Electronic Arts and the Collegiate Licensing Company will pay a $40 million settlement in a lawsuit seeking compensation for college athletes, The New York Times reports. EA Sports GM of American Football Cam Weber also announced that the publisher’s 2014 college football game has been cancelled.
The parties involved notified the United States District Court in Northern California that they had reached an agreement on Thursday, but the terms were not disclosed. Michael Hausfeld, a lawyer for the athletes confirmed on Friday that the $40 million settlement figure was accurate, but said it was not yet clear how the money would be divided. “We have yet to come up with a plan of distribution, and that’s what we are working on now,” he said.
EA, the CLC and the NCAA were named defendants in a number of lawsuits filed by student athletes claiming the three companies illegally profited off the use of the player’s likenesses in video games and other media without compensating the athletes. An NCAA representative told USA Today on Thursday that is is not participating in this settlement, and is prepared to take the case to the Supreme Court.
(via Polygon)