EA Sports settles suits, thousands of players eligible for money
 

EA Sports settles suits, thousands of players eligible for money

Man this sucks..no more NCAA football/basketball


Dennis Dodd
Senior College Football Columnist
EA Sports settles suits, thousands of players eligible for money
September 26, 2013 5:23 pm ET

Electronic Arts Inc. and Collegiate Licensing Co. have settled a series of wide-ranging class-action lawsuits on Thursday afternoon regarding college players' likenesses for an undetermined amount, CBSSports.com has learned.

The settlement will affect more than 100,000 current and former college players who have appeared in the basketball and football versions of EA Sports' video games since 2003. It was not immediately clear if the eligibility of current players will be affected by accepting settlement checks.

Prior to the settlement filing, EA announced earlier in the day it would no longer manufacture the popular football game.

“I'm disappointed in that because there should be a game,” said plaintiffs' attorney Eugene Egdorf. “All that has to happen is the NCAA allow players to be paid and there would be a game. This is Step 1 to players being paid that should.

“There will be players who play Saturday who should be paid [for their services] as they should be.”

The settlement affects lawsuits brought by former Rutgers quarterback Ryan Hart, former Nebraska and Arizona State quarterback Sam Keller and former UCLA basketball star O'Bannon. The settlement does not include the NCAA's ongoing battle with O'Bannon and other plaintiffs in the fight over the rights to player likenesses.

Essentially each player who has appeared in the football and basketball games marketed by EA in the last decade – approximately 125,000 men – are eligible for settlement money. According to court documents filed Thursday and obtained by CBSSports.com the settling parties are in the process of preparing documents for the court to approve in order to disburse the money.

CBSSports.com is in the process of asking the NCAA for a rules interpretation. In other words, would the NCAA view that money as jeopardizing current players' amateur status? In such class-action settlements, the monies awarded can range from very little to very large. It depends on how the money is disbursed. But those players will now be compensated by EA using their likenesses in the game without their permission. It is not known yet from the formal settlement if EA is admitting any guilt.

EA annually manufactured the popular college football game which includes the numbers – but not the names – of at least every school in FBS.

EA has maintained throughout that any none of the players' attributes or physical qualities or likenesses is based on an actual player. However, one SB Nation reader found former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow's name in Florida's playbook in the 2010 version of the football game.

As a condition of eligibility, the NCAA requires players to sign a document that guarantees the rights to their likenesses in perpetuity to the association.

Here is some background on the three main plaintiffs – Ryan Hart, Sam Keller, Ed O'Bannon.

The Hart case was filed in New Jersey. O'Bannon and Keller were consolidated in California.

In related news, CBSSports.com confirmed the NCAA is headed to mediation in a landmark concussion case.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...ible-for-money

I was saying this in another thread. If they obviously depict guys, they are on shaky ground.

and so it begins.

Yeah. I like the NCCA football games a lot.

But what is the solution to it?

It won't be, but I wish this were the beginning of a swift death for EA.

No more NCAA games.....unfortunately.

The mother****ers were supposed to pay out in a class action regarding price fixing and NFL 2K5, and I haven't seen anything from them.

Everybody on here seems to hate EA. Talking about a damn football game from years ago and EA being exclusive for some games.

They don't have any problems than Rockstar having that car issue on GTA.

If someone else was making say NCAA 14, they would have the same issue. The game is not bad at all to me.

If I had free reign to kill an athlete either past or present, Ed O'Bannon makes the top five easily.

This really pisses me off as well, we all suffer because some dickhead thinks a computer model has his likeness and he wants to get paid for it even though he was an amateur at the time.

What 'car issue'? You mean a bug that will be patched?

So you're saying it's okay for a business to make billions of dollars using your likeness and you get nothing? That's bullshit. Regardless of whether they're amateur or pro, if you're going to profit off a someone's likeness, you should pay them.
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Why?
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It isn't them, this is someone with a different name and one that really does NOT look like you. The only thing that makes them your likeness may be the number they wear. This shit is really reeruned.

They started the death of college sports gaming. Such a shame.

You CLEARLY don't know what you're talking about
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I've played these games and I have seen what these computer models look like and they aren't even close to a likeness. They don't bear the same names nor features. Are you saying if they have similar stats that constitutes a likeness? Also of note i'm not a fan of EA at all, but this is beyond ludicrous.

