EA Sports
Despite the ongoing pandemic, 2021 was an exciting year for many sports fans as it saw the return of most major sports and in-person crowds. It also happened to see the return of another major spots franchise — EA Sports’ college football video game series.
Back in February, EA Sports announced that EA Sports College Football was in development. Although the project is already underway, there’s still a ton of details to work out as it pertains to obtaining school licenses and player likeness, etc. So realistically, when can we expect EA Sports College Football to arrive in our hands? Is 2022 too soon?
Back in June, leaked documents of the EA Sports/CLC proposal to FBS schools seemed to indicate the first EA Sports College Football game wouldn’t arrive until summer 2023. The initial agreement spanned four years from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2027.
Assuming this initial deal was agreed upon, it looks like the first EA Sports College Football game won’t be arriving next year but in 2023 instead. This seems to be in line with a recent comment from Cory Moss, CEO of Collegiate Licensing Co. As reported by 247Sports’ Brandon Marcello, Moss says a summer 2023 release is “the hope.”
With NCAA college athletes now able to benefit from their name, image and likeness, it will be interesting to see how that affects EA’s upcoming college football game. EA had previously agreed to a $40 million settlement for improperly using the likenesses of college athletes in their video games. Now the game maker is allowed to actually pay the athletes, so this could be the first time we see actual player names and realistic rosters (and won’t have to rely on user submitted rosters).
That being said, there’s still a lot to work out in terms of paying these athletes. Will EA negotiate with them as a collective group or reach out to specific individuals for marketing purposes? Let’s be honest, not every college athlete is valued the same. I feel like the best arrangement is to agree to a flat fee for every athlete to be included in the game and then pay marquee players additional money for branding and marketing purposes.
Either way, expect to see the first EA Sports College Football game arrive in summer 2023 at the earliest.
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