Arch Manning Will Be In ‘College Football 25’ After All Thanks To Last-Minute NIL Deal

Getty Image

More than 14,000 players agreed to let EA Sports use their name, image, and likeness in College Football 25, but there was a very notable exception in the form of Texas quarterback Arch Manning. However, he’s had a change of heart thanks in part to the undoubtedly sizeable NIL deal the publisher offered him.

We’re less than two weeks away from the highly-awaited release of College Football 25, which marks the resurrection of the beloved video game series that EA Sports decided to abandon more than a decade ago following the Supreme Court ruling that determined it had illegally exploited the college athletes it included in the games.

However, another Supreme Court ruling that ushered in the NIL Era in the summer of 2021 opened up the door for the franchise to return. In 2021, EA Sports confirmed it was bringing what was formerly known as NCAA Football back from the dead, and while it took more than three years for that dream to become a reality, the release of College Football 25 is just around the corner.

Unlike previous versions of the game, College Football 25 will feature actual players modeled after their real-life counterparts after the developer gave student-athletes the chance to opt into the title in exchange for $600 and a copy of the game.

14,000 of them took EA Sports up on its offer (although only 11,000 of them will be included due to roster limitations), but there was one very notable exception: Arch Manning, the member of football royalty who will be a redshirt freshman when the Texas Longhorns kick off their season.

Sources close to Manning said he was “focused on playing football on the field” to justify his decision when it was announced in March, but it was pretty obvious it stemmed from the belief that he was entitled to more than the standard offer other players received.

It’s unclear how much he was paid to have a change of heart, but on Tuesday, he revealed he’d decided to opt into College Football 25 (with some help from Eli Manning) in a tweet containing the #EAAthlete hashtag that suggests he got a pretty sizeable bag for reversing course (On3 asserts the number is between $50K and $60K).

This is the second notable NIL deal Manning has secured (he signed with the trading card company Panini in 2023), and when you consider he’s currently in no rush to make the leap to the NFL, it appears this will mark the start of a relationship that will likely continue for the next few years.