Actually, if EA just puts generic rosters in the game and let's the community edit them to be "accurate" then licensing is a non-factor.
I mean seriously, in Sims you can edit your sim to look like and be named Charlie Sheen - people in the public eye have, by their choice in profession, given up the rights to their likeness being used in "private" settings for entertainment. And if those edits are "shared" via network "friends" on XBOX Live or PSN, then those entities really have no recourse against EA or the users who create and share those files...
...sometimes you just have to go at things sideways.