According to the popular gaming website Gamespot, NCAA student athletes are claiming that Electronic Arts, a company known for its sports video games, illegally used the athletes' likenesses in video games about NCAA Basketball, Football and March Madness. The attorneys who are representing the student athletes have said that each of them will receive from EA almost $1,000 per appearance in the games the company has produced, with a settlement totaling to around $40 million. Both parties had actually decided to settle the lawsuit in September of last year, but details were not disclosed until last Friday. Reports said that each student could receive as little as $48 and as much as $951 for every year they were featured in a game. There are as many as 100,000 current and former players from NCAA teams since 2003, possibly costing Electronic Arts a sum of $40 million in settlements.

The managing partner of Hagens Berman, Steve W. Berman, is co-lead attorney for the case. He said that they are "incredibly pleased with the results" of the settlement as well as the opportunity to correct the big mistake of both EA and NCAA for violating the rights of the student athletes. He further stated that the case was filed back in 2009, and finally reaching this result was certainly a victory. Lawyers also said that this will be the first time college student athletes will be receiving payment for the use of their images for commercial purposes.

It should be noted, however, that the settlement is not between EA and the NCAA but rather between the game company and Collegiate Licensing Co., which markets and licenses college sports. The case against the NCAA itself will begin early next year as scheduled. If U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken approves the proposed settlement, it will redefine the dynamics of college sports.