So you think race, height, weight, handedness and playing attributes are coincidental and are purely things EA made up?
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I think they go through painstaking detail to make sure they aren't alike. I haven't scrutinized the football version like I did the basketball but the NCAA BB game models were way off on everything but stats.

This shouldn't be the death of college football video games.

Sure, it affects the person who wants to buy it out of the box and play it that way, but everyone I know who plays NCAA football always downloads a roster file from someone that updates the rosters, adds names, changes player grades, etc.

There are enough online freaks obsessed with college football that a smart company would realize they can put out a product (with the licensed stuff from the University - stadium, team names and traditions, fight song, etc.) with generalized and random information about players (autogenerate random names AND numbers for players in the 'box' version), and people will still buy it.

They're strikingly similar until you get to the bottom of the roster players. And even then those players are off by only one attribute usually.
http://www.sbnation.com/college-foot...all-14-players

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2...l#incart_river
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So what is the solution? Kill off the video game? The NFL doesn't have a problem because they own the players rights. I know EA does pay the NCAA to use the team names, so shouldn't they be suing the NCAA?

EA should sue the NCAA?
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I consider this karma for ea releasing crappy versions of madden ever since they bought exclusive rights.

No I meant shouldn't the players be suing the NCAA and not EA?

What do they get? $100 each?

**** KARMA, **** EA AND **** EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS!

Not that I feel strongly about it or anything. :D

Problem #1.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/...-football-game

NCAA Football games are dead.

He was on the 94-95 UCLA Bruins and he originated this lawsuit.

The NCAA gameplay was terrible anyway. They hadn't changed it in years.

The solution is licensing.

EA Sports or any game manufacturer receives express permission to use a player's likeness and attributes in return for royalty participation (a percentage of sales).

Players would then have the option to opt in or out. If EA used a similar player to one that opts out, they'd be liable for damages.

EA's had a free ride and there's no doubt their legal department knew it. They gambled and lost.

They changed it.....just not for the better.

A settlement number hasn't been announced. But if it affects 125,000 people (as has been reported), $100 each would be $12.5 million for EA.

I have no idea how well those games sold but I doubt they're in the same league as Grand Theft Auto ($800 million in sales its first week for its latest release).

There's also the issue of eligibility if an active player chooses to receive a settlement check.

Seriously, it's time to pay NCAA athletes.

Is this what O'Bannon is suing for?

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...ticleLarge.jpg
http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/.../edobannon.jpg

Or is he suing for earlier NCAA games?

That doesn't look like O'Bannon at all. He's got blue shoes in the game.

Ya that does look a lot like him, never played that version though.

That's fine, but it should work like Pro where the NCAA sells the rights. I know that will never happen because colleges are trying to get away from the NCAA anyways.

They are suing the NCAA.

Battlefield franchise says LMAO ROFL LMAO try harder kid.

The end result is no more sports games, it just sucks for everyone involved. These guys won't make shit for money on it anyways so it seems a lose lose for everyone involved.

I don't really think you understand the scope of this lawsuit and the money involved in college football.

I do, just saying the money from the video game side won't net much.

Go see how hard it is to find Clowney in NCAA 14.

As a condition of eligibility, the NCAA requires players to sign a document that guarantees the rights to their likenesses in perpetuity to the association.

That's the biggest bunch of horseshit I've ever heard of in my entire life.

The NCAA is a joke.

I still don't know what to think of it all.

There are all kinds of levels of talent.

I made that comment about Clowney, took out the Madden disc and played 14 with SC.

It is so ****ing obvious who everybody is. Hadn't played for about a week, update shows up.

I was thinking man they jacked this up in a matter of days for liability, but it is just stupid uniform crap.

But when you have a team captain with #7 and a star under him, it's still obvios it's Clowney.

But EA can't pay them all and develop the games.

So, like has been mentioned the NCAA needs to take a hit too if anybody gets paid.

EA could absolutely make the games and pay a licensing fee, especially if they limited their teams to the top 30-40 teams, instead of attempting to cover 100+.

FWIW, the settlement was $40 million, so if it's dispersed evenly (which it won't be), it would be about $325 per person.

At least they will be able to rail a decent hooker for an hour.