NCAA Football 14 News Post

Judge Rules In Favor of O'Bannon, NCAA Violates Anti-Trust Law

06:31 PM - August 8, 2014 by RaychelSnr

Judge Claudia Wilkin ruled today that the NCAA is in violation of anti-trust law and must allow players to receive compensation for their names, image, and likenesses being used in various forms of media. This ruling comes a day after the NCAA voted to give the NCAA's five power conferences autonomy to create their own rules, which could lead to player compensation in various forms anyways.

Quote:


	"In a 99-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken issued an injunction �that will enjoin the NCAA from enforcing any rules or bylaws that would prohibit its member schools and conferences from offering their FBS football or Division I basketball recruits a limited share of the revenues generated from the use of their names, images, and likenesses in addition to a full grant-in-aid.� Wilken said the injunction will not prevent the NCAA from implementing rules capping the amount of money that may be paid to college athletes while they are enrolled in school, but the NCAA will not be allowed to set the cap below the cost of attendance. The injunction will also prohibit the NCAA from �enforcing any rules to prevent its member schools and conferences from offering to deposit a limited share of licensing revenue in trust for their FBS football and Division I basketball recruits, payable when they leave school or their eligibility expires,� Wilken wrote. Her injunction will allow the NCAA to set a cap on the money held in that trust, but prohibits the NCAA's cap to be less than $5,000 for every year an athlete remains academically eligible to compete."

This case is far from over however, as many expect it to go all the way to the Supreme Court. For now, the wheels are definitely turning in a direction that could allow college video games to come back into play in a fully licensed and legal basis if everyone so desired -- but it may be a year or two minimum before the legal structures to allow such a return are in place.

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Member Comments

# 101 Tha_Mac @ 03/24/15 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarheelguy4736


	If only EA would have just made generic rosters to begin with, then we wouldn't have this mess. Personally, having generic rosters wouldn't have swayed me away from buying the game. Nor do I think it would have swayed most others from buying the game either. The legal team and upper management just didn't do their due diligence in recognizing this was a lawsuit waiting to happen. Oh well... now we just hope that 5 to 10 years from now the series will be rebooted but it just looks doubtful now. However, if there is money to be made, you bet the NCAA and EA will find a way

Who was the first to bring up that their likeness was being exploited? I'm sure if it was a player they've played NCAA coming up as a gamer in high school. It wasn't a problem then why should it be one now?

# 102 Cardot @ 03/25/15 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarheelguy4736


	If only EA would have just made generic rosters to begin with, then we wouldn't have this mess.

As far back as the Sega Genesis, I do recall getting a college game that didn't have the names of course, but they did have the numbers and other characteristics of certain players. And I remember thinking "Hmmm...can they do this? I guess they can??".

# 103 ODogg @ 03/26/15 01:55 PM

The courts are full of idiots now, it never should have even gotten to trial

# 104 tarheelguy4736 @ 03/27/15 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cardot


	As far back as the Sega Genesis, I do recall getting a college game that didn't have the names of course, but they did have the numbers and other characteristics of certain players. And I remember thinking "Hmmm...can they do this? I guess they can??".

Yes, back then people weren't suing left and right for basically anything and everything. Now a days, if you offend one person with anything you have a high chance of seeing a lawsuit.

I can just only imagine at this point of what NCAA would look like on the PS4/One and the features that would have been in it. I know we all gripe about EA and how they handle bugs/glitches and not responding quick enough to certain issues, but I believe most of us would give anything to have NCAA back (but the judicial system and EA's lack of due diligence in the law took that away from us). I guess now we can just dream of what could have been and keep kicking ourselves every time we come on this board hoping for good news

# 105 cowboy_kmoney @ 04/05/15 02:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ODogg


	The courts are full of idiots now, it never should have even gotten to trial

Money was the kase.

# 106 Art01 @ 04/05/15 08:21 AM

The NCAA is undergoing major changes, with regard to how "student-athletes" are treated. Implementing these changes and dealing with resultant issues will take some time. EA Sports simply decided to sit on the sidelines while these changes are being implemented. Once the legal status of these student-athletes is settled, especially with regard to issues involving compensation for individual student-athletes, I believe EA Sports will seriously consider reviving the NCAA game series.

The problem may turn out to be the sheer magnitude of dealing with over 120 institutions and their athletes as individuals. If the NCAA can become the college version of the NFL and take on the role of legal representative for it's entire membership, then EA would have single group with which to negotiate royalties, etc. But, if that does not happen, I think it will be much more difficult for EA to deal with thousands of individual athletes in order to be able to produce an authentic college game.

# 107 tastybrownies @ 04/12/15 11:23 AM

In these past few years the NCAA as a whole has gotten a little too big for their britches and power hungry (at least IMO). Sometimes you look at the kinds of rule infractions they have and laugh at them and ask, "is that even legal?" Sometimes that whole committee makes me shake my head...

# 108 tarheelguy4736 @ 04/13/15 04:39 PM

Was the settlement agreement (the full document) ever made public? It would be interesting to see what the language in the document states and what exactly was agreed to by EA.

# 109 Cam Fan @ 04/14/15 04:33 AM

As a tie-in to this post, I want to see what the OS community thinks about this comprehensive article....particularly the part about video gamers. http://www.sbnation.com/college-foot...t-ncaa-players

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