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The release of the new College Football 25 video game has been a major talking point for fans this offseason. The newest edition, which is set to hit stores this summer, will be the first rendition of the game in a decade.
NCAA 14 was the most recent college football feature from EA Sports, but production of the series had to be halted amid legal battles.
More on that hiatus from Bleacher Report:
The demise of the NCAA Football franchise has been well-documented. Mounting lawsuits over player likeness and the way players weren’t compensated for their appearance—specifically a class-action suit against the NCAA filed by former college basketball player Ed O’Bannon—led EA to cease future development. The company paid out $60 million to college football and basketball players who were featured in the game.
Those player likeness issues have been solved thanks to the introduction of NIL in college sports, and EA Sports is doing its part to compensate football players.
The 134 teams included in the game have since been unveiled, as have notable personalities around the sport. Of those teams, all but three will have the opportunity to land a $600 payment for 85 players.
EA Sports has finalized its NIL plan and will begin the opt-in process for over 11,000 college football players. Up to 85 players per school will initially appear on rosters in the game.
All athletes who opt in will receive $600, plus a copy of the game. https://t.co/utqwSsXIQH
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) February 22, 2024
Army, Navy, and Air Force players can’t receive ‘College Football 25’ payment.
Due to school policy surrounding NIL, the service academy players won’t have the opportunity to benefit monetarily. That doesn’t mean EA Sports isn’t trying to do something to compensate in other ways for the ability to use name, image, and likeness.
Matt Brown of Extra Points explained further:
[EA Sports] will send proposed NIL contracts to over 11,000 FBS football players to pay them for their participation in the video game.
EA believes that this contract will be one of the largest, if not the largest, NIL brand activations in history, with over 6 million dollars committed to pay for athlete likenesses.
In addition to the base contract offer, EA will also offer additional ambassador contracts to a select number of college football players, who will be paid to promote the video game on social media.
He clarified on the three service academies, posting, “Army, Navy, and Air Force are prohibited from accepting NIL deals or outside payments, but a source at EA told me that the company does expect those athletes to be depicted in the game, and that EA is looking for ways to provide benefit to those athletes in a legally compliant way.”
of note:
An EA Sports spokesperson told me that the company expects to also include athletes at Army, Navy and Air Force, even though those athletes cannot be compensated for use of their NIL: pic.twitter.com/iauuLy2MDn
— Matt Brown (@MattBrownEP) February 22, 2024
What that compensation could look like is yet to be seen. We do know, however, that it won’t involve any $600 payments.