Wednesday, the NCAA announced it would not renew its licensing deal with EA Sports, which makes the popular "NCAA Football" video game. Friday, EA Sports announced it has entered into an agreement with the Collegiate Licensing Company, which oversees the licensing of more than 150 college football programs.
That means that the game will continue to be produced, just under a different name -- almost certainly "College Football" instead of "NCAA Football." The "new" version of the game will be out next summer.
The NCAA ended its 21-year deal with EA Sports because "given the current business climate and costs of litigation, we determined participating in this game is not in the best interests of the NCAA." That's because the NCAA is being sued by former and current players for a cut of the revenue derived from the NCAA's deal with EA Sports.
So if the NCAA thinks this is an issue, why don't its member schools feel the same way? That's the million-dollar question, so to speak. While the CLC controls licensing for schools, each university has a separate deal and thus can opt out, if it wants, from this new deal with EA Sports.
