NCAA football 2014 done

Michigan's Denard Robinson is on the cover of
the last NCAA Football 14 game after the NCAA
announced it was breaking ties with the video-
game maker.
by Steve Berkowitz, USA TODAY Sports
The NCAA announced Wednesday it is not
renewing its licensing contract with Electronic
Arts for a college football video game, citing
legal and business concerns.
The NCAA, EA and the nation's leading
collegiate trademark licensing and marketing
firm, Collegiate Licensing Co., are co-
defendants in at least two federal lawsuits
concerning the use of college athletes' names
and likenesses. EA is the defendant in another,
similar case.
EA is the defendant in another, similar matter
involving former Rutgers quarterback Ryan Hart.
Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson
in New Jersey ordered that case reopened for
further proceedings after the Third Circuit Court
of Appeals overturned her dismissal in May and
recently denied EA's bid to have that decision
reviewed by the Third Circuit's full panel.
Hart's attorney, Timothy McIlwain, told USA
TODAY Sports on Wednesday that he will
pursue class certification and has verbal
commitments from more class representatives,
including a current college athlete he declined
to identify.
Michael Hausfeld, the lead attorney for former
UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon and others
in a case against NCAA, EA and Collegiate
Licensing Co. (CLC), has said he plans to add
an active college athlete as plaintiff by Friday.
In a statement about its decision regarding EA,
the NCAA said: "We are confident in our legal
position regarding the use of our trademarks in
video games. But given the current business
climate and costs of litigation, we determined
participating in this game is not in the best
interests of the NCAA."
Warren Zola, who teaches sports law at Boston
College's Carroll School of Management, said
the NCAA's decision indicates "they are no
longer able to handle a jury decision against
them. They are taking precautions against a
judgment causing them significant financial
hardship."
Zola said that a decision by the NCAA to
continue its licensing arrangement with EA
"would allow more members into the
(prospective class of plaintiffs) able to claim
damages."
The NCAA's agreement with EA pertains only to
the use of the NCAA's name and logo -- not
those of the individual schools depicted -- and
its statement pointed to a more serious
question: "Member colleges and universities
license their own trademarks and other
intellectual property for the video game. They
will have to independently decide whether to
continue those business arrangements in the
future."
EA Sports and CLC issued statements saying
that EA will continue to develop and market
college football games featuring the teams and
leagues customers "expect."
However, University of Kansas athletics
department spokesman Jim Marchiony -- who
identified his school as a CLC client -- said KU
officials will want to digest the NCAA's
decision. Marchiony said Kansas' agreement
with EA, via CLC, for the current version of
NCAA Football expires June 30, 2014.
"I'm not surprised CLC and EA Sports have a
Plan B and we're looking forward to hearing
from them about it, to see how we'll proceed in
the future," Marchiony said. "We will certainly
talk about it, where we go from here."
Stanford deputy athletics director Patrick
Dunkley, who said his school also is with CLC,
expressed similar sentiments. He said that prior
to the NCAA's announcement Wednesday, the
issue "was not on our radar."
Now, "given that the NCAA is taking the
position that the legal risk outweighs the
benefit, it's only prudent for us to analyze what
the perceived risks are," Dunkley said.
One of the lawsuits against the NCAA, EA and
CLC is awaiting U.S. District Judge Claudia
Wilken's ruling on whether to certify the case as
a class action. That case currently involves a
group of former college football and men's
basketball players headed by O'Bannon.
If Wilken certifies the suit as a class action, it
could allow thousands of former and current
football and men's basketball players to join the
case. That could create the possibility of a
damages award in the billions of dollars. In
addition, if the plaintiffs were to get everything
they have said they are seeking, it would force
the establishment of an entirely new
compensation arrangement for current NCAA
Bowl Subdivision football players and Division I
men's basketball players -- one under which
"monies generated by the licensing and sale of
class members' names, images and likenesses
can be temporarily held in trust" until their end
of their college playing careers.
Another case that had been before Wilken pits
former Arizona State and Nebraska quarterback
Sam Keller against EA, the NCAA and CLC. That
matter currently is pending before the Ninth
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with the
defendants hoping to overturn Wilken's refusal
to dismiss the case.
If the Ninth Circuit rules in Keller's favor, his
lawyers likely also will seek class certification.
The NCAA said its current contract with EA
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."
Gabe Feldman, director of the Tulane University
Law School's sports law program, said "as long
as the game continues to have the names and
logos of the schools" it remains viable because
"that's why a consumer buys the game."
Asked how the NCAA's decision not to continue
allowing its name and logo to be associated
with the game might affect individual schools,
Feldman said: "There's no question the schools
have been monitoring all of this and (the
NCAA's decision) may factor into their decisions
going forward."
"But," he added, "the really essential part of
the game is the players. ... A separate issue
continues to be what (EA) will do with the
players. Will they make the players completely
generic, with no numbers? If they do that,
there's no legal liability. There may be room
somewhere between the game as we know it
today and no game at all."
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