SEC branding will not be included in future EA college football games [Update: Big Ten, Pac-12 too]
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) announced it will no longer license its trademarks for EA's future college football games. Teams from the SEC won the last seven straight BCS National Championship games in college football, so EA's next college football game will be without the branding of the sport's most successful conference.
"Each school makes its own individual decision regarding whether or not to license their trademarks for use in the EA Sports game(s)," the SEC said in a statement to ESPN. "The Southeastern Conference has chosen not to do so moving forward. Neither the SEC, its member universities, nor the NCAA have ever licensed the right to use the name or likeness of any student to EA Sports."
The news comes nearly a month after NCAA opted to not renew its partnership with EA, pulling all NCAA marks from future games from the publisher. EA will continue to make college football games without the NCAA through the use of a non-exclusive three-year deal with the Collegiate Licensing Company. At the end of July, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied an appeal by EA in its ongoing student athlete likeness lawsuit.
We've contacted both EA and the CLC for comment, and will update as we learn more.
Update: A CLC representative tells Joystiq that "150 collegiate institutions, including SEC schools, have approved renewal of the EA college football license, to begin with the 2015 edition. As with any licensed product, individual schools continue to make their own decisions."
Update #2: The Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences are reportedly joining the SEC, and will no longer license their brands to EA. "The Pac-12 Conference has decided not to renew its current licensing agreement with EA Sports that allows the use of Conference trademarks," Pac-12 spokesman Erik Hardenbergh told CBS Sports. "Our member institutions continue to make decisions on their trademarks on a school-by-school basis."
