It appears the news which ESPN broke and the rest of the internet ran with yesterday (including us) was a bit premature as far as the SEC's involvement within the game. According to Owen Good at Kotaku, sources with knowledge of the situation say the SEC marks will be in next year's college football game despite yesterday's reports.
However those same sources do confirm the Big Ten and Pac-12 won't be in the game.
Also in Good's report is the mention that all but one school will be in next year's game, which is certainly a relief but far from guarantees the series' long term viability until a 'Division 4' model is fully realized within the next decade -- which will all but guarantee a fully licensed and fully named College Football game from EA Sports well into the future.
Pasta Padre sourced an article of an interview with the AD from the University of Washington, who was going to recommend they not license to EA Sports -- but according to Kotaku, UW is not the missing team from next year's game.
That is an important story in and of itself because if a schools athletic department doesn't want to be licensed, it may only be a matter of time before they opt out of the license. As I stated yesterday, it's not a matter of if schools can opt out of the agreement they are in with EA Sports currently through the CLC -- the only question is how much will it cost to exit the agreement if anything.
While today's news does seem to indicate most schools are still on board with the College Football product from EA Sports -- it also underscores the product's shaky foundation it still sits on as schools like UW will continue to monitor their legal risks vs. monetary rewards of being involved with EA's College Football product.
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