College football is a big deal in America, and while star players don't get paid - they receive free tuition, housing, training, and equipment - they bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for the college they play for. Each. Sure, it's not as big as the big leagues, like the NFL, which is so popular that their annual Super Bowl championship has trickled into Rocket League and Animal Crossing, but it's still big enough that EA used to make games about it.
Way back in 2013, EA released NCAA Football 14, the last in their college football series. The game featured the likenesses of real players without authorisation or compensation, which led to a $60 million class-action lawsuit and the eventual cancellation of the series. Since then, college football has been relegated to smaller appearances in Madden games.
EA has announced today that they plan to reboot the series under a new name: EA Sports College Football, which will not feature the names, images, or likenesses of any student athletes, although they do have the rights to over 100 logos, stadiums, uniforms, and gameday traditions.
The NCAA's rules state that players are not allowed to be paid for the use of their likenesses, image, or names, so this move, and the the new title, are intended to ensure that EA doesn't run afoul of any policies again (and pay through the nose for it). The NCAA is considering reversing this rule, but the latest news is that they delayed the vote on the matter which was due to take place in January. If the rule is reversed, and players are allowed to be compensated for their likeness, then they could be included - but in a report by ESPN, the EA Sports Vice President and General Manager, Daryl Holt, said that the studio is merely hoping to "keep tabs on everything as it develops."
Although no consoles have been announced for the release of EA Sports College Football, Holt also said that the game wouldn't be ready any time this year, so it's likely very early on in development. They're still "building a team," says Holt, "pulling the team together both internally and externally to make a great game."
We highly recommend Owen S. Good's in-depth coverage of the story if you want even more details.
Do you have fond memories of NCAA Football games? Reminisce with us in the comments.
[source polygon.com, via espn.com, businesswire.com]
Comments 27
Let’s give the college athletes some revenue please.
As far as rights to logos go, did they pay Adidas to use the same font in their promotional advertisement?
Are they going to pay the athletes or is this still a scam?
They will have some free studios now that they have finally lost the Star Wars exclusivity.
It won't be on Switch.
Guys its not the fault of ea that they can't pay players, its the ncaa.
thats why this one is called 'college football' and not ncaa football
I don't miss college colors brown and orange. I only went to a few Hockey games.
I doubt this will be on Switch, since there’s no quick and easy legacy edition to dump on Nintendo fans
Hope there being no NCAA license means the players are getting paid. Props to EA if they are going down that route.
Seriously why is this being put on a switch website. We know we aren’t getting it.
@FixMadden21 yes but at the same time EA could have decided not to release a NCAA game if it meant players were not being paid. All parties involved were wrong!
@Qwertyninty don't click on the link. It's not hard to ignore it.
@Qwertyninty because... we might
@FixMadden21 if they go down the route of generic teams but then include a player creator which will allow users to accurately recreate the players and rosters to share with the community then that will be scummy. EA profiteering off the players without compensation.
Let's face it, the odds of this coming to Switch is slim to none...
@Link41x the odds are none at all.
Even if it is, expect 60 dollars on it while it is 10 dollars on other platforms.
I would rather see Madden on Switch. Not a cloud edition, even if it is a downgrade.
Calculating the probability of a new(not warmed over) EA sports title coming to the Switch makes this as a waste of an article. I would rather see something once EA teases then rips away the possibility of a Switch port.
@Zidentia there won't be any switch port at all.
@Dman10 I doubt we would see Madden on switch as Madden is only popular in America and not anywhere else.
Also a cloud edition of it is really likely imo
Without the actual NCAA license, it's going to be hard for this game to actually sell.
NFL Blitz is the only American Football game worth playing.
@nessisonett their free "education" is compensation for them making their programs millions of dollars a year while they risk their health and well-being. Meanwhile the professors at the schools preach about ethics.
this is a weird article to be found on a site dedicated to "Nintendo", because we all know this isn't coming to the system. If Madden isn't on the Switch, then there's no chance we get this.
in years past, players were given just numbers and didn't look like there real life counterparts on the NCAA Football games. It was never like Madden or FIFA as far as athlete representation goes. if anyone wants to get mad, get angry about the fact that the highest paid state official in most US states is the head coach of their state university.
I was gonna share my thoughts on this and sports in general. But it's not worth it. I guess I'm happy for those who like sports.
But we wont agree otherwise and there's no point offending people.
I do hope this game meets fans' expectations.
Am much more of a fan of the Collage Football than Professional Football.
EA hasn't released a non-FIFA sports game on a Nintendo platform since 2013. That's not likely to change with this title.
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