EA announced plans to create a college basketball video game and 2K made a similar announcement shortly after. EA won a bidding round with the Collegiate Licensing Company for NCAA branding, while 2K has pursued partnerships directly with individual schools such as UCLA. UCLA announced a long-term collaboration with 2K covering both men's and women's basketball programs. EA sought comprehensive rights covering all NCAA Division I schools and both men's and women's leagues, aiming for broad exclusivity similar to its past NFL arrangement. EA reportedly may abandon the project if it cannot secure the exclusive rights it desires.
Sports Business Journal reports that while EA won a bidding round earlier this year with the Collegiate Licensing Company for the rights to the NCAA brand, 2K Games has moved forward with its own college basketball game by trying to negotiate brand partnerships with individual colleges like UCLA. "UCLA Athletics and UCLA Trademarks & Licensing, an enterprise of the Associated Students UCLA , have announced a long-term collaboration with 2K which will see the UCLA Men's and Women's Basketball programs bring the rich legacy of Bruins basketball to a future project," the school announced on Thursday.
EA is apparently very unhappy about this. According to Sports Business Journal, it wanted the rights to everything in NCAA divisional basketball on both men's and women's leagues, which would give it the sort of exclusivity stranglehold it long had with the NFL in its Madden series. And if EA doesn't get its way, sources told Sports Business Journal the publisher might abandon the upcoming game altogether. "The opportunity that's excited us in college basketball is to deliver a full, standalone experience that captures everything that makes the sport so special," EA Sports VP Sean O'Brien told SBJ in a statement. "The approach we've proposed is to create a game that includes all 350-plus NCAA Division I schools-both men's and women's teams included-with
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