Generic Names for non playoff bowl games w/ ability to create a trophy and import into dynasty
Dynasty max participants up to 32, and ability to be Coach or Player options

Or make the game compatible on next gen consoles for free with last gen disc in system after a brief install

NCAA rant over

# 31 tessl @ 10/04/16 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mauer4MVP


	I just don't see how making a game with generic rosters isn't a viable option. Heck, they'd be cutting out resources and costs. They know this community would gladly take that load. It has to be hesitation on the side of the universities and maybe just fear on what they'd be able to get away with.

I agree. Five years into a franchise the entire roster is generic so it is clear people will play a game with generic rosters. One of the most popular features in NCAA football is recruiting and that is completely generic. I have no doubt a game with generic rosters would sell a lot of copies. That still might not alleviate licensing concerns from the NCAA without clarity from the courts.

I'm repeating myself but the problems is with the courts. They are good at issuing edicts and rulings which punish companies but they are pathetic at working with the companies to provide legal clarity regarding what they can do legally going forward. As Chris said in his op, neither the NCAA or game developers know what they are legally allowed to do. Nobody is going to make a game first and find out later whether it is legal.

The only people who came out ahead on this were the slip and fall lawyers. A few lawyers got rich, players got some chump change, employees of the companies and fans of the game lost.

# 32 tessl @ 10/04/16 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cam Fan


	Not to fear chums. There is talk to allow limited likeness compensation to athletes. I always considered this an option more viable than the courtroom route. Take a quick read: In an interview with SI Now's Maggie Gray, Big East Commmissioner Val Ackerman stated that she believes within a year or two, NCAA student-athletes could receive endorsement deals. Here's the link for details: http://www.thegamingtailgate.com/for...orsement-Deals Here's the SI.com video: http://www.si.com/more-sports/video/...t-commissioner

The problem is there is no players union for college athletes so instead of signing one deal with the union the company would have to sign individual deals with the athletes. I'm not sure this would resolve the problem unless a union or other legal entity is formed to represent the athletes.

# 33 cjsnoop @ 10/04/16 04:40 PM

just get the schools to get the players to sign a release most player want to be in the game and will do it for free

# 34 ndfan1993 @ 10/05/16 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tessl


	I agree. Five years into a franchise the entire roster is generic so it is clear people will play a game with generic rosters.

What percentage of players get to year 5 before the next version comes out? Most casual players spend the bulk of their time playing online.

# 35 tessl @ 10/05/16 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ndfan1993


	What percentage of players get to year 5 before the next version comes out? Most casual players spend the bulk of their time playing online.

I would imagine most people in a dynasty get to year 5 - or would if there was a new game. With accelerated clock I can play a game in about an hour and a half.

# 36 Retropyro @ 10/05/16 10:33 PM

I always got between 10 to 20 seasons in each release depending on how good that particular release was.

It's not like NBA, NHL or MLB. It's the great thing about football video games, shorter seasons.

# 37 JMD @ 10/06/16 06:56 AM

This is unbelievable to me. It's a video game for craps sake , just let them make it already. Unfortunately for me hoping for NCAA football to return is starting to feel like hoping NFL 2k football will return. Fading memory,,,,,

# 38 ndfan1993 @ 10/06/16 08:34 AM

We are the minority though...people in here are the "hardcore" users of the game....the vast majority play online or a season or two I would bet (just based upon people I know).

Add to that most of us here are getting older and are cutting back due to life.

# 39 TheShizNo1 @ 10/06/16 11:50 AM

I think we're overestimating how in demand a CFB game. Most people just bought it to hold them over until Madden.

# 40 cream6 @ 10/06/16 04:10 PM

I'm in year 14 of my dynasty in NCAA 14. I never restarted my dynasty and I've played it like it is since the release date in 2013. I have no problem playing with Generic Rosters and still import the draft classes to Madden 25. I say bring a game out make sure all numbers are zero on the jersey, get the rosters and whatever their height and weight is, make sure you add or take away an inch to their height. I think that kills the likeness BS. JUST give us a college game and roster gurus can do the rest for the community

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