A rule change in the NCAA could pave the way for the long-running NCAA Football series to make a comeback. First developed by Electronic Arts and Visual Concepts, who would later go on to be acquired by Take-Two Interactive and merged into the 2K label, the original game in what would eventually become the NCAA Football series was titled Bill Walsh College Football and appeared on the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and Sega CD in 1993.

For the next twenty years EA Sports released an iteration of their college football title every year, dropping the Bill Walsh label in 1995 and becoming NCAA Football for the first time in 1997. The last title in the series, NCAA Football ‘14, was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in July of 2013 and featured former Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson on the cover. There have been no official EA college football games since due to legal disputes surrounding the use of college athlete’s likenesses.

However, this may soon change. As reported by the NCAA, a new ruling by the Board of Governors will start the process of letting students participating in athletics benefit from the use of their image, name, and other likenesses “in a manner consistent with the collegiate model.” Each NCAA division has been directed to immediately consider how they can both modernize and monetize by changing current bylaws and policies.

According to the BleacherReport, EA Sports is absolutely ready for these changes to be made. While in the past the company has utilized a loophole which saw the NCAA teams being listed without player names included, EA has repeatedly stated they would be willing to pay college players if the rules allowed it. In a tweet, Jason Fay of the Wall Street Journal relayed a conversation he had with Electronic Arts’ CEO, Andrew Wilson, about the possibility of future NCAA games. Wilson said, “If there’s a world where the folks who govern these things are about 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.”

The NCAA Football video game franchise was quite popular during its twenty years on the market, and it comes as no surprise EA is willing to return to those games if the legal issues surrounding them are resolved. Although this ruling is but the first step in the potential return of EA’s NCAA Football series, it does mark the biggest hurdle the franchise’s return was facing already crossed. Since it’s nearly Halloween, there’s always Mutant Football League to hold player’s attention until then.

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Source: NCAA/BleacherReport/Twitter