You may think that Ohio State football members, fans, boosters, etc., have to be the happiest group of people on earth today — and you are close to right. They are easily the second happiest people on earth.

However, thanks to a string of record ratings, ESPN is seeing their investment into college football’s postseason pay off in a huge way. ESPN is happy. Very, very happy.

College football is on everyone’s minds. The playoff is a big deal. People are not only watching playoff games in record numbers, but they’re watching the big six bowl games in record numbers.

You could make a case that while the NFL is the nation’s most popular sport, college football is right behind at No. 2.

Not only that, but the power-five conferences (Big XII, SEC, Big Ten, ACC, and Pac 12) are going to be deciding how to use their newfound autonomous powers this winter.

All is well with the sport of big-time college football.

But there is still one place where college football, despite all of its successes, can’t seem to find a home: on the new-generation of video game consoles.

Last year was the first time the sport was not represented on a current generation of video game consoles in decades. Thanks to litigation pressures against the former EA product, schools, conferences and the NCAA itself backed out of supporting it. There was never a question of economics with the game, it made money — selling well enough to justify making it in the face of intense legal pressures for years.

But the wheels finally came off the NCAA Football video game wagon this past year — and for now, there is no sign anyone is attempting to take the battered wagon and piece it back together.

With a couple of simple votes by the aforementioned power-five conferences though, that could certainly change. Depending on how the conferences vote about player compensation and licensing, a company (ahem EA), could make a college football game with all the licenses and no fears of legal action. You pay the players a small stipend, the schools get a cut for their trademarks, even the college football playoff is properly represented.

College Football is a money maker, and it’s unlikely that the sport is going anywhere in the short term. If a company is able to make a game without worrying about getting sued over it, they’re going to make a game.

With the NCAA general convention coming up this weekend, we’re going to learn a lot about not only the future of college sports, but also about college sports video games.

If the chips fall where they could, college sports could see a resurgence onto video game consoles. The timing for any such return would easily have to be the 2016 calendar year at the earliest, as there is just no way anything reasonable could be delivered in 2015.

The simple truth is, if we don’t see a game by the summer of 2017, it would be somewhat surprising to me — but it would also be a clear sign that we probably are never getting them back.

So keep your eye on Washington D.C. on January 15-18 — we could either get the first small hints that college sports video games can be a viable business model once again, or the crushing reality that what once was never will be again.