On what date did EA Sports announce the College Football series would return?

EA Sports announced that its college football series would return on February 2, 2021, under the new name EA Sports College Football.

The announcement marked the planned revival of a franchise that had last appeared as NCAA Football 14 in 2013. EA ended that series after licensing and legal disputes involving the use of college athletes’ likenesses. The new project used “College Football” rather than “NCAA Football,” reflecting changes in licensing and branding.

The announcement date is easy to confuse with later milestones. EA revealed College Football 25’s cover athletes and release date on May 16, 2024, while the game launched on July 19, 2024. Those dates concerned the first released title in the revived series, not the original return announcement.

The revival eventually produced EA Sports College Football 25, which included all 134 Football Bowl Subdivision programs at launch. The announcement therefore preceded the game’s release by more than three years.