NCAA Football 14 News Post

College Players "Want Their Game Back"

06:30 PM - July 21, 2014 by RaychelSnr

OS'ers rejoice, you aren't the only ones who want NCAA Football to return.

With EA officially on-board with a reboot if player likenesses can be obtained for a new game, college football players seem to be more than open to the idea of a return.

"Give us the NCAA Football 15 (video game)," Georgia Tech Offensive Lineman Shaquille Mason said to a CBS Sports reporter. "We used to play it every day. We used to say during fall that would get us through the camp playing the game. That really was a blow."

The legal structures needed are coming in line now. The ACC, under Commissioner John Swofford, is developing their own likeness release forms right now to replace the current releaes. Given Power-5 autonomy, it is likely that we will see schools and conferences begin to work to possibly give players royalties for things like jersey sales and video game appearances, although money for TV appearances seems like an unlikely outcome. If player likenesses could be licensed for a video game, the legal issues a college game could face would no longer be present and its likely EA would be quick to jump back into development so long as the licensing terms made business sense.

NC State AD Debbie Yow says she senses 'strong' support within the Power-5 conferences to talk about the issue once the autonomy vote is passed.

"I think it raises the issue in terms of our consideration of it as part of our rules and regulations, and certainly from a legal standpoint it raises the issue as well," Swofford said. "I don't think it necessarily translates to paying players. I don't think you're going to see people running around using the names and likeness of players without really being careful and having appropriate approvals."

You can read more about this story on CBSSports.com.

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Member Comments

# 1 Sparkles @ 07/21/14 06:37 PM

So is it possible to see an ncaa football 16?

# 2 P4ntherBe4r @ 07/21/14 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparkles


	So is it possible to see an ncaa football 16?

Is it possible to have a NCAA football 15?

# 3 Rocky @ 07/21/14 07:11 PM

Maybe I'm reading into this wrong, but how would be fair if a player who goes to Tennessee gets compensation for being in the game but a Boise St. player still gets no compensation?

And if we're implying that only power conferences will be in the game, then that's great if you're a fan of a team in those power conferences. But you would still be missing half of D-1A schools. I can't see how that game could possibly be any better.

# 4 tbranan @ 07/21/14 07:22 PM

I think if the "Power 5"(pompous jerky name) sign on, the rest of college football will follow suit. If you are an AD or SID, you don't want your school left out of that game. It's easy marketing.

# 5 barsoffury @ 07/21/14 07:36 PM

Yes, we all want it back. Including the players but I still think there are years of litigation before things are ironed out.. Schools and conferences need to be sure they won't face any litigation before jumping back on board. NCAA 15, no chance whatsoever. '16 I think it would be a miracle if it were to happen. Maybe '17 seems more realistic.

# 6 BlackBetty15 @ 07/21/14 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rocky


	Maybe I'm reading into this wrong, but how would be fair if a player who goes to Tennessee gets compensation for being in the game but a Boise St. player still gets no compensation? And if we're implying that only power conferences will be in the game, then that's great if you're a fan of a team in those power conferences. But you would still be missing half of D-1A schools. I can't see how that game could possibly be any better.

Will def change the dynamics of recruiting huh! Lmao

# 7 DarthRambo @ 07/21/14 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barsoffury


	Yes, we all want it back. Including the players but I still think there are years of litigation before things are ironed out.. Schools and conferences need to be sure they won't face any litigation before jumping back on board. NCAA 15, no chance whatsoever. '16 I think it would be a miracle if it were to happen. Maybe '17 seems more realistic.

I agree...going to take a while. They wanna make sure they can't have a lawsuit against them again.

My question is, will this mean EA can put the real names in instead of the number?

# 8 MichaelAngeloTMNT @ 07/21/14 07:52 PM

Ya, there prb won't be a NCAA Football 16, but I can see them creating the game behind closed doors until this likeness mess gets straightened out, then adding the schools and players real quick. Pretty cool that we are going to get real NCAA players now. Hopefully they will put out a basketball game too.

# 9 Cableguyiiixii @ 07/21/14 07:59 PM

To me its all a bunch of horse ****. Its a mf video game for christ sake.

# 10 jerwoods @ 07/21/14 08:04 PM

i think 2019 at the earliest because they will be 2 3 4 appelis

but if is ps4 and xbox1 only maybe we can get full fbs and full fcs teams
who knows

# 11 Iceman87GT @ 07/21/14 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by P4ntherBe4r


	Is it possible to have a NCAA football 15?

Not unless they have been developing it behind closed doors.

The earliest we'll see a new game is for the '16 cycle, even if the votes were to go down quickly and everything were to be approved the earlies they could get next-gen game out would be sometime in the spring, which at that point you might as well spend the rest of the time developing and release it in July.

As for the charge that a game could not be successful with only the Power 5... If the customization aspect that they wanted to include for College Football 15 were included that part of the game could easily be outsourced to the fans (much like we handled the creation of FCS teams, and naming rosters for community use). And that is a scenario in which only the Power-5 would strike a deal to be included in the game (plenty of smaller schools would be more than willing to have themselves included). The reason why there isn't an NCAA 15 largely has to do with the leap to Next Gen; they were going to have to develop a new game for Next Gen consoles, if all they had to do was create a new iteration for PS3/360 they would have done so even without Ohio State (the team rumored to have been missing), and the exclusion of the Pac-12 licensing and B1G licensing (they still had the SEC for one more year thanks to the way the contract was structured that prevented them from pulling there licensing from '15 even though they wanted to). They were basically going to have to spend a lot of resources creating a new game that would only be released once and then shelved for the likely future (its hypothetical that they could have made money off of the first entry on PS4/XB1, but odds are they would be counting on future releases to make the time and money spent on developing new assets for next-gen worth it).

