College Players Set to Get Their Share of a $60 Million Settlement with EA

[Speedy]

Re: College Players Set to Get Their Share of a $60 Million Settlement with EA

Nice payday for those lawyers.

Good grief....30% cut.

[SilverBullet19]

Re: College Players Set to Get Their Share of a $60 Million Settlement with EA

Um....2k had college football. It wasnt very good.

I remember, I had that title, and I do agree it wasn't done well. It had bad graphics, movement, and felt very half-a**ed. I won't, however, base my opinion on that.

If you had read my post, I'm comparing it to what the did with NFL 2k, and THAT was a very good product. If they had that kind of production for NCAA, it would be phenomenal.

[SilverBullet19]

Re: College Players Set to Get Their Share of a $60 Million Settlement with EA

Problem is you will never have a fully customizable game because the same thing applies. Some will make a roster will real college rosters, create logos, etc.........and the game maker would be sued for licensing because they allowed those likenesses to be edited into the game. Until the NCAA comes up with a plan to pay the players the $1500 or so for likeness use (where it is a payment set aside until the player leaves school or whatever...), there will be no college games.

This x1000

If they create a game that can be customized, you can bet they will be sued essentially for facilitating the likeness and use of trademarked logos. EA wanted to give the players a cut, the NCAA said no. Until that changes, no game for us.

[balljonesjr]

I think I have a excellent solution. If they are willing to pay every athlete $1600 for their "likeness", (heights weights jersey # and skin tone) they can do it without paying college players. Here's how every year they make a game each player earns 1600 for the game that they are on. They can't get the money until they finish their college career. So after they play their last game 4 year players could get a $6400 check and 5 year players would get $8000 check. But like I said they can't have it until they are no longer college athletes. No need for a fully customizable game just let the guys who edited game keep up the good work.

[itsbigmike]

Re: College Players Set to Get Their Share of a $60 Million Settlement with EA

It's not the player's fault, they should be compensated. It's not EA's fault, they are willing to compensate the players for their likenesses. The NCAA's ridiculousness is the real culprit. They allow this climate where schools, apparel companies, TV networks, and they themselves squeeze every dime they can out of these players w/o throwing anything back their way.

Bingo. The selfishness of the consumers that are skewering the athletes and people wanting compensation for their likeness being used is what's really appalling.

[OBJ_Catch]

It's not the player's fault, they should be compensated. It's not EA's fault, they are willing to compensate the players for their likenesses. The NCAA's ridiculousness is the real culprit. They allow this climate where schools, apparel companies, TV networks, and they themselves squeeze every dime they can out of these players w/o throwing anything back their way.

This is, as well as every single people who say that players don't get any compensation, wrong. Plain and simple.
I think people forget one thing, when it comes to these players : They have, for a huge part of them, full-ride scholarships. They get to play football, and maybe make it to the NFL, be a 1st round pick and become millionaires in the best case scenario. Worst case scenario ? They get a College degree if they don't **** up, and they don't have to pay.
The avg. scholarship for FBS schools in 2014 was 18,273$.
If they have money, they probably will have to pay for the room, sure. But let's say they spend 5 years in the school, it's worth roughly 100k$, way less, or more, depending on the College they go to.
On top of that, some of them have access to top-notch facilities and treatments that even those who pay the full tuition and fees don't get access to.

This argument has to stop being used. It's wrong, ignorant, and has nothing to do with the matter of likeness.
Also, College players aren't allowed to receive any sort of compensation for that. So yeah, they'd have to wait until the end of their college career to have access to it.

A fully customizable game isn't out of the question, as said by some people. On top my head, I could quote the PES series, where you could find patches made by fans, which would allow you to have every kits, every stadium, fake signs and billboards, balls, cleats, everything that couldn't be included by the developers for licensing reasons. I can also think of the Steam Workshop, or the modding of games like GTA.

[itsbigmike]

Re: College Players Set to Get Their Share of a $60 Million Settlement with EA

This is, as well as every single people who say that players don't get any compensation, wrong. Plain and simple.
I think people forget one thing, when it comes to these players : They have, for a huge part of them, full-ride scholarships. They get to play football, and maybe make it to the NFL, be a 1st round pick and become millionaires in the best case scenario. Worst case scenario ? They get a College degree if they don't **** up, and they don't have to pay.
The avg. scholarship for FBS schools in 2014 was 18,273$.
If they have money, they probably will have to pay for the room, sure. But let's say they spend 5 years in the school, it's worth roughly 100k$, way less, or more, depending on the College they go to.
On top of that, some of them have access to top-notch facilities and treatments that even those who pay the full tuition and fees don't get access to.

