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Odds Say EA Sports Will Not Release an NCAA Football Game in 2020

David Golokhov

by David Golokhov in College Football

Updated Apr 3, 2020 · 12:50 PM PDT

Potential NCAA Football cover.
Will EA Sports release a new version of the NCAA Football franchise in 2020? Photo By Justin Spencer (flickr) [CC License].
  • EA Sports hasn’t made an NCAA Football game since 2013 (NCAA Football 14)
  • The NCAA voted to allow players to profit off of their own image and likeness this past week, clearing a major hurdle for the game
  • Expect EA Sports to do everything possible to get NCAA Football 20 on shelves by next season

After the NCAA voted to allow players to profit off of their name, image and likeness, one of the first things that came to sports fans’ minds was the return of EA Sports’ NCAA Football.

The game has faced a number of legal hurdles and hasn’t been in production since 2013 (NCAA Football 14). Will they finally make their return with a game in 2020?

Odds EA Sports Releases an NCAA Football Game in 2020

Outcome Odds
Yes +300
No -500

All odds taken Oct. 30.

NCAA Votes To Allow Students To Profit From Name, Likeness

In a stunning decision, the NCAA announced on Tuesday that they will now permit college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness. It’s a shocking decision because the NCAA has been so vehemently against student-athletes profiting in any way, shape or form.

On Tuesday, the NCAA had a vote and many people figured they’d simply continue to put their stick in the spokes of athletes trying to benefit financially. However, in a rare reversal of course, the board of governors has decided to embrace change. They’ve communicated to the athletic divisions to update their bylaws.

Will EA Sports Bring NCAA Football Back?

One of the biggest issues that EA Sports had with the NCAA Football franchise is that the game faced too many legal obstacles. They were using and profiting from the players’ likenesses, and had even seen some lawsuits from players. There was so much red tape that they eventually canceled the game in 2013.

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Why it’s likely to make a return is because the game was one of the best-sellers for EA Sports. That was back before eSports were a major entity. Now that eSports are a multi-million dollar giant, EA Sports will have to bring back NCAA Football. If they don’t, someone else will.

From a business perspective, it makes a lot of sense for them to do so. Fans have been craving the game ever since it was shut down. Now the cries for NCAA Football 20 will be even louder now that one legal hurdle has been cleared.

Will We See NCAA Football 20?

As many legal experts have pointed out, EA Sports has only really cleared one hurdle here. While it’s a major one, many other legal hurdles still persist. Even so, we’ve heard the brand’s CEO Andrew Wilson opening talking about how he’d leap at the chance to revive the college sports video games.

My bet here is that we’ll see a game in 2020. Sure, a lot of coding and development needs to be done, but they can start that now behind the scenes and work on the legal hurdles. Everyone wants this to happen, so I would bet that it does.

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