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Judge: NCAA's likeness compensation rules violate antitrust laws
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled yesterday that NCAA rules prohibiting student athletes from receiving compensation for the use of their images, names and likenesses violates antitrust laws, CBS Sports reported. NCAA rules do not allow colleges to pay athletes when their images are used in a video game series such as EA Sports' NCAA Football games, and Wilken said those rules "unreasonably restrain trade." Wilken is the same judge that ordered settlement talks between the NCAA and Ed O'Bannon in February, after EA agreed to settle its own likeness lawsuits with student athletes to the tune of $40 million in September 2013. EA canceled its next NCAA Football game at that time and began "evaluating [its] plan for the future of the franchise." The publisher later reported an additional $8 million in expected expenses as a result of the lawsuit settlement, which amounted to roughly $1,000 per athlete, per appearance in the games.
EA may pay almost $1,000 per college athlete for sports game settlement
Student athletes whose likenesses were used in EA's NCAA football and basketball games will receive up to $951 for each year they were featured in the games, according to a proposed settlement being put forth for approval by a judge. While EA proposed a $40 million settlement in September 2013 for its ongoing litigation with student athletes over its college sports series stemming back to May 2009, it hasn't been clear how that money would divide among the parties in the lawsuit until now. More than 100,000 current and former college athletes will have the potential to claim part of the settlement, according to CBS Sports. Of those athletes, roughly 7,000 of them are current players, based on estimates from Rob Carey, an attorney for former Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller. EA tacked on an extra $8 million in expenses related to the settlement in its fiscal 2014 financial results in May. Its proposed settlement followed the cancellation of its 2014 college football game, which would have been without the NCAA's logos and marks after the two parted ways in July 2013. [Image: EA Sports]
College football settlement costs EA another $8 million
When EA settled its ongoing litigation with student athletes in September 2013 related to its NCAA Basketball and Football video games, its expenses amounted to $40 million. Now, it is tacking on $8 million more in expected expenses for fiscal 2014, bringing the total to $48 million, according to the company's year-end financial results. EA reported $40 million in settlement expenses as recently as the last fiscal quarter, ending in December. The publisher canceled its 2014 college football video game in September, following the NCAA's decision to not renew its licensing agreement with EA in July. The settlement by EA and the Collegiate Licensing Company led to another lawsuit in November, this one by the NCAA against EA. EA planned to continue working with the CLC to develop college sports games without the use of the NCAA's marks and logos, a non-exclusive agreement that was slated to last three years. The college athlete likeness lawsuits stem back to May 2009. [Image: EA]
