When is the release date for EA Sports College football?

Yesterday, college football fans received a monumental announcement regarding the future of the EA Sports' video game relaunch. EA reached an agreement with OneTeam Partners, an athlete marketing firm. That deal will allow eligible players to decide if the game can use their name, image, and likeness.

The exact details of compensation were not disclosed in the announcement. That announcement also was not coupled with a release date, so summer 2024 is still the tentative plan.

Athletes are not being forced into joining the video game. The student-athletes that choose not to opt in will be replaced by a general player with nondescript features. Every eligible student-athlete controls their fate.

When is EA College Football going to be released?

There still isn't a specific release date for the latest NCAA football video game, even though it was announced back in 2021. The latest news that consumers have received about a release date was the summer of 2024 reveal in November 2022.

That's a bit of a bummer for fans of the franchise who have been patiently waiting for a new release. The original release date was supposed to be in July 2023 but was pushed back to focus on the game's quality. Considering that college football fans haven't received a new NCAA football release since 2013, the delays are extremely disappointing.

NCAA Football 14 is an immensely popular game that people still pour time into. However, most of those players are the ones clamoring for an updated NCAA game on the next-gen video game consoles. By the release of the next game, they'll have exercised over 10 years of patience.

How did we get here? Why is this deal so important?

In 2009, former UCLA basketball player Ed O' Bannon sued the NCAA in support of college football players and men's basketball players in Division I programs. The suit, stemming from the lack of compensation NCAA athletes received for their representation in the game, didn't directly end the game series.

Rather, it was the NCAA's stubbornness at that time when it pertained to compensating student-athletes in any manner. EA didn't want to open themselves up to further legal action back then, which is why this deal is massive. With the NIL floodgates fully open, EA can avoid legal risks when developing NCAA video games.

The Ed O' Bannon case was a huge step toward student-athlete pay and the NIL landscape today. Now that athletes can benefit from their name, EA Sports is allowed to strike deals with student-athletes just as other companies can. Ed O' Bannon deserves a ton of credit.

So, NCAA football is coming back. A new college football game is on the horizon. Accordingly, fans are excited. Here are some reactions: