College football fans have waited patiently for the return of the EA Sports NCAA Football game series and with the NCAA recently announcing the decision to form a working group to study potential options to allow players to be paid for their likeness, for the first time in years it feels like actual momentum is building for the game’s return.

EA Sports has not made the game since 2013’s release of NCAA Football 14 featuring Denard Robinson on the cover. That was so long ago, EA Sports has not even made the game for the current generation of video game consoles. The game went away following Ed O’Bannon’s lawsuit, O’Bannon v. NCAA, in which the former UCLA basketball player sued the NCAA for using his likeness without his permission. The NCAA lost the case and the series was then discontinued.

While we may be a long way out from the game returning, it would take over a calendar year for the game to come out if/when EA Sports decided to even make the game, the NCAA’s upcoming study into likeness rights may be the first step toward the game’s eventual return.

So much so, that one EA Sports representative recently told Chris Hummer of 247Sports that the company would be open to the game’s return — and this was before the NCAA decided to explore the potential of allowing players to be paid for their image and likeness.

“We loved making college football games,” NCAA Football Executive Producer Ben Haumiller said via email according to 247Sports. “If the opportunity ever presented itself we’d be very interested in potentially getting back into that space.”

This recent update follows the news that the new Madden will feature 10 playable college football teams, including Florida and LSU from the SEC.

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit has also recently expressed his desire for the NCAA’s working group to do whatever is necessary to ensure the NCAA Football series can return.

While the release of the next NCAA Football game may not exactly be around the corner, momentum is clearly trending toward the game’s return and that’s great news for fans that have been waiting since 2013 for an update to their favorite video game series.