Well, it looks like the odds of us getting new NCAA Football video games just skyrocketed...After the Supreme Court's ruling a week and a half ago, yesterday, the NCAA voted to suspend it's rules on amateurism on an interim basis. That means college athletes can officially begin to be reimbursed/compensated/paid for the use of their name, image and/or likenesses.
www.bostonglobe.com/2021/06/30/sports/ncaa-nil-rules-change/ What does this have to do with video games though? Well, as you may recall, the reason EA Sports stopped making NCAA Football video games was because of a lawsuit filed by former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannion, who sued because he believed EA was using his likeness in the NCAA Basketball/Final Four games without license, without paying him. He pointed out that the unnamed player on the UCLA team was his skin tone, his exact height, same handedness, with same shooting skill. Basically, that the unnamed player WAS him, just without the name. At the time, EA Sports indicated they would fine with paying players in order to use their likenesses, but the holdout was the NCAA itself. Paying players would be a clear violation of the NCAA's amateurism rules. So rather than risk another lawsuit by continuing to produce NCAA based video games, EA Sports simply stopped making them. Well, fast forward to today...The college environment is worlds different than in was in 2013-14. Thanks to SCOTUS, student athletes can be paid for their likenesses. That means, EA Sports can not only license official NCAA teams and logos, just like they had previously, but that they could theoretically also be able to license the use of actual NCAA athletes names, images, and likenesses. Now, this would likely take some kind of NCAA group license, I can't see EA trying to license individual players to be on rosters (maybe the cover though)...I suspect what will happen is that players will be given the option to join a group licensing agreement, giving the NCAA permission to use their NIL for outside purposes (like licensing in video games), in exchange for some financial benefit, whether it's a straight cash payment, a weekly stipend increase, whatever... Basically, the athlete gives the NCAA permission to use their NIL, the NCAA charges EA Sports a licensing fee for those NILs, and then the NCAA compensates the athletes participating in that group licensing agreement. Basically, like how EA Sports doesn't license individual players for Madden, rather the individual portion is done by the NFLPA, and EA licenses a group rate with the NFLPA to get everyone at once. Same kind of thing here. Either way, the pathway towards new, officially licensed college football games just became a lot clearer, and a lot easier to navigate. This also means that players can start getting royalties on jersey sales. If the university bookstore sells the starting QB's jersey, he can get a cut for every one of his jerseys being sold. It also means that those jerseys can actually have the player's name on it. Right now, NCAA rules bar the universities from selling jerseys with the player's name on it, they can only use the player's number...that's obviously going to change, thanks to this ruling. Using Michigan's roster as an example, instead of having a jersey that just had the #12 on it representing QB Cade McNamara, it would actually have McNamara on the back, just like the authentic jersey he would wear during games. It would also allow universities to sell jerseys from previous players, with the name...So bye bye, generic #2 and #10 jerseys...and hello to Charles Woodson and Tom Brady jerseys! Honestly, if I was on the Michigan campus, and I wanted a Charles Woodson jersey, given the choice between just the #2 and a jersey that not only had #2 on it, but also said Woodson on the back, I would be much more inclined to purchase the one with the name, even if it was a few dollars more. Lots of players at the University of Michigan wore the #2...but I don't necessarily want their jersey, I want a Woodson jersey...
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