This argument has to stop being used. It's wrong, ignorant, and has nothing to do with the matter of likeness.
Also, College players aren't allowed to receive any sort of compensation for that. So yeah, they'd have to wait until the end of their college career to have access to it.

A fully customizable game isn't out of the question, as said by some people. On top my head, I could quote the PES series, where you could find patches made by fans, which would allow you to have every kits, every stadium, fake signs and billboards, balls, cleats, everything that couldn't be included by the developers for licensing reasons. I can also think of the Steam Workshop, or the modding of games like GTA.

They also run themselves ragged having to burn the candle at both ends with training, practice, film study, actual school study, classes and trying to have a normal social life. They're working far beyond a full time job on top of going to this school, while their coaches make anywhere from six-to-seven figures on the backs of their hard work -- not to mention the lack of a penalty when the coach they signed on to play for bolts for a better job because these kids excelled on the field. Great, they get the education, but how many are being shoehorned into false degrees that do nothing for them in the future? This says nothing of the schools committing academic fraud to keep their players on the field. When you're not learning anything because your courses aren't worth a crap, the scholarship money means little. If the coach's' success is worth, collectively as a coaching staff, multi-millions of dollars, how much is the players worth? More than their scholarships.

[HARLEE23]

Re: College Players Set to Get Their Share of a $60 Million Settlement with EA

This is, as well as every single people who say that players don't get any compensation, wrong. Plain and simple.
I think people forget one thing, when it comes to these players : They have, for a huge part of them, full-ride scholarships. They get to play football, and maybe make it to the NFL, be a 1st round pick and become millionaires in the best case scenario. Worst case scenario ? They get a College degree if they don't **** up, and they don't have to pay.
The avg. scholarship for FBS schools in 2014 was 18,273$.
If they have money, they probably will have to pay for the room, sure. But let's say they spend 5 years in the school, it's worth roughly 100k$, way less, or more, depending on the College they go to.
On top of that, some of them have access to top-notch facilities and treatments that even those who pay the full tuition and fees don't get access to.

This argument has to stop being used. It's wrong, ignorant, and has nothing to do with the matter of likeness.
Also, College players aren't allowed to receive any sort of compensation for that. So yeah, they'd have to wait until the end of their college career to have access to it.

A fully customizable game isn't out of the question, as said by some people. On top my head, I could quote the PES series, where you could find patches made by fans, which would allow you to have every kits, every stadium, fake signs and billboards, balls, cleats, everything that couldn't be included by the developers for licensing reasons. I can also think of the Steam Workshop, or the modding of games like GTA.

If the average tuition is what you said it is then that means the total cost of the players tuition (85 scholarships X 124 FBS schools I believe?) would be $198,810,240. Seems like a lot right? Maybe until you look at the TV deal that ESPN has with the NCAA for the college football playoff. They get around $470 Million annually for the deal. I don't know the value of all the other TV deals they have but I am sure it is a pretty hefty penny. Not to mention the merchandise they make off these players. If you went on Nike around October last year and looked at the Ohio State gear you would see multiple 15 jerseys selling for around 90-150 bucks a pop. 15 isn't a random number you and I both know that number was to represent the star that is Zeke Elliott. These players often have to stay off campus as well, do you expect them to have a job to pay for this? On top of the 14-15 hours taken out of their day from school and practice?

While the "free" education is nearly invaluable, the amount of work these players put in is insane when compared to a fulltime student schedule. Practice, film, weights, meetings can take up to 5 hours a day or more. Fit in study time on top of that, these players are essentially employees.


They've done studies that calculate college players market value based on a scale the NFL uses and the top tier teams in football had a difference in the value of their scholarship and the market value of over 400,000 dollars.


But I want my game back so if they can get this settled it would be pretty awesome!

[videlsports]

I hope the options for college sports videogames would allow all game companies to make a game. But I know 2k would do excellent IMO. I miss college videogames

[dubcity]

Re: College Players Set to Get Their Share of a $60 Million Settlement with EA

An NCAA game with random (generic) players wouldn't appeal to enough people. Many are aware you can edit or download an edited roster, but a game shipping with fictitious rosters would be a hard sell on a mass scale.

People bought college games for years and years before roster sharing was even a thing. I think having the licensed schools, coaches and stadiums would be enough.

[superxero27]

Re: College Players Set to Get Their Share of a $60 Million Settlement with EA

I remember, I had that title, and I do agree it wasn't done well. It had bad graphics, movement, and felt very half-a**ed. I won't, however, base my opinion on that.

Yeah 2k3 was bad, but it was based on the previous NFL 2k2 architecture. NFL 2k3 was a massive improvement, and I sometimes wonder what might have been it they had kept the college game out for one more year and leveraged that great NFL engine.

[superxero27]

Re: College Players Set to Get Their Share of a $60 Million Settlement with EA

They also run themselves ragged having to burn the candle at both ends with training, practice, film study, actual school study, classes and trying to have a normal social life. They're working far beyond a full time job on top of going to this school, while their coaches make anywhere from six-to-seven figures on the backs of their hard work -- not to mention the lack of a penalty when the coach they signed on to play for bolts for a better job because these kids excelled on the field. Great, they get the education, but how many are being shoehorned into false degrees that do nothing for them in the future? This says nothing of the schools committing academic fraud to keep their players on the field. When you're not learning anything because your courses aren't worth a crap, the scholarship money means little. If the coach's' success is worth, collectively as a coaching staff, multi-millions of dollars, how much is the players worth? More than their scholarships.

Beyond all this though, there is another problem. Compare a student on a full-ride football scholarship to a student on a full-ride academic scholarship.

Both students are going to college "for free." Both students have to meet some sort of academic eligibility in order to maintain that scholarship. Both students have to balance class, extracurriculars, and everyday life.

The student on the academic scholarship can get a job wherever they want to bring in additional income to offset the costs of those things that aren't free (and there are a lot of those costs). The athlete cannot, either due to time/schedule constraints or NCAA eligibility rules. The academic student would be able to profit from their likeness if anyone were interested (for example publishing their research for a per-access fee). The academic student would be able to accept all kinds of other financial assistance from outside influences (since they don't have to report to the NCAA), whereas the athlete cannot.

When you realize that the full-ride athletes are probably more likely to come from poverty than the full-ride academics, and that (as the NCAA loves to point out) the vast majority of them will "go pro in something other than sports" you see the machinations of a flawed system. Allowing athletes similar access to profit from their likeness as a regular student would help address this imbalance. And it's not like the video game companies aren't willing to do so. EA is basically standing outside waving fistfulls of money begging to be let in.

[Hoops737]

I hate O'Bannon with the fire of a thousand suns.

Thank you for taking away my favorite game, jerk.

[kc_brigade88]

Re: College Players Set to Get Their Share of a $60 Million Settlement with EA

I see both sides to the coin in this situation. I do understand that the athletes get a bunch of free stuff (google how much money is needed for football equipment for 1 player). A lot of money is brought in by these players. I do understand they have no social life because of practice and all that as well.

My biggest concern here is this...would every player be getting the same amount? How does that work? Would you pay FCS players if those teams are put back into the game? Is it only $1,500 for football? How much is likeness for college basketball? (Since D-I is all 300+ in a basketball game). What about basketball schools that don't have football? (Creighton, Wichita St., etc etc.)

[dovuto86]

I hope you people realize that an NCAA game will never happen again. They would have to pay each player individually, meaning players from the power 5 conference colleges would get paid way more than the mid majors/ lower tiered schools. This will mess up recruiting terribly and put the mid majors/ lower schools at a huge disadvantage making college sports less competitive. If a top 10 quarterback recruit out of high school wants to go to Tulsa because its his hometown college, he wouldnt do it if they paid athletes because hed make way more money if he went to oklahoma or alabama. and also if a quarterback becomes a star at a college like Tulsa hed transfer the next season to an oklahoma or alabama so hed make way more money on endorsements and game license fees. Also if they try to even it out so that each player makes the same then the power 5 conference players would reject it asap because they feel they deserve way more money than the lower mid major players.