Per Matt Brown, the three newest FBS programs (Sam Houston, Jacksonville State, and James Madison) will be in EA SPORTS College Football along with accurate stadiums renderings for each respective program.

James Madison will be a part of the Sun Belt starting in 2022, while Jacksonville State and Sam Houston will be joining Conference USA in 2023. It is rumored, but not confirmed, that EA SPORTS College Football will release in summer 2023. ...

During the Sports Business Journal Intercollegiate Athletics Forum, the Collegiate Licensing Company's CEO Cory Moss stated that releasing EA SPORTS College Football in the summer of 2023 is the "hope." This date matches an earlier rumor according to Darren Rovell and also according to documents obtained by Matt Brown's Extra Points newsletter.

EA SPORTS would later post a tweet clarifying that they have not released a specific release timeline for the game and will do so at a later date. ...

Sports Gamers Online's Mike Straw is reporting that Madden NFL 22 will not be receiving any additional significant post-launch Franchise Mode improvements as a portion of the Madden team has been moved to work on EA SPORTS College Football.

Straw is also reporting that a source close to the Madden NFL development team has stated devs are "stressed and frustrated" and that "It's not a good place right now." His sources have stated that they know this decision will not be received favorably by the Madden community, especially given how game executives have talked publicly over the last two years that Franchise Mode will be treated as a live service and receive improvements/features throughout the year. The two canceled updates were believed to include a full scouting tree as well as new scenarios.

It is unknown how many team members shifted to EA SPORTS College Football and also why they were moved. For example, is it to shore up the game before the rumored 2023 launch or is the game behind the development curve?

Credit to Sports Gamers Online for this story.

UPDATE - EA has provided a statement to IGN: We do not like to comment on rumors or speculation; however, we are committed to continuing to improve Franchise as a part of our ongoing Madden NFL 22 live service and beyond. This includes two upcoming Franchise updates that we'll deliver in Madden NFL 22. We will have more details on the updates in the new year.

SGO has also since responded: Myself and the rest of SGO will always stand by our original reporting. There’s no reason for us to not continue to do this moving forward. As an outlet started to help sports gamers improve and to bring them the latest on the games they love, if our reporting leads to positive outcomes for the gaming community, that makes it all worth it. ...

Could EA SPORTS College Football be headed for a mobile version in addition to consoles? As first noted by GameRant's Oliver VanDervoort, it would appear so.

Currently listed on Electronic Arts career search website are listings for a Mobile Software Engineer and a Technical Lead for College Football. It is unknown if this unannounced title would be a standalone mobile version of the game or a companion app for the console version or perhaps both. For example, Madden NFL has a standalone mobile game with Madden Mobile as well as a companion app.

Hat tip: GameRant ...

In an exclusive interview with Brian Jones of popculture.com, EA President of Music Steve Schnur gave some very early, but vague, information regarding the soundtrack for EA SPORTS College Football. Some excerpts:

"I'm a hundred percent on it. I've already been all over it for a couple of months," Schnur told PopCulture. "I can tell you that it will be very different [from] Madden, but it's going to be so awesome because I have had an idea, a concept of what I imagined would be the most amazing college football musical experience. ... But when I pitched the executive producer on this idea, I don't think it took him three seconds to go, 'Go.' And so I can't give you details because I literally, I haven't recorded a note yet, but I can tell you that if we could meet next year, I promise you — I will put a hundred bucks down — you are going to say to me, 'That idea just kicks ass.'

Read the full article at popculture.com. After reading the article, let us know what you think this new approach might be in the comments below. ...

With the SEC adding Oklahoma and Texas in the near future and more conference shake-ups likely, the Custom Conferences feature from NCAA Football may find itself being a necessary addition to the EA SPORTS College Football franchise sooner rather than later.

In NCAA Football 14, the feature allowed users to move teams among existing conferences (with conference size restrictions), import teambuilder teams, rename divisions, set BCS automatic qualifiers, as well as providing other options for the conference.

What options/improvements would you like to see in any future version of the Custom Conferences feature in EA SPORTS College Football?

Share your thoughts and ideas with the community and we'll highlight them in a future edition of The Gaming Tailgate Podcast. ...

In this edition of the TGT Podcast, @cdj80 and @JBHuskers take the feature set of Madden NFL 21 and rank them as they think the College Football community would like to see them added into the franchise.

Follow the link to watch the Video Podcast and share your thoughts on the show along with future topics. ...

In this edition of the TGT Podcast, @cdj80 and @JBHuskers discuss the issue of some schools currently opting out of EA SPORTS College Football. Should fans be concerned?

Follow the link to watch the Video Podcast and share your thoughts on the show along with future topics. ...

When EA SPORTS announced that EA SPORTS College Football was in development on February 2, they stated that over 100 schools were on-board at that time. However, today one of the remaining holdouts, Notre Dame, has announced they will not participate in the game until players can be rewarded for name/image/likeness (NIL) usage.

While the initial news that a traditional power in college football with not be included in the title is discouraging, keep in mind that the game is years away from release and NIL rules/legislation could be established in the meantime. Such a proper agreement for player NIL usage would likely see the Irish return to the title.

However, we do not expect Notre Dame to be the only school taking this stance and this may lead to more of the holdouts making their stance publicly known sooner than later. ...

After a brief hiatus, the TGT Podcast returns - but now as the TGTCast! In this episode, cdj and JBHuskers discuss the return of EA SPORTS College Football.


Follow the link to watch the Video Podcast and share your thoughts on the show along with future topics. ...

Courtesy the Orlando Sentinel and coming as no surprise, EA SPORTS College Football will be developed at EA Tiburon, the home of Madden NFL and where NCAA Football was also produced. However, before full-fledged production can begin, EA will be looking to flesh out the College Football development team.

“It’s not like we have a group of people just sitting around doing nothing that are waiting to build College Football,” [EA COO and CFO Blake] Jorgensen said. “We’re going to need to grow a team to do that. We think it’s the right thing to do.”

EA Tiburon is still on track to move from their current studio in Maitland, Florida to a larger studio in downtown Orlando's Creative Village this October. This new studio space could see the current Tiburon employee count grow from 700 to 1,000 by 2025, spearheaded by new projects such as College Football. As part of the move, EA could receive as much as $9 million in tax incentives, and the deal only required the studio to maintain a workforce of 600. Per an EA Tiburon recruiter, College Football job listings will be available and posted "soon" at careers.ea.com.

Public social media postings by current and former EA employees have revealed that EA currently has College Football development team members "on each coast," presumably at EA Tiburon (Florida) and either EA Redwood Shores or EA Vancouver, and that some developers were already assigned to the project as far back as summer 2020, if not earlier. EA is also currently 'assessing how spread out the team will be;' determining what other studios may be assisting in development. ...

In just one day of being announced publicly, the official EA SPORTS College Football Twitter page has garnered just over 162,000 followers, showing the demand and hunger fans have for a new college football title.

Comparing this number to followers for other sports titles puts College Football in the top ten with the possibility of going even higher as actual game information is known along with more fans becoming aware of the title. With the 162K followers in one day, College Football has already surpassed NBA LIVE and is within range of EA SPORTS UFC and Madden Mobile.

A passion for the title is of no surprise given that, per yesterday's official press release, "the EA SPORTS college football franchise was a consistent top-five sports title in North America during its previous run, generating tens of millions unit sales from 2005-2014." However, this immediate massive following seemed to even catch the official account off-guard as they tweeted a statement later in the day sharing how they are blown away by the fan's passion for the upcoming title.

Continue on to see the Twitter follower totals for current and former sports gaming video titles. ...