Electronic Arts announced yesterday that 13 women players from three different national teams have been removed from the FIFA 16 roster after NCAA requested EA Sports to remove the players because they are currently attending or likely to attend NCAA-sanctioned schools in the U.S. Here’s EA’s official statement on this matter:
“We do not agree with this position. All rights were secured following standard protocol with national governing bodies and federations, and none of these NCAA student-athletes or potential student athletes were to be individually compensated by EA SPORTS for their inclusion in the game.“
They continued:
“We believe this decision denies these 13 athletes the opportunity to represent their countries in the game, but we have removed them from FIFA 16 to ensure there is no risk to their eligibility.”
The players affected by this decision are:
- Kadeisha Buchanan, Jessie Fleming, Ashley Lawrence, Janine Beckie, Rebecca Quinn & Sura Yekka. [Canada]
- Celia Jiménez. [Spain]
- Tanya Samarzich, Greta Espinoza, Christina Murillo, Amanda Perez, Emily Alvarado, & Maria Sanchez. [Mexico]
I’m not familiar with the U.S. laws but these type of requests are absurd. You can’t deny someone’s opportunity to be part of a video-game just because the school/college they attend to doesn’t want their students to be featured in a game.
This is straight up ridiculous when you also think that the players football federations they belong to have already signed an agreement with EA for their licenses.
I hope EA and NCAA will find a way to settle this down in the near future and see these players back in the game.
Please share your thoughts on this subject bellow!
It’s not usually the schools that have a problem, it’s the NCAA. The NCAA is a piece of shit governing body of college sports and have absurd rules. It’s too long to type here but they have many many unnecessary rules. This is also why NCAA Football and Basketball games were cancelled