It was all idle chatter at first — what could happen to the NCAA Football series as a result of the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit that is.  Rumors would circulate, you’d hear schools were getting nervous, you’d hear the series’ future was in doubt.

But you didn’t want to believe it.

Julys around OS (and really the whole sports gaming genre) have always been a lot of fun with the release of NCAA Football. It was good for business here, it was good for gamers, it was good for EA.

July was the unofficial (but yet also official) start to the main season for Sports gamers. First came NCAA, then NFL game(s), then hockey, then basketball.  Mixed in that whole season would usually be a WWE game and several notable racing titles.

Now, Christmas in July is over for sports gamers — at least for now.

When the news came down that there would be no more NCAA Football, I wasn’t actually shocked. We saw the signs coming well before then. The NCAA bailed, then Conferences bailed, then there were rumors of schools preparing to bolt.

When a school, like the rumored Ohio State, came to EA and said ‘we’re not in this anymore’ — it likely was the death blow to the title.

In a way, sports gamers have created a trap for themselves, demanding more and more detail and realism which only a handful of companies can provide — and when it becomes impossible for a company to delver that sort of experience due to licensing issues well, the writing was on the wall for the NCAA Football series.

While we’ll never know what backroom deals were sealed, but the O’Bannon case was also announced as settled between EA/CLC and team O’Bannon shortly after the announcement that NCAA Football was cancelled.

EA denies the cancellation of the series had anything to do with the O’Bannon lawsuit, but that is almost certainly a PR move to hopefully keep Ed O’Bannon and company from getting the blame for the cancellation of the series.

Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that the NCAA created this whole mess in the first place. They signed off on player’s almost exact likenesses being in the game all the while assuming (hoping) no one was going to notice and cry foul.

But not only was the NCAA wrong, it was just another symptom of systemic exploitation of college athletes to prop up a billion dollar industry. Sure, college athletes are handsomely rewarded for their participation in major college football with an education — and sure, Universities almost certainly couldn’t afford to pay college players on a widspread level. But there’s something uniquely wrong with asking players to play football for your university, sometimes shuttling them into horrible academic majors just so they can play football, and then spitting them out on the other end — sometimes with no coherent degree plan and no education.

It’s hard to fully support that kind of a system no matter how different it could be with more active participation of parents and academic counselors in a student’s education, and it was bound to begin to crumble under the NCAA and Univerisity’s feet someday.

Hope for the Future

There is hope for a rebirth of the NCAA Football series in the future, but that hope does come with an expiration date.

EA will have a window as major college athletics moves towards a Division 4 type of model, with the biggest universities setting their own rules with regards to player recruiting, compensation, and bonuses.

That type of a model, where schools could opt into a game without fear of litigation because players are compensated for their appearances from the license money either via a scholarship or some type of stipend — is one possible future.

Any future college games will have to include the actual players in the game in a way that makes everyone happy — which would open up a world of possibilities for fans of college football video games.

Roster updates, real storylines, better overall commentary, perhaps even better player ratings and likenesses. The possibilities are endless.

It’s not like NCAA Football wasn’t a good seller, the game was definitely no slouch when it came to sales. It’s unlikely any future EA college football game will bear the name NCAA Football, as both EA and the NCAA are now locked into some legal tangling as well.

Bye For Now

In the short term, there is absolutely zero chance of seeing a college sports game of any kind. NCAA Basketball is definitely out of the picture and NCAA Football looks to be an absolute longshot at best with schools now as unlikely as ever to opt into a video games product for pennies in return.

So for now, it’s so long to Christmas in July and all that came with it.

So long to long nights of roster editing.

So long to online dynasty, dynasty mode, and all that came with it.

So long to fight songs, pageantry, and seeing absolutely ridiculous poll logic screw you out of a National Title appearances.

So long to never getting to play a four team playoff in our game of NCAA.

So long to NCAA Football the series name.

And so long to an old and reliable friend. While the NCAA Football series never quite reached the levels of its much well regarded peers in our genre, NCAA was a reliably good game to get the sports gaming season kicked off the right way.

We’ll cherish the memories and hope towards the future.

So long old friend, for now.