On July 1, the NCAA adopted a new policy about athletes’ abilities to profit off of their own name, image, and likeness (NIL). It has opened up the floodgates for sponsorships and promotions and revived a once-dormant question: could college basketball video games now return?
With players now allowed to make their own deals with private businesses to use their NIL, the answer is unequivocally yes, college basketball video games can return. But whether or not they will is still unknown; there’s more that goes into it than that.
The last college basketball video game produced, NCAA College Basketball 10, came out in 2009, a few years before legal action forced the end of the EA’s NCAA Football series. The college basketball video games weren’t ended because of anything legal, though the writing for college sports video games was already on the wall.
EA Sports announced this week that it will be bringing back an old sports franchise soon, giving July 20 as the date the revival franchise will be named. There are plenty of past games that could reasonably be getting the rebirth, but the return of college basketball video games isn’t an outlandish option.
With the NIL rules going into effect earlier this month, the timing would seem to point in the direction of college basketball getting priority, too.
It’s not all up to EA, though. 2K’s College Hoops franchise was also popular among college basketball video game enthusiasts, particularly College Hoops 2K8, which many fans of college hoops video games still cherish.
Now that EA, 2K, or any other developer could pay players to feature in their video games, the thought of a college basketball game coming to you in the next couple of years is much, much more likely.
Now for some other news from across the sport this week:
Nothing But News: June 29-July 5, 2021
The NBA Finals are set: the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks will do battle to determine the 2021 NBA champion.
The Indiana Fever defeated the Connecticut Sun, 73-67, on Saturday, snapping their 12-game losing streak.
Ohio men’s basketball head coach Jeff Boals tweeted about how difficult it is for him to convince major-conference teams to schedule a game against his Bobcats.
E.J. Liddell withdrew from the NBA Draft and will return to Ohio State for his junior season.
Julian Champagnie, whom Nothing But Nylon covered when he was a high school recruit in 2019, withdrew from the NBA Draft and will return to St. John’s for his junior season.
Kofi Cockburn entered the transfer portal while remaining in the NBA Draft.
Get Caught Up on NBN Content
Here’s a recap of some of our content from the last week:
ACC Big Ten Challenge 2021 Matchups, Dates & What to Watch For
The ACC-Big Ten Challenge pairing and dates were announced. Check out when all the teams will play and what matchups are the tastiest.
Backyard Basketball Drills You Can Do at Home
You can’t always get to the gym, but basketball never stops. These are some basic ways to improving your dribbling and shooting in your backyard, with and without a hoop.
When Did the Suns Last Make the Playoffs?
The Phoenix Suns are in the NBA Finals in their first trip back to the playoffs in 11 years. Look back at the last time the franchise was playing in the postseason.
