The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) will not be renewing their contract with EA Sports, meaning the association between the pair will end in June 2014.
The recently released NCAA Football 14 will be the last EA Sports title to include the organization’s name and logo, with sources telling ESPN that the next game will be simply named College Football 15.
According to reports, one of the reasons NCAA is dropping the deal is because of a lawsuit from a group of former players, led by Ed O’Bannon.
The group claims the NCAA used former players’ likenesses in their video games without compensation.
Some argue that this could bankrupt the NCAA and in a statement the organization said the ‘costs of litigation’ were a major factor in leaving EA Sports.
The statement read: “The NCAA has made the decision not to enter a new contract for the license of its name and logo for the EA Sports NCAA Football video game. The current contract expires in June 2014, but our timing is based on the need to provide EA notice for future planning.
“We are confident in our legal position regarding the use of our trademarks in video games. But given the current business climate and costs of litigation, we determined participating in this game is not in the best interests of the NCAA.
“The NCAA has never licensed the use of current student-athlete names, images or likenesses to EA. The NCAA has no involvement in licenses between EA and former student-athletes.
“Member colleges and universities license their own trademarks and other intellectual property for the video game. They will have to independently decide whether to continue those business arrangements in the future.”
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