STILLWATER – Gamers, college football fans, and college football players can all rejoice as one of the most popular sports video games ever is set to return. For years EA Sports and their continued improvement with graphics made NCAA College Football and the NFL version of football video games Madden a staple for all football fans. I’m not a games player, but I would program teams to play with the proficiency that the EA Sports experts projected into the game and I would watch the simulated games to see how they turned out. Players were always checking and then often arguing over their rating in the game.
EA Sports
2013 cover of NCAA Football.
That video game drew almost as much discussion as the real thing until it went away in the aftermath of Ed O’Bannon vs. NCAA. Now, with NIL populating college athletics and the avenue to produce and sell the game within reason and without being sued, EA Sports has reportedly targeted a release for the new version of the game in July 2023.
The last year that EA Sports produced the popular game was 2014. The 2013 version had a cover that honored Heisman Trophy winners Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State and Robert Griffin III of Baylor. By the way, Barry J. Sanders, the son of Barry Sanders and former Stanford and Oklahoma State running back works for EA Sports.
Matt Brown of the internet site that covers college football, Extra Points, discovered the plans through a 2021 memo that surfaced as the result of a Freedom of Information Act request. This was part of the memo.
“EA’s aim is to release a stand-alone college football game in July of 2023, allowing for the two-year game development window necessary for collecting game assets and developing game play to meet the current market demands for a unique college football game while following NCAA guidelines.”
The memo also stated the “game development is in full swing.”
EA Sports
An image of Bedlam at Boone Pickens Stadium from NCAA Football 2014.
More important the report also revealed that nearly 120 institutions, conferences, bowl games, and other necessary college football participants had conceptually approved of the game and the way EA Sports would compensate schools and in turn student-athletes for the use of their name-image-and-likeness.
The memo outlined that each school’s payout would be determined by their success, and they would be placed in a tier. The tier each school is in would be determined by the number of Associated Press Top 25 finishes over the previous 10-year period. The first ranking of schools in tiers would include the upcoming 2022 season. Regardless, Oklahoma State should easily be in the top tier.
The memo listed the tier amounts:
1. $104,900
2. $62,000
3. $41,900
4. $10,400
My calculations show that could come out to roughly $806.00 per Oklahoma State player should the school decide to not keep any and pass the entire payout to student-athletes.
