The Morning According to Us

Another NCAA profit scheme will be tested in court.

Getty Images

"You realize this is indentured servitude, right?"

Former college quarterback Sam Keller has taken on EA Sports biggest secret: those "randomly generated" players on the NCAA Football and Basketball series aren't so random at all. In fact, they're the same players who suit up every Saturday in the fall, and all winter long. So why aren't the players paid for their likeness? Oh, this will not end well for EA or the NCAA.

Keller's lawsuit contends that, though players in NCAA Football and Basketball aren't named, you'd have to be dumber than this guy to not see who they're meant to be. Gamers can upload complete, updated rosters within minutes, which means that, in the oft-cited example, the Pennsylvania-born, 5-foot-5, 170-pound, redshirted junior running back from Kent State who wears No. 6 on NCAA Football 2009 bears an uncanny resemblance to a Pennsylvania-born, 5-foot-5, 170-pound, redshirted junior running back for Kent State named Eugene Jarvis, who's chosen No. 6 for his college jersey number. Coincidence? Keller doesn't think so.

EA Sports wasn't successful in skirting the law before. A former free safety for the Buffalo Bills found letters that directed to emails which showed EA and the NFLPA trying to blur the likeness of former players to keep from having to pay royalties for the Madden series. That class-action suit won the retired players $28 million this January.

But the real hypocrite in the current suit is the NCAA. It's the outlet that provides gamers the updated rosters through its licensing arm, Collegiate Licensing Company. And yet, as the lawsuit contends, the NCAA's own bylaws don't allow for the commercialization of an athlete's "name, picture, or likeness." It's tough to find more of a commercial enteprise than EA Sports.

This is, in the end, just another example of the NCAA profiting from its sole commodity, which it refuses to compensate. For now, that is. Keller seems to have an air-tight case.

Elsewhere…

Singapore decides no one worthy of top sportsman. For shame.

Chinese power not good for table tennis says official. Bring in Forrest Gump!

Brit wins 'world's best job'. Chocolate taster at a factory run by models?

Europe, WADA close on an athletes' data deal.

Print Article . Email Article. Subscribe to The Magazine