NCAA not renewing video game license with EA Sports over lawsuit costs; Football 14 to be last NCAA-branded game
NCAA Football 14 (EA Sports)
I hope you college sports fans like NCAA Football 14, because it’s going to be the last game with the NCAA name you get for the foreseeable future.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has decided not to renew its contract with EA Sports, saying, “given the current business climate and costs of litigation, we determined participating in this game is not in the best interests of the NCAA.” NCAA Football 14 will be the last game to carry the NCAA name or logo, though they note, “Member colleges and universities license their own trademarks and other intellectual property for the video game. They will have to independently decide whether to continue those business arrangements in the future.”
The litigation they mention has to do with player likenesses being used in the games. A group of former players is suing the NCAA for, they claim, giving license to their likenesses and names without compensation. The costs of losing the lawsuit for the NCAA could be huge. While both the NCAA and EA Sports claim that they’ve never used player names in the video games (which is in dispute), the NCAA seems to have decided that it’s just not worth the hassle.
EA Sports had already settled a class action lawsuit last year for $27 million, which resulted in the company’s loss of exclusivity for future NCAA deals. So they may have already been brainstorming contingency plans before this new news hit. It’s entirely possible we’ll still see a College Football 2015 (or something similarly titled), but it won’t bear the NCAA name.
I'm sorry for any fans of the NCAA football games, but I side with the plaintiffs and hope they win. The NCAA has been feasting on "student athletes" for years, while the players themselves don't get a single penny. In fact, if they do anything that earns them any sort of cash, compensation or benefits outside of scholarships while in an NCAA, they get roasted alive. Don't give me any crap about "integrity of the game" when the NCAA and every major college program are run like capitalist conglomerate money making machines. Either give the people who are the entire damn product some sort of royalty payment or stipend for their services or stop pretending like it's all in the name of academic endeavors when we all know it's not.
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