The NCAA announced that it has reached a $20 million settlement in an EA Sports video game lawsuit, according to Bleacher Report. The former Arizona State and Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller sued EA Sports and the NCAA for wrongly using names and likenesses of athletes, and it was scheduled to go to trial in March 2015.
“With the games no longer in production and the plaintiffs settling their claims with EA and the Collegiate Licensing Company, the NCAA viewed a settlement now as an appropriate opportunity to provide complete closure to the video game plaintiffs,” said NCAA Chief Legal Officer Donald Remy.
The $20 million in the settlement would go to “certain Division I men’s basketball and Division I Bowl Subdivision football student-athletes who attended certain institutions during the years the games were sold,” according to the official press release, and it could go to current college athletes as well.
“This is the first time in the history of the NCAA that the organization is paying student-athletes for rights related to their play on the field, compensating them for their contribution to the profit-making nature of college sports,” Keller attorney Steve Berman said, CBS Sports reports. “We’ve long held through our various cases against the NCAA that the student-athlete is treated poorly in everything from scholarships to safety. This settlement is a step toward equity and fairness for them.”