Keller hates on Gameboys

One of the best parts about being the quarterback for Arizona State was the thrill that Sam Keller got whenever he played “NCAA Football,” the popular video game from Electronic Arts.

Although Keller's name did not appear in the game, there was little doubt that he was the inspiration for the Arizona State quarterback in its 2005 edition. The virtual player shared Keller's jersey number, 9, as well as his height, weight, skin tone, hair color and home state. The virtual quarterback even had the same playing style, as a pocket passer. “That was what made it so cool,” said Keller, who transferred to Nebraska in 2006. “It was so blatant.”

Keller has since come to view his appearance in the video game in a different light: as exploitation. He filed a class-action lawsuit this spring against Electronic Arts and the NCAA, arguing that they illegally profit from the images of college football and basketball players. Ryan Hart, a former Rutgers quarterback, filed a similar lawsuit against Electronic Arts earlier this week in a New Jersey state court.

“We signed a paper at the beginning of college saying we couldn't benefit from our name,” said Keller, who is now 24 and living in Scottsdale, Ariz. “So why was the NCAA turning a blind eye to this and allowing EA Sports to take our likenesses and make big bucks off it?”

The NCAA has long enforced strict rules barring its athletes from cashing in on their celebrity status at the same time it earned millions of dollars through licensing deals, like those for jerseys. Now athletes are challenging in court for the right to control the use of their images.

Other athletes have successfully sued over the right to profit from their likenesses, including a group of retired NFL players who sued their union for allowing Electronic Arts to use their identities in “Madden NFL” without compensating them. In November, a jury awarded more than 2,000 retired players $28.1 million. The award was reduced to $26.25 million in a settlement.

Legal experts said it would be difficult to quantify how much the likenesses of college players are worth, but by comparison, the NFL players union earned more than $35 million in royalties from Electronic Arts in 2008. Robert Carey, Keller's lawyer, said college athletes could be compensated in ways that do not violate their amateur status, by placing the royalty payments in a trust or paying for graduate education.

In a statement, the NCAA said the complaints were without merit and that the video games did not violate NCAA rules. A spokesman for Electronic Arts declined to comment, citing the pending lawsuits. The lawsuits come as the NCAA is considering loosening restrictions on the marketing of individual players. Christine Plonsky, director of women's athletics at the University of Texas, argued that there was no harm in showcasing the talents of individual athletes, within limits. She and her colleagues “don't view uses of their imagery as exploitative, but mere evidence of participation,” she said in an e-mail message.

Unlike video games for professional sports leagues, the games for NCAA sports do not use players' names. But even casual fans of college sports would recognize the athletes depicted in them. In “NCAA Football 2009,” the quarterback for the University of Florida, for example, is left-handed, stands 6-foot-3, and wears No. 15, just like the Gators' Tim Tebow, one of college football's biggest stars. While the electronic player's hometown is different — Tebow is from Jacksonville, not Brandon — both are from Florida.

Article courtesy of the Omaha World Herald