Its reported that the NCAA will not renew its licensing agreement with EA Sports for its 21-year-old NCAA Football series once the current deal expires in 2014. It does not mean the end of the series. What it only means is the end of a series with the NCAA’s name and logo on it.
In a statement given to the media, EA Sports said, “The NCAA has made the decision not to enter a new contract for the license of its name and logo for the EA Sports NCAA Football video game. The current contract expires in June 2014, but our timing is based on the need to provide EA notice for future planning. As a result, the NCAA Football 2014 video game will be the last to include the NCAA’s name and logo. EA Sports will continue to develop and publish college football games, but we will no longer include the NCAA names and marks. Our relationship with the Collegiate Licensing Company is strong and we are already working on a new game for next generation consoles which will launch next year and feature the college teams, leagues and all the innovation fans expect from EA Sports.”
Reportedly, the two had been partners since 1998, but the NCAA’s seal of approval had put all of the schools, stadia, bowls and fight songs in a video game. College Football USA ’96, another gaming portal, had most of this stuff, being the first video game to feature every Division I-A team at the time. Two years later, it was relaunched on the PlayStation and PC as NCAA Football 98. EA Sports supplied the graphics, improved animations and AI for the first time. To this the NCAA added its name and a logo, at a cost of half a million dollars. And this is all that it did for the game.
Its also speculated that the only reason, EA Sports wanted the NCAA license was to get at the symbols the NCAA owned. And it does not need it anymore. For now, the NCAA is getting out of the licensing business because it’s being accused by the current and former players over the fact their image is on a lot of stuff that makes the league and its members a lot of money.
Steve Berman, co-lead counsel in the O’Bannon suit, was found saying in a statement, “Our suit illustrates how the cabal between the NCAA and EA has exploited student athletes for years, using their images in video games without compensation.” It is being speculated that schools, which were earlier associated with EA and NCAA, are dropping out of CLC or have done already.