The NCAA franchise was a winning proposition for the schools involved (even if they were to split the money they received for licensing with the players), it wasn't until they were possibly facing litigation in relation to granting player likenesses that schools started to pull out. EA and the schools were put in a hard place thanks to the structure of the NCAA, they can't compensate the players without violating NCAA rules, schools would still sign on if they had to split up the money with their student athletes.

# 12 xCeeTee @ 07/21/14 09:42 PM

I would love to see the NCAA develop a Basketball and Football franchise again, there's a hell of a lot that can be done through it, I mean nothing would be better than continous saves throughout years as well. You can develop your player in the NCAA version of the game, carry him over to the Pro version and carry on from there. They're the only two major sports that rely on a "training ground" quite like the NBA and the NFL, college sports are on another level but literally remain important for just these two

# 13 ODogg @ 07/21/14 11:10 PM

This is some good news...hopefully we really will see NCAA 16!!

# 14 TDenverFan @ 07/21/14 11:36 PM

I woould be ok with the P5 teams in with real rosters and the Go5 with generic rosters, since it seems like the Go5 wouldn't be allowed to have their players get paid

# 15 malky @ 07/22/14 03:01 AM

I have no doubt a college football game will be back. IMHO the new playoff will be huge and schools and companies are all going to want to take advantage. Money to make always helps move situations quicker

Time wise? Thinking 3rd year into new playoff system ... Probably NCAA 17

# 16 JMD @ 07/22/14 07:43 AM

I have a feeling we will be waiting for this game just as long as we have been waiting for 2K football to return. I'm not getting my hopes up.

# 17 Junior Moe @ 07/22/14 09:09 AM

This is a very encouraging development and is playing out exactly as I hoped. While nothing is official, it seems the wheels are in motion for a return of NCAA football at some point down the line. The game will be made exponentially better by including the real players. With their real strengths, weaknesses, likeness, and "style". Couple that with the improvements the Madden team is currently making with the football engine and we may be in for a treat when/if NCAA returns. After initially hating O'Bannon (while conceding he was right on the merits) I'm thinking he did us a favor in the long term.

# 18 Junior Moe @ 07/22/14 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelAngeloTMNT


	Ya, there prb won't be a NCAA Football 16, but I can see them creating the game behind closed doors until this likeness mess gets straightened out, then adding the schools and players real quick. Pretty cool that we are going to get real NCAA players now. Hopefully they will put out a basketball game too.

In a dream world EA would handle NCAA football and 2K would jump back into the fold with College Hoops. NCAA football 14 was gem and it beats Madden 25 on the XB1 for me. I would love to see EA continue that on the XB1/PS4. A College Hoops game on par with NBA 14! What! Imagine a MyPlayer mode focused on your college career, then taking that player to the league.

# 19 BSchwartz07 @ 07/22/14 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iceman87GT


	Not unless they have been developing it behind closed doors. The earliest we'll see a new game is for the '16 cycle, even if the votes were to go down quickly and everything were to be approved the earlies they could get next-gen game out would be sometime in the spring, which at that point you might as well spend the rest of the time developing and release it in July. As for the charge that a game could not be successful with only the Power 5... If the customization aspect that they wanted to include for College Football 15 were included that part of the game could easily be outsourced to the fans (much like we handled the creation of FCS teams, and naming rosters for community use). And that is a scenario in which only the Power-5 would strike a deal to be included in the game (plenty of smaller schools would be more than willing to have themselves included). The reason why there isn't an NCAA 15 largely has to do with the leap to Next Gen; they were going to have to develop a new game for Next Gen consoles, if all they had to do was create a new iteration for PS3/360 they would have done so even without Ohio State (the team rumored to have been missing), and the exclusion of the Pac-12 licensing and B1G licensing (they still had the SEC for one more year thanks to the way the contract was structured that prevented them from pulling there licensing from '15 even though they wanted to). They were basically going to have to spend a lot of resources creating a new game that would only be released once and then shelved for the likely future (its hypothetical that they could have made money off of the first entry on PS4/XB1, but odds are they would be counting on future releases to make the time and money spent on developing new assets for next-gen worth it). The NCAA franchise was a winning proposition for the schools involved (even if they were to split the money they received for licensing with the players), it wasn't until they were possibly facing litigation in relation to granting player likenesses that schools started to pull out. EA and the schools were put in a hard place thanks to the structure of the NCAA, they can't compensate the players without violating NCAA rules, schools would still sign on if they had to split up the money with their student athletes.

I agree that it would most likely be a 2016 release, but never underestimate EA's ability to just release last year's game with a new cover on the front if this were to pass quickly (although I know it won't)

# 20 Mos1ted @ 07/22/14 09:38 AM

Do we really need real players in a college football game, though? Just give me real teams, uniforms, and conferences, and I couldn't care less if the players were real or not, by name or by jersey number and physical attributes.

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