Small forward #31, the NCAA, and EA sports

[Peter_nincompoop55]

I am trying to stay optimistic but it seems more and more likely that the future of college football video games in bleak at best. It's truly disgusting to me that just because Ed O’Bannon sells cars now and thinks the NCAA/EA sports owe him something because small forward #31 appeared in a college basketball game 15 years ago college sports games are ruined for ever. But this is the world we live in where lawyers and greed slowly ruin the things we love and enjoy. I have been a fan of the NCAA series dating back to Bill Walsh college football and would be devastated to see it ruined. I am now well into my 30’s and with a wife, kids, and a busy work schedule NCAA football is the last remaining video game I make time for.

While I agree that EA could have avoided all of this by making roster completely random years ago; especially once roster editing was introduced, these lawsuits seem crazy to me. The reality of college athletics is this; the vast majority of student athletes will NEVER play their respective sport professionally nor do they the individual generate money for the school which they attend. Breaking down the NCAA structure because 20-30 division one football schools out of 120+ make big money (money which helps fund the schools ENTIRE athletic programs), because people think players like Johnny Manziel and Jadeveon Clowney are “slaves” (even though they represent the minority in college athletics not the majority), and because washed up bums like O’Bannon are trying to make a quick buck is just fundamentally flawed in my opinion. Regardless of how you feel about the NCAA; and I would agree they have their own issues, paying players IS NOT THE ANSWER. I am just really confused as to why this game cannot continue with the real schools, conferences, and the NCAA and just have completely random rosters out of the box.

And by the way for the vast majority of division one football players “making it in NCAA football” is considered to be a privilege………Luckily there are still people out there with a reasonable sense of perspective but unfortunately a few can ruin it for the rest of us. I rest easy at night however knowing that long after Ed O’Bannon has spent all of whatever little money he may get from this ridiculous lawsuit he will still be known as the greedy bum who ruined college sports video games. And that and that alone will be his lasting legacy. Well plaid Ed, well played indeed.

[Mouse]

The colleges, conferences pulling out of the game is just a petty move to be honest.

Quote:

The Buckeyes have one of the nation's largest programs with 36 sponsored sports and $142 million in revenue. Yet in 2012, they made only $181,000 on EA Sports videogames. The plaintiffs are seeking one-third of that revenue, which translates to $60,333 for Ohio State.

[Humperdink]

Does anybody have any offhand idea whatsoever of what kind of profit this game actually makes? At 60 bucks a copy times however many thousand, development and publishing/distribution/marketing/royalty costs subtracted, I would bet you the margin is not immense. And to me that means two things: the game will cease to be profitable if the civil liability issue becomes too pervasive (and it appears to have gotten there, fast), and if the game returns after hiatus with some kind of royalty agreement for individual players represented, the payments given to the players--most likely after their eligibility has expired--will really not amount to a whole lot on an individual basis.

I can understand people not wanting their likeness being used to rake in money without getting their own little slice. But with 120 (or more) schools, times say 100 players per school (if you count walk-ons that could make appearances), that means that whatever portion is allocated for player royalties on every copy is divided by 12,000 (or 8400 if you want to stick with the 70 man roster figure). There is no big payday waiting for Keller and the O'Bannon brothers, or any other NCAA athlete past or present unless punitive damages were awarded in a civil trial or there was some kind of settlement. The suits are primarily against the NCAA, the video games are a way to get after that organization's TV money and make a legal statement against the NCAA and its member schools. The games are just collateral damage.

[nortobc]

But that collateral damage is only pissing off college football fans, which is only bad news for college football.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk 2

[bad_philanthropy]

What's amusing to me is when Madden only had the NFL license and not the PA one it used player numbers. Like the Cowboys had QB #8, HB#22, and WR #88, and the NFLPA didn't even feel like this was grounds for lawsuit.

[LastExit]

Quote: Originally Posted by Humperdink

Does anybody have any offhand idea whatsoever of what kind of profit this game actually makes? At 60 bucks a copy times however many thousand, development and publishing/distribution/marketing/royalty costs subtracted, I would bet you the margin is not immense. And to me that means two things: the game will cease to be profitable if the civil liability issue becomes too pervasive (and it appears to have gotten there, fast), and if the game returns after hiatus with some kind of royalty agreement for individual players represented, the payments given to the players--most likely after their eligibility has expired--will really not amount to a whole lot on an individual basis. I can understand people not wanting their likeness being used to rake in money without getting their own little slice. But with 120 (or more) schools, times say 100 players per school (if you count walk-ons that could make appearances), that means that whatever portion is allocated for player royalties on every copy is divided by 12,000 (or 8400 if you want to stick with the 70 man roster figure). There is no big payday waiting for Keller and the O'Bannon brothers, or any other NCAA athlete past or present unless punitive damages were awarded in a civil trial or there was some kind of settlement. The suits are primarily against the NCAA, the video games are a way to get after that organization's TV money and make a legal statement against the NCAA and its member schools. The games are just collateral damage.

From a recent article I read, EA takes in around 100 million which is somewhat low compared to Madden and FIFA but still a good profit considering that the game doesn't sell outside of North America whereas Madden and FIFA do.
Of course that number goes up or down depending on the year and the features in the game but it's around that. How much of that money has to be put aside for the conference logo rights and to pay the CLC and all that is another story.

[Peter_nincompoop55]

Quote: Originally Posted by LastExit

From a recent article I read, EA takes in around 100 million which is somewhat low compared to Madden and FIFA but still a good profit considering that the game doesn't sell outside of North America whereas Madden and FIFA do. Of course that number goes up or down depending on the year and the features in the game but it's around that. How much of that money has to be put aside for the conference logo rights and to pay the CLC and all that is another story.

The point is even if you take 20-30 percent of the 100 million a year and divided it by the hundreds of thousands of former division one football players in this country what are these guys looking at really? Ed O'Bannon is going to get a check for 15 dollars....... And for the record if O'Bannon and his lawyers think they are sniffing the TV money they are out oftheir minds! That money goes right back into the schools and the other athletic programs and if, and I use "if" lightly because I think it's a pipe dream, they won and revenue had to be shared it would have to be shared evenly across all sports thanks to title 9. The thought that Johnny Manziel could some how get X amount of dollars from his likeness and the school because of his individual status is ludicrous at best. Best case scenario for college athletics is players like Manziel are able to profit of fsignings and endorsements while in college but regardless trying to tap into the schools TV revenue and whatever profit EA makes from NCAA football is just plain stupid to me. The juice doesn’t seem worth the squeeze. O’Bannon is not a champion for college athletes everywhere he is just another washed up athlete who couldn't cut it in the pros and is now struggling to live in the real world........ just trying to grasp at any free money he can get his hands on. Period!

[CrimsontideuA]

To much money to be made they will figure something out. I'm sure the ultimate teams guys with real names are getting paid or will be getting compensation. The rest don't have names so they it's going to difficult for them to claim likeness because we name them.