The ‘EA Sports College Football video game product is highly anticipated across college sports but it is still not all good for the players who will be in the game.
EA Sports announced the NIL deal for athletes in its upcoming college football game, set to drop this summer. EA Sports will pay college football players $600 to use their name, image, and likeness in its upcoming video game.
Sports business reporter Darren Rovell noted he would expect some top stars to sit out based on those compensation figures:
The College Football Players Association, which in the past has urged players to reject the offer, issued a fiery statement about this development.
“The news here is that this is the first group licensing deal in sports business history to not include royalties,” the group said, via FrontOfficeSports.com. “CFB players get a video game instead of royalties. The athletes of the second most popular sport in America are being treated like children. Video games instead of [cash].”
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The College Football Players Association organized a boycott last year over the low pay for the athletes involved, which was described as a “ridiculously low amount of money” by Justin Falcinelli, vice president of the CFBPA.
As part of Thursday’s announcement, EA Sports explained all 134 FBS teams will be in the game with approximately 11,000 players expected to be included.
If players decide not to give their NIL rights to EA, they will be filled in on the team’s roster with a generic avatar.
EA Sports confirmed on Feb. 15th that the college football series was coming back, with a full reveal of College Football 25 coming in May.
This will be the first time EA Sports has released a new college football video game since NCAA Football 14 was released in 2013.
