NCAA decides not to renew EA Sports contract

The NCAA has announced it will not enter a new contract with the EA Sports NCAA Football video game series.

According to a press release from the sports organization, the current contract with EA Sports expires in June 2014, but it announced its decision early in order to provide "EA notice for future planning."

"We are confident in our legal position regarding the use of our trademarks in video games," stated the firm. "But given the current business climate and costs of litigation, we determined participating in this game is not in the best interests of the NCAA.

"The NCAA has never licensed the use of current student-athlete names, images or likenesses to EA. The NCAA has no involvement in licenses between EA and former student-athletes. Member colleges and universities license their own trademarks and other intellectual property for the video game. They will have to independently decide whether to continue those business arrangements in the future."

The NCAA Football 2014 video game, which releases on July 19, will be the last to include the NCAA’s name and logo.

EA Sports executive vice president Andrew Wilson said the EA Tiburon series will continue.

"This is simple: EA Sports will continue to develop and publish college football games, but we will no longer include the NCAA names and marks," he wrote on EA's blog.

"Our relationship with the Collegiate Licensing Company is strong and we are already working on a new game for next generation consoles which will launch next year and feature the college teams, conferences and all the innovation fans expect from EA Sports."