A class action lawsuit filed by former college athletes against the NCAA and Electronic Arts focuses on the potential unlawful use of athletes' likenesses without their consent. USA Today says that the case, filed by former Nebraska and Arizona State quarterback Sam Keller and former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon, is now a couple of years old, but the judge has already said that if rights were violated, EA could be paying big damages.
How big? Try a quarter of EA's annual revenue, or about $1 billion. USA Today did some fancy math, but to boil it down, it comes out to the law saying that the players can get $1,000 a likeness. Add up all the players (3,630), games, and then triple it for a statue that says that it can be trebled if the violation was "knowing, willful or intentional," and you've got about $1 billion that EA could have to shell out.
Yikes. EA has argued that it has a First Amendment right to use the players likenesses. I'm not feeling so good about that.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
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Contest:
11:45 AM on 08.03.2011 | 
I don't know how it works for student athletes, but at least at the professional level, EA has a deal with FIFA which grants them the right to the likeness of anyone playing in a FIFA-controlled league. Any time a player signs a contract with a team, there's a clause in there regarding the use of their likeness. I assume it's the same with the NFL, NHL, etc. But I don't know how it works for student athletes, so this is all really interesting.
How ridiculous. If they are professional sports players then their images should be public domain for sports games. They should actually be happy that people actually prefer to use the likeness of actual players rather than randoms. It's free personal advertising for them. Hell, EA should counter sue for that free PR.
This just further illustrates how spoiled some of these major sports stars are becoming.
(also... what Celica said. What about TV appearances?)
Not to mention, EA couldn't pay these people even if they wanted to due to the NCAA restrictions on paying amateur athletes for when they were in college...regardless if they're out now.
Pointless.
@flea friend
Most likely the suit is not by current college athletes as getting money for something like this would make them ineligible to play.
EA wants to shell out all that money to the NCAA for the unauthorized use of unpaid student likenesses, then use those unpaid student's likenesses for whatever they please, while the actual unpaid student athletes who are in these games could be straight up homeless for all they care. If EA has to be the first domino to fall, then EA has to be the first domino to fall.
I just assumed that the minute you were associated with any big organization, be it NCAA, NFL or whatever, your likeness was theirs to control within reasonable limits.
Why does it even matter? It's not like they're portraying NCAA players as child rapists or something.
As I said, they're getting free PR and acquiring potential fans so it's to their benefit to be in the game. I don't understand the reason they are suing... especially if they can't be compensated (though I'm sure they've found a loophole because stuff like this almost always comes down to money).
Just play the game guys. Be flattered that you're likeness is in a video game and move on. Meh.. I don't get sports at all.
How can a third party has a right to someone elses likeness? That doesn't even make sense to me, thats like saying I have a right to eat your food.
I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!
And the typical hate towards EA, lol, just lol. Get a life guys.
I'm a sports gaming phrenetic, and it would be sad to see the college games go away because of this, but the writing was on the wall. Being someone who will be paying for my college tuition for the rest of my life tempers my sympathy for student athletes, but I have no love for the NCAA.
bukuma, speaking as a student athlete (Who admittedly doesn't play football) you're a shit head. Most student athletes would be lucky to get a $1000 sports scholarship from a school that has $20k a semester tuition. The fact is unless your name is Reggie Bush you're not getting money. And the athlete part of student athlete is commitment. It gets in the way of being a student. It means you have to work that much harder to get the same grades your peers get, or else you have to give up doing something you love. So sincerely, fuck everyone with your mindset
Hopefully a victory for the players would highlight the NCAA's all-around hypocrisy. Will they allow the students they claim to care about to accept funds from a legal settlement that resulted directly from their college athletics?