As excited as sports fans have been for the College Football Playoff, which finally debuted this season after the BCS and the polls previously determined the national champion, the event is somewhat bittersweet for fans of the video games that until last year represented the sport and the NCAA.
A streak of 20 consecutive years with a college football game on the market was broken in 2014. In September 2013, EA Sports officially canceled the "NCAA Football" series. The announcement came following a settlement between the company and plaintiffs in a lawsuit led by former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon that was brought in 2009 against the NCAA, EA Sports and the Collegiate Licensing Company.
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The O'Bannon lawsuit accused the three defendants of conspiring to avoid paying players for the use of their likenesses. The claim covered video games in addition to television brodcasts and merchandising. EA and the CLC settled for $40 million and agreed to stipulations that no longer made developing a college football game feasible. The NCAA had already pulled its license and individual institutions were withdrawing support.
The lawsuit continued against the NCAA (the only remaining defendant) and the plaintiffs were victorious last August. The NCAA in September appealed U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken's ruling.
Had EA gone ahead with a "College Football 15" (the name on which it had settled) it would not have featured NCAA licensing, multiple schools including Ohio State, or the College Football Playoff.
"NCAA Football 14" was the last edition in the series and did not feature the College Football Playoff. Despite hopes it would be included, the necessary details were not in place in time. Regardless NCAA would not have allowed it as the organization had prevented EA from including any sort of "playoff" since "NCAA 2001." The College Football Playoff, as an official part of the new season, could only have been introduced in a NCAA-sanctioned "NCAA 15."
College sports games are gone and it will probably be several years, and an agreement to the way college athletes are compensated for their likeness, until any become viable projects for the likes of EA Sports. Unfortunately, fans are reminded of this void in sports gaming several times a year. The sting of missing out on a playoff has opened that wound again.
Bryan Wiedey posts sports gaming news and analysis daily at Pastapadre.com, is a regular participant in the Press Row Podcast and Press Row Hangout shows, and can be reached on Twitter @Pastapadre.