NCAA Football Video Game Returning? Student Athletes to be Compensated Under New Rules

For years, the NCAA has vehemently fought against their student athletes’ rights to be compensated for their name, image and likeness.

Now, it appears the governing body has switched course.

On Wednesday morning, the Board of Governors met to announce new supported rule changes allowing student athletes to be compensated for third-party endorsements as well as for additional student-athlete opportunities. The endorsement compensation can include opportunities that both include and exclude athletics. As for the additional student-athlete opportunities, the NCAA release states:

“It also supports compensation for other student-athlete opportunities, such as social media, businesses they have started and personal appearances within the guiding principles originally outlined by the board in October.”

Will NCAA Football Video Games Return?

With this new decision allowing student-athletes to benefit from their name and likeness, this could certainly put a plan in motion for companies like EA Sports to bring back its famed NCAA football and basketball video games.

Many comments across Twitter, Instagram and elsewhere on social media are clamoring for a return, including adding suggestions for EA Sports on who should grace the cover if they decide to bring the video game back. The two most likely candidates would be Heisman Trophy candidates Justin Fields of Ohio State and Trevor Lawrence of Clemson. Fields has the higher odds to win the Heisman at multiple sportsbooks, including DraftKings (Fields at +350. Lawrence at +500), FanDuel (Fields +175, Lawrence +320), and BetMGM Sportsbook (Fields +260, Lawrence +450).