EA Sports it’s in the game, and soon, every Division One school will be, too.

Electronic Arts finally released news on its upcoming and highly anticipated NCAA college football video game. Following the release of NCAA 14 on July 9th, 2013, EA Sports ended its top-rated and successful college sports game series, as the last college basketball game was released in November 2009. EA Sports were forced to discontinue the series following many lawsuits against the NCAA for player name image and likeness value, with the most notable case involving former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon.¹

However, the landscape involving the NCAA and student athlete NIL rights has dramatically changed over the past decade.   In 2021, after many years of lawsuits, Supreme Court admonishment, and public pressure, the NCAA was forced to adopt an NIL policy, with many pundits liking the early stage of the policy to the Wild West.² Players at NCAA-sponsored schools could be compensated for their NIL rights, and as a result, players have been found in TV shows, commercials, and billboards alike. What this also did was pave the way for a new college football video game, something that fans have been clamoring for over the past decade, and the fans finally got their wish in November 2022 with Electronic Arts announcing a new title to the series to be released in the summer of 2024.³

Since EA Sports released this news, however, there has been very little information revealed about the game, with EA trying to figure out how to successfully launch another game with all of the ongoing NIL lawsuits still going on with the NCAA.  The early stages of the NCAA policy were considered unorganized and dysfunctional, and little has changed, with multiple states filing lawsuits against the NCAA challenging the arbitrary policy.⁴ However, this finally changed last week, as EA Sports released a lot of new information and confirmed the game’s release this summer. The first and maybe most curious piece of information released was that all 134 FBS schools, the highest level of Division One college football, would be included in the game.⁵ While this seems like a given, many were uncertain as to the ability of EA to get every school, with every player on every school who now has the ability to sell his own NIL rights.⁶ Coaches, however, are not scheduled to be a part of the game, with EA potentially looking to the sideline in future titles.

EA Sports confirmed, however, that all schools would be a part of the game, and as for each student athlete’s NIL rights, EA Sports has found a creative way for players to “opt-in” to the game if they choose to. EA Sports is offering each player “$600 — regardless of player position or school — and includes a copy of the game.”⁷ While this may not seem like that much, one must remember that a college football roster is significantly larger than an NFL roster.  When this number (ranging between 118-130) is multiplied by 134 different schools, there would always be a limited amount of money to offer each player. EA Sports has developed an app for players to decide whether to be in the game. If a player chooses to opt out of the game, then EA will randomly generate a player in that position based on the school’s history and current level of success at the position, along with other factors.⁸

There is a high level of user customization with the upcoming game, allowing the fans to customize their players, stadiums, and even teams. This⁹ creates an obvious potential problem if a star player opts out of the game, and fans still want to use that player; they could make their version of him, right? EA thought of this issue and will block the name of any player who opted out of the game. For example, if a quarterback named Joe Smith decides to opt out, a user will not be allowed to use that name at the position of the school he attends.¹⁰ For a player to have the ability to opt-in, they must use their official school email.

Nonetheless, with the ever growing popularity of college sports, especially football, as with the game’s decade long hiatus, the buzz for the game is palpable, with many expecting EA to make a lot of money following the game’s release in the summer of 2024.

1. O’Bannon Ruling Stands, but N.C.A.A.’s Status Quo May Yet Collapse – The New York Times (nytimes.com) ↩︎
2. NCAA adopts interim name, image and likeness policy – NCAA.org ↩︎
3. EA Sports to release college football game in summer 2024 – ESPN ↩︎
4. No immediate ruling after preliminary injunction hearing in Tennessee, Virginia NIL lawsuit vs. NCAA | AP News ↩︎
5.  NIL, realignment and everything to know about the new EA Sports College Football game – ESPN ↩︎
6. Id. ↩︎
7. Sarni’s Scrolls: EA Sports To Pay Players $600 To Appear In College Football Game – TMG Sports (si.com) ↩︎
8. Id. ↩︎
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10. CFB Players Offered $600 to Be Featured in EA Sports College Football 25 Video Game | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors | Bleacher Report ↩︎