Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Technology
Technology

Coming to an End: EA to Drop NCAA Football Next Year

Posted byBy Leo | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

ea-drops-ncaa-football

Video game maker Electronic Arts has been in a legal battle for the last four years with former collegiate athletes who are suing them and the NCAA for profiting from their likenesses without compensating them. EA decided this week to settle the related suits that it is facing, and announced Thursday it has suspended production on the NCAA franchise.

 EA’s most famous football game may be their Madden NFL series, but their NCAA Football series has to be a close second. With so many people devoted to their favorite teams and alumni at cult-like levels, the NCAA Football games are popular releases every year. However all that may be coming to end.

According to usatoday.com:

 

“On a day when legal wrangling over the use of college athletes’ names and likenesses prompted video game manufacturer Electronic Arts to announce it will not publish a college football game for at least one year and settle a series of related lawsuits, the NCAA vowed to keep fighting on the issue for as long as necessary.

“EA announced Thursday afternoon it will not produce a college football game in 2014 and is ‘evaluating our plan for the future of the franchise.’ Within hours, a court filing and lawyers representing former and current college football and men’s basketball players said an agreement had been reached to settle claims against EA in three presumptive federal class-action lawsuits.”

This may be bad news to some fans, but it’s a good thing for the kids who are not compensated for the use of their likenesses in the games, while corporations profit from them. EA will likely transition the majority of users from NCAA Football to their pro football series Madden NFL, making this situation not much of loss for anyone.

EA’s willingness to settle may have broader implications for the NCAA, as they are the main target of the lawsuit. If the players are successful with their legal claims it could signal major changes for the rules of college football.

 

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top