EA Sports NCAA Football Update: Players Receive Checks as Case Continues to Supreme Court

Athletes are finally starting to receive their checks as part of the settlement between EA Sports and Ed O’Bannon, and former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy used the opportunity to call for the return of NCAA Football. On Friday, McElroy took to twitter to publish a five-part message about his opinion on the status of the game.

https://twitter.com/GVMcElroy/status/720977528081510401

The bottom line? For McElroy, he’d rather be able to play the game than be paid. It’s worth noting, however, that McElroy has had somewhat of a successful career outside of college football. After leaving college, he went on to play in the NFL with a brief stint on the New York Jets. Nowadays he serves as a college football analyst for SEC Network.

Most college athletes won’t get that lucky, and while appearing in a game as popular as NCAA Football can provide a large amount of exposure, they can’t rely on that exposure to pay the bills. As you’d probably expect, McElroy is getting quite a bit of backlash from individuals who don’t agree with his point of view. Namely, people who think it’s a little hypocritical to accept a check and use it as a platform to say that the game is more important.

To McElroy, maybe it is. But, as quite a few people have pointed out, McElroy was fortunate enough to be able to make it to the NFL, even if only briefly, and to continue his career as a sports analyst. Not everyone is going to have that opportunity, and that’s why plenty of people support the court’s decision in the Ed O’bannon case. It wasn’t about removing NCAA Football from the market, it was about making sure that the athletes who made an appearance in the game were fairly compensated.

But, just because athletes are finally starting to receive their checks doesn’t mean that the fight is over. The return of NCAA Football may depend on a decision from the Supreme Court.

While district judge Claudia Wilken ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, finding that the NCAA had indeed violated antitrust laws, the plaintiffs would also be eligible to receive up to $5,000 a year as compensation for use of their likeness. Unfortunately, the Court of Appeals for the 9th circuit’s ruling reversed the decision to have money set aside for athletes, only agreeing that the NCAA had violated antitrust laws. That left athletes hoping for compensation beyond the cost of their tuition out of luck.

After the 9th Circuit’s decision, the plaintiffs petitioned for the case to be heard by the Supreme Court last month. Regardless of whether or not the Supreme Court chooses to hear the case, a decision will still be made. If the Supreme Court hears the case, that could mean the 9th Circuit’s decision would be reversed, allowing athletes to receive compensation. The Supreme Court could also agree with the 9th Circuit’s decision, in which case their ruling would stand and athletes would not be granted the compensation afforded to them by the initial ruling.

The results will be the same if they don’t hear it, meaning that athletes will continue on without compensation, likely ruling out any NCAA games in the near future. If the athletes aren’t compensated, it’s unlikely that college sports will make a return, at least in their previous form.

It’ll be a while before we find out, but we’re rooting for the Supreme Court to hear the case and allow athletes to receive compensation, as that would be another step toward bringing the beloved NCAA Football franchise back into our homes.

Are Kirk Herbstreit and Greg McElroy right? Does the case have a chance at the Supreme Court? Let us know in the comments below or on social media. As always, we’ll continue to keep you updated on the latest NCAA developments here at SGO.

EA Sports NCAA Football Update: Players Receive Checks as Case Continues to Supreme Court

EA Sports Reaches $60 Million NCAA Settlement

The results are in, and we now know exactly how the $60 million settlement from the Ed O’Bannon case will be split up. Over 24,000 athletes that have appeared in the NCAA franchises between 2003 and 2014 will be receiving a chunk of the settlement, with the average reward being somewhere in the ballpark of $1,600, according to ESPN.

The number of claims was revealed earlier this week when lawyers for the athletes whose likeness was used without permission filed a letter with the court. The players will be paid based on what year they appeared in the franchise, and how their image was used. The later the year, the higher the payout. That goes double for athletes with photographs and avatars.

The players that stand to make the biggest chunk of money from the settlement are Ed O’Bannon, Ryan Hart, and Sam Keller, who are estimated to make about $15,000 each. Another 21 players will receive $5,000 as class-action representatives, including former wide receiver for Alabama, Tyrone Prothro.

According to paperwork, as many as 200,000 athletes could be part of the class action suit, leaving a payout between $259 and $2,703 per year, per game at a 10% claim rate. The lawsuit put a halt to EA’s NCAA Football franchise, leaving fans like Todd Howard of Bethesda Game Studios fame without a football video game.

Like most fans out there, we’d love to see NCAA Football make a return. Unfortunately, it still looks like it’ll be a while yet before that happens. Regardless, at least the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit is finally starting to wrap up. If you ask me, the settlement is well deserved for the athletes.

What do you think about the news? Are you happy to hear that athletes are getting the compensation they deserve? Let us know in the comments or on social media. As always, we’ll keep you posted on the latest NCAA Football news.

EA Sports Reaches $60 Million NCAA Settlement

Kirk Herbstreit is Wrong About Compensation for NCAA Football

There was a lot of hype surrounding college football this past month as the championship game came to a close, with the Crimson Tide taking the win as our simulation predicted. We’ve already established that people really want to see NCAA Football return to consoles, but the championship this year really brought the question back into the spotlight; Will it ever happen? Should it?

The world is sorely missing NCAA Football, as was evidenced by the massive response to our article on the subject. That big PR blunder from EA served to stir up the discussion too. Was the gaming going to make a return? Fans sure hoped so. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. The post was just EA trying to show their enthusiasm for whatever reason. Maybe it was to prove that there’s still interest in the series, who knows.

With interest in the sport and a resurrection of the franchise so high, it makes sense that some important figures associated with the game would want to weigh in. Enter Kirk Herbstreit, who served as commentator for the NCAA Football video games. In an interview with SEC Country that was conducted back in November and published earlier this month, Kirk Herbstreit discussed his thoughts on the subject and whether or not he’d like to see the game return. The obvious answer was yes, though his plan for bringing series back to life was a bit questionable.

Firstly, he puts the blame squarely on Ed O’Bannon for taking the game away. “I can’t believe Ed O’Bannon took that game away from us,” Herbstreit says in the interview. He’s not wrong. As I discussed in the article written last month, the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit over likeness resulted in the termination of EA’s partnership with the NCAA. But, as the court has determined, the lawsuit did have merit. Obviously, Kirk Herbstreit doesn’t feel that way.

According to Herbstreit, plenty of athletes would be happy to sacrifice pay in order for the game to return. “Every single college football player,” he said. “You know what they’d love for their compensation to be? Just give ‘em a free game. That’s the compensation that they would take.”

Perhaps everyone that Herbstreit talked to felt that way, but the comments that I’ve read on the subject seem to suggest otherwise. Many people — both athletes and fans alike — seem to agree that the players deserve some form of compensation. According to Herbstreit, however, the students are more than happy to appear in the game. “I’ve never met one player in college football that’s like: ‘They can’t use my name and likeness! I need to be paid!’ They’re just thrilled to be on the game. They love being on the game. It’s like the biggest highlight of their life, is to be on the game.”

It’s a hot topic with a lot of differing opinions, but I’m not sure Herbstreit is right on this one. Personally, I think that athletes deserve to be compensated. After all, this is a video game franchise built entirely upon the names and likenesses of college athletes. How much compensation they deserve is up for debate, but I find it hard to believe that a small salary is out of the question.

Either way, I don’t think we’ll be seeing another NCAA Football game until the matter of compensation is settled, and that’s unfortunate. But, I’m sure that athletes are fine with that. After all, the exposure can only benefit them so much.

Kirk Herbstreit is Wrong About Compensation for NCAA Football