The End of NCAA Football?

[Godfather]

The video game.

NCAA to end deal with EA Sports
Updated: July 17, 2013, 5:00 PM ET
ESPN.com news services

NEW YORK -- The NCAA said Wednesday it won't allow Electronic Arts Inc. to use its logo and name in video games while it fights a lawsuit that says the governing body owes billions of dollars to former players for allowing their likenesses to be used for free.

The NCAA said it won't enter into a new contract with EA Sports beyond the current one that expires June 2014. That means NCAA Football 2014 will be the last edition of the popular game. However, EA Sports still plans to produce a college football video game depicting powerhouse schools such as Alabama, Ohio State and Oregon.

"Member colleges and universities license their own trademarks and other intellectual property for the video game," the NCAA said in a statement. "They will have to independently decide whether to continue those business arrangements in the future."

The first non-NCAA affiliated EA Sports college football video game will be called "College Football 15," a source told ESPN.

The NCAA is in the midst of a long legal battle that started with a lawsuit filed by former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon.

The suit has expanded to include several former athletes who claim the NCAA and EA Sports have used their names and likenesses without compensation and demand the NCAA find a way to give players a cut of the billions of dollars earned from live broadcasts, memorabilia sales and video games.

"We are confident in our legal position regarding the use of our trademarks in video games," the NCAA said. "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.

"The NCAA has never licensed the use of current student-athlete names, images or likenesses to EA. The NCAA has no involvement in licenses between EA and former student-athletes."

The plaintiffs in the case against the NCAA would not be able to use the elimination of the EA Sports partnership as admissible evidence of the NCAA's guilt in court.

[Godfather]

NCAA settles with Former Players.

Said they will discontinue to make the game (this sucks)

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9728042/ea-sports-stop-producing-college-football-game

While current NCAA players fight for their right to make money, a large group of former college football players scored a major victory Thursday.

Shortly after Electronic Arts announced it would stop producing a college football game beginning next year, the video game company -- together with Collegiate Licensing Company, which holds the licensing rights to the trademarks of the majority of colleges and universities -- filed papers to the U.S. District Court in Northern California that it had settled its case brought by former players.

Although the video games did not use their names, the former college athletes alleged EA Sports used the same jersey numbers, heights, weights, skin tones, hair colors and home states in the in-game bios, not only without their permission, but without compensation.

[Vandy Vol]

Well, at least now I can buy the last one and not have to worry about buying new ones that have virtually no updates in gameplay.

[WiregrassTiger]

Slive should jump on this with both feet and sell EA on the idea of licensing the SEC for future games.

[Vandy Vol]

Slive should jump on this with both feet and sell EA on the idea of licensing the SEC for future games.

Wouldn't they have to introduce a feature where teams are constantly dealing with player arrests, NCAA investigations, and probationary periods?

[Godfather]

Wouldn't they have to introduce a feature where teams are constantly dealing with player arrests, NCAA investigations, and probationary periods?

So just bama playing bama?

[Vandy Vol]

So just bama playing bama?

THE GREATEST GAME EVER TO BE PLAYED

[AUChizad]

While current NCAA players fight for their right to make money, a large group of former college football players scored a major victory Thursday.[/quote]

MAJOR victory.

If there's one thing I know about college athletes, it's that they are BESIDE themselves that they get to play as themselves in a video game.

Such evil truly had to be stopped.

 

[AUownsU]

Like to contract all those former players for standing up and refusing to be taken advantage of. $133 per person. Brav-fucking-O 

[Godfather]

The NCAA is suing EA Sports and the Collegiate Licensing Company, according to multiple reports.

The lawsuit was filed Nov. 4 in a Georgia state court. It followed a September settlement in which EA Sports and the Collegiate Licensing Company agreed to pay around $40 million to settle lawsuits brought by former players whose likenesses were used without compensation. That left the NCAA alone in facing the class-action lawsuits spearheaded by former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon and former college quarterback Sam Keller.

The NCAA is seeking to block the settlement and have EA Sports be required to pay for future liability judgments, legal fees and costs, according to the reports.

The suit alleges the Collegiate Licensing Company did not "adequately supervise" EA Sports and that the NCAA was subsequently subjected to "potential liability in several lawsuits currently being litigated relating to EA's alleged use of NCAA student athletes' names, images, and likenesses in EA's NCAA-themed video games," according to The Wall Street Journal.

The suit also alleges the licensing company violated its business partnership with the NCAA by "self-dealing in settlement negotiations without the NCAA's knowledge, authorization or participation," per the Wall Street Journal report.

As for EA Sports, the suit alleges the video game company did not maintain sufficient liability insurance to cover "pending third-party claims, including for attorneys' fees that the NCAA has already incurred in defending against those claims," according to USA Today.

The NCAA also faults both EA Sports and the Collegiate Licensing Company for settling the lawsuits without notifying the collegiate governing body and for refusing to give the NCAA information pertaining to the settlement, USA Today reported.

The NCAA and EA Sports declined to comment, while CLC spokesman Andrew Giangola said, "CLC is caught in the middle of a dispute between NCAA and EA which should not involve us."

Ha ha...fuck'em all. 
The NC2A 
EA Sports (for never changing a god damn thing yet just changing enough, for leaving Cam off the cover) 
CLC biggest dicks around