On easportsworld.com, gamers can post clips from playing NCAA Football 08 and often describe the clips using the names of the real players, meaning the players are still being marketed despite the lack of a specific name on a jersey. The similarities between the real and virtual players are so prevalent that it violates NCAA bylaw 12.5, which, "Specifically prohibits the commercial licensing of an NCAA athlete's 'name, picture, or likeness'"(4).
EA Sports is so intent on the accuracy of player likenesses that they, "Send detailed questionnaires to NCAA team equipment managers to glean precisely the idiosyncratic individual player details." While it is difficult to quantify the amount of royalties that a college athlete would receive, the NFL Player's Union received $35 million in royalties from EA Sports in 2008. Even though directly paying the players would violate their amateur status, players can be compensated for their image by putting royalties in a trust or paying for a graduate education (Thomas). When the larger corporations like the NCAA, EA Sports, and the CLC are able to exploit the image of amateur athletes through commercial sales without consequence, the relationship represents a form of unpaid labor. .
NCAA supporters respond to the argument that the players deserve to be compensated for the marketing of their image by saying that most end up making money regardless, whether it is from agents while in college or from making an NFL team. Most college football players do not even reach the NFL, and their obscurity makes it much more difficult for them to pursue legal action for compensation. Daniel Pesina was a martial artist who agreed to model characters for the Mortal Kombat video game series, but sued Midway Manufacturing Company for the violation of his right of publicity. He lost, though, based on two criteria: the inability to prove the commercial value of his name and the inability to demonstrate that his image was recognizable.
