The Brandr Group has escalated its distaste of EA Sports College Football game’s compensation from public uproar to a lawsuit. The Brandr Group is in charge of negotiating group licensing contracts for 54 Division I schools whose names, images, and likenesses (NIL) EA wants to use in its upcoming game.
On Tuesday, June 20, 2023, the dispute between The Brandr Group and EA Sports took a different dimension with the former filing a lawsuit in a federal court in the Northern District of California after it was previously filed in San Mateo County, California where EA headquarters is located.
Schools across the nation contracted The Brandr Group to facilitate group licensing agreements using athletes’ NILs and schools’ intellectual property. According to the lawsuit, The Brandr Group is alleging that EA Sports was trying to “sidestep” its agreements to directly negotiate deals for athletes to participate in the upcoming football game.
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Court documents obtained by Front Office Sports alleged that EA Sports and The Brandr Group had been in contact several times in 2021 and 2022 to discuss plans by EA to offer athletes NIL deals to feature in the EA Sports College Football game.
However, in May 2023, EA Sports decided to work with a different company called OneTeam Partners to facilitate the group licensing deal with athletes. Subsequently, EA Sports started to offer deals directly to athletes with the help of OneTeam Partners.
Sadly, the new deal allowed athletes to directly decide whether they want to be part of the upcoming game or not and completely cuts out The Brandr Group. The new deal offered athletes a one-time $500 payment with no royalties.
What The Brandr Group is asking for from EA Sports
The College Football Players Association, an athlete advocate group, and The Brandr Group have condemned the $500 that EA Sports was offering to athletes saying it was below fair market value. Nevertheless, the new deal allows schools to receive up to 10% of the game’s revenue according to the lawsuit filed by The Brandr Group.
The Brandr Groups’ argument in the lawsuit centers around which group should represent the players and schools that EA Sports wants to use in the upcoming game.
“[EA Sports] places TBG’s Partner Schools in the unenviable position of either breaching their contracts with TBG or potentially losing the opportunity for themselves and their athletes to participate in the game,” the lawsuit said. “EA’s tactics will also cause irreparable harm to TBG’s Client Athletes, and to every student-athlete who opts into their scheme for unfair compensation.”
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Consequently, The Brandr Group is asking EA Sports to stop all negotiations with schools and athletes that are already bound by the TBG contract.
“As we have previously stated, our primary concern is advocating for student-athletes, ensuring they have a voice and are justly represented in all matters pertaining to the use of their NIL,” The Brandr Group said in a statement. “We believe that student-athletes are not receiving fair market value for their NIL rights and that the contractual rights asked for may limit other NIL gaming opportunities.”
EA Sports is yet to learn their lesson
Pushing for the EA Sports College Football game shows that EA Sports have learned little or nothing from the NCAA Football 14 incident. The game had to be discontinued after the NCAA pulled out of the agreement following a lawsuit challenging the likenesses included in the game without any form of compensation to the students.
In one of the lawsuits, the NCAA agreed to a $20 million settlement with several college basketball and football players. EA Sports, on the other hand, had to pay $40 million for the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit bothering on name and likeness rights. Since then, no college sports video game has been made using real players.
Many fans who were already anticipating the release of the game in 2024 were of the opinion that using real players was unnecessary. A Twitter user with the handle @JerseySuave4 said, “We don’t care about the players! Just give us the schools, stadiums, fight songs, and tools to edit. The players can be completely randomized and the game would still sell a ton.”
Another user with the handle @miamiphinatics insinuated that most gamers will not care if actual players were used in the game. MiamiPhinatic said “Dynasty mode will have everyone playing with new players within 1 or 2 seasons anyways. We just want good graphics, updated playoff format, & all the updated schools, stadiums, etc…”
Others simply cast doubt on the possibility that any college sports game will ever be made. This was the view shared by @JeremyAvs among many others.
Why does EA Sports want to use real players?
One of the reasons why EA Sports is pushing to have real players in their upcoming game is because it makes the game feel more alive. Imagine playing a soccer game with random players with random faces and names. It would definitely feel odd.
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Another reason may be for marketing gains. It is almost certain that players whose NIL appeared in the game would want to get a copy of the game. Also, their presence may also influence their family and friends to get a copy.
Each time any of the college players whose NIL appeared in the game goes pro, it will likely spark another wave of sales. These potential benefits are likely some of the reasons why EA Sports is fighting through every possible means to bring real players into the game.
However, critics of EA Sports also have a strong argument. Unlike soccer, Football is not widely popular across the globe. Also, most of the players that will feature in EA Sports College Football are relatively unknown. The vast majority of those that will play the game will just want to enjoy the sports and the graphics rather than the thrill of having real players.
Negotiations with schools on intellectual property and NIL is always complicated and EA Sports should be wise enough to avoid all the legal troubles. As many gamers observed, the game will still be a hit with or without real players.
Do you think offering players $500 was a great move from EA Sports? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
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