When most people hear the words EA Sports and football in the same sentence, they naturally think of the massively popularMaddenfranchise. However, since the mid 90s, EA had another football series calledNCAA Footballrunning in parallel withMadden, focused on college football. Due to legal issues, theNCAA Footballfranchise was cancelled before its 2014 iteration was released, with no new title being announced until plans were revealed forEA Sports College Footballthis year. New details have emerged from a recent leak, which show that the game could still be a little while off, with a release date of 2023.
TheNCAA Footballtitles were originally made to highlight college football, much likeMaddenties directly in with each NFL season and its players. The representation of players in the game ended up causing legal problems for EA, with many past players coming out to sue the company overthe use of their likeness inNCAA Football. This not only stopped development of the games for the next seven years, it also forced EA to rename the recent iteration of the series to the more genericEA Sports College Football, dropping any reference to the NCAA from the title due to a lack of licensing with the organization.
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The leak, posted on Twitter by Extra Points publisher Matt Brown, comes in the form of a proposal by EA Sports to FBS schools regarding the gathering of information for its newEA Sports College Footballtitle. The proposal was obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, and outlines a set of payment tiers offered to the schools for participation in the game. More money is given to colleges that have a higher performing football team, with tiers potentially changing “year-to-year based on “team performance.” It will be interesting to see which teams are at the top, given that some of the larger teams areopting out ofEA Sports College Footballalready.
Importantly, the proposal also outlines a timeframe for the deal, with a four-year deal being offered, starting from July 12, 2025 and ending on July 09, 2025. This means that the deal encompasses four separateEA Sports College Footballtitles, with schools receiving revenue across that period. This is revenue that EA suggests in the agreement is “a better overall royalty rate” than offered in four previous versions of its proposal, insinuating a decent amount of back-and-forth between EA and associated organizations.
The return of NCAA football is an exciting one for many longtime fans, and while previous leaks had suggested that the release date forEA Sports College Footballwould release around 2023, it is nice to have solid evidence of that fact in writing. Although the game won’t bare the official NCAA name, and EA have decided against using actual player likenesses or names for fear of another lawsuit, college football fans will likely still be placated by a new game in such a beloved series.
EA Sports College Footballis in development and will release on July 24, 2025.
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