The NCAA is Investigating Whether or Not It’s Time to Bring NCAA Football Back

ESPN is reporting today that the NCAA is going to investigate whether the current rules can be modified to allow athletes to be compensated for their names, images, and likenesses.

Or in other words, is it time to pay players for things like being in NCAA Football from EA Sports.

The NCAA will consider how the current rules can be modified to allow athletes to be compensated for their names, images and likenesses. https://t.co/LxneOONK6D

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 14, 2019

The final report of the current inquiry is due in October. Assuming that comes back as a yes for athlete payments (and it feels somewhat inevitable that we’re heading for a yes given mounting public pressure) that would mean we can probably start about a 18-30 month countdown on getting an NCAA Football and basketball game out the door to consumers.

Could we see NCAA Football 22 happen released in July 2021? The odds of that happening went from 0 to something greater than 0 with today’s announcement.

So with that, we have real hope for the first time in years. Let us hold onto it.

It does look as if one person is already ready to resume his role in the booth:

So @OSU_AD if all goes well is there a chance we get our NCAA Football video game back?!? Just asking for a few 100k friends that have missed the game desperately for 5 years—including former and current players. Haha!! Be a hero! https://t.co/TE988flpax

— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) May 14, 2019