Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan had video-game moments last season, like their Territorial Cup performance, and come this summer, UA football fans may be able to literally recreate those performances in a video game.
βEA Sports,β a subdivision of video game developer Electronic Arts, told multiple outlets that it will launch an NIL program that will allow college football players at 134 FBS programs nationwide to opt in and offer the company their name, image and likeness for the video game. No FCS schools will be included in the game.
Players who opt-in will receive $600 and a copy of the video game, which is valued at $70. Each team can have up to 85 players in the video game. According to The Athleticβs Chris Vannini, college football players can opt-in through Learfieldβs βCOMPASSβ name, image and likeness (NIL) app. Players who donβt opt-in will be converted into a generic avatar. Service academy programs β Air Force, Navy and Army β arenβt allowed to receive NIL compensation, but their players are expected to be a part of the game.
Arizonaβs Taylor Upshaw (11) gets a pat on the head from linebacker Jacob Manu (5) after coming up big against NAU in last yearβs season opener.
If all 85 players at 134 programs, including Notre Dame, opt-in, EA Sports will spend $6.83 million in NIL money for the first edition of the game.
βWe feel very proud that weβll be the largest program, likely the highest-spending program,β Sean OβBrien, EA Sportsβ vice president of business development, said to ESPN. βAnd really an inclusive opportunity with an equitable distribution of funds across the board.β
Cory Moss, the CEO of the Collegiate Licensing Company, told ESPN on Thursday that βthereβs nothing been done on this scale that EA is doing, where every student-athlete that participates in the game is guaranteed revenue.β
Thursday was the first day players could opt into being a part of EA Sports College Football 25. The Arizona football program announced on X Thursday morning that the Wildcats will be included in the highly anticipated college football video game formerly known as NCAA Football, which previously released just over a decade ago and was discontinued following an antitrust class-action lawsuit between former UCLA basketball star Ed OβBannon and the NCAA for unfairly using student-athletesβ likenesses for EA Sportsβ college games.
Electronic Arts Sports (EA Sports) will have an NIL program that will pay college football players, who offer their name, image and likeness, $600 and a copy of EA Sports College Football 25, if they opt in.
Although EA Sports never previously used names for players in its NCAA Football or March Madness video games, personal features and jersey numbers were still applied. For example, former Arizona quarterback Nick Foles was βQB No. 8β in the game but had all of Folesβ personal