NCAA to pull deal with EA Sports

[alp227]

Source: Orlando Sentinel

Starting next year, Maitland-based EA Sports will no longer be able to use the NCAA name in its popular college-football video game.

Citing pending legal action against it, the college-sports association decided Wednesday to end its licensing deal with the company that produces "NCAA College Football."

The new version of the game, released this month, will be the last with the NCAA attached to it.

...

NCAA officials cited a series of lawsuits filed last year by former collegiate players alleging it violated antitrust laws, violated their rights to compensation and otherwise exploited them by profiting from the sale of their images.

Read more: http://archive.is/vvqGM

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More articles about the O'Bannon antitrust lawsuit:

The end of amateurism? (Sports on Earth)

Ed O'Bannon's lawsuit against NCAA could have landmark implications (The Star-Ledger)

After TV deals, battle was inevitable (ESPN)

[Ohio Joe]

1. Good. Fuck EA

They are a disgrace to both gaming and their own history.

Fuck You EA

[TM99]

2. No shit!

This couldn't happen to a more onerous corporation.

I would love now to see the NCAA work out a deal with a smaller gaming house that would put these titles exclusively on the WiiU.

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

4. Couldn't happen to a "nicer" company!

Hopefully the license will end up in better hands, and there won't be any more exclusivity agreements. So that, if a given game is bad or not available on some platforms, somebody else can try to do it better.

Dare I hope that after 15 years there will again be a college football game for the PC?

[Blue_Tires]

5. hopefully the players get a piece of all that lucrative action the NCAA has been hoarding

[BigD_95]

3. This sucks

EA makes the best sports games & I love their college football & B-ball games

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

6. I think the game will be the same

It's just the branding and marketing.

[bamacrat]

7. Agreed.

I don't get all the EA hate on here, but they make a damn good game and I hope what ever iteration the next CFB game is is a good one.

i really only buy one game a year and every year its NCAA College Football.

[tarheelsunc]

8. I hate EA Sports.

They make a few minor improvements to a game every year, update the roster, and slap a new year on the cover and they get by with this because they buy up exclusive licensing for most of the sports they produce games for. ESPN NFL 2k5 was a far better game in every way than Madden NFL 2005 but 2k Sports got locked out of the NFL after EA and NFL signed an exclusive agreement. The NCAA games from EA were pretty much the same exact game on the PS2 from 2002 through 2009. I don't have much experience with the newer ones on PS3 but I can't really tell the two or three I own apart.