EA Sports raises payments for players in College Football 26 game

Players will be paid more than double what they were last year for appearing in the upcoming edition of EA Sports’ college football video game.

EA Sports said it will increase players’ name, image, and likeness payments from $600 to $1,500 for their inclusion in the upcoming College Football 26 game, it said in an email to FBS players, as revealed by The Athletic.

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Players will also receive a Deluxe Edition of the game, as they did for the College Football 25 game, and some will also receive additional compensation to serve as brand ambassadors to promote the game to the public.

That’s a notable raise for players to be included in this year’s game, and reflects the success of College Football 25, which went on to become the highest-selling sports video game of all time in total dollars after its debut last summer.

And it’ll be a big investment for EA Sports, which will spend more than $16.5 million for the NIL rights of players in the game, setting a record for the biggest one-sport NIL deal ever.

That’s just in terms of the direct payments, not including the value of the game itself that players will receive, nor the additional revenue earned by brand ambassadors.

“From the beginning, we’ve designed our NIL program to be accessible, direct, voluntary, and equitable for all, offering the same base-level compensation to every FBS athlete that opts-in using the OneTeam platform and COMPASS NIL app,” EA Sports vice president of business development Sean O’Brien said in a statement.

“This approach empowers each athlete to make their own decision. College sports are growing and changing, and our focus at EA Sports is on continuing to put athletes first as we bring them in the game in College Football 26 and beyond.”

(Athletic)

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