EA Sports open to relaunching NCAA Football after Fair Pay to Play Act
The potential return of the NCAA Football video game series is looking more promising following Tuesday's news that the NCAA's board of governors has cleared the way for student-athletes to benefit from the use of their name, image, and likeness.
EA Sports CEO Andrew Wilson was asked last week about bringing back NCAA Football in the wake of California's Fair Pay to Play Act, and indicated it was a possibility.
"Our position is we would love to build a game," Wilson said at WSJ Tech Live. "If there's a world where the folks who govern these things are able to solve for how to pay players for the use of their name and likeness and stats and data, we would jump at the opportunity to build a game in a heartbeat."
Here’s @EASPORTS boss Andrew Wilson telling @WSJ he’d leap at chance to revive college sports video games: https://t.co/kxqufly3MI
— Jason Gay (@jasongay) October 29, 2019
The NCAA Football series was canceled in 2013 due to lawsuits involving the use of players' likenesses in the game. With the door now open for college athletes to profit off their fame, many - including Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa - hope to see the series make a comeback.
@EASPORTS .. making a comeback this year with NCAA ?
— Tua. T 🇦🇸 (@Tuaamann) October 29, 2019
The NCAA has given its three divisions until January 2021 to create the new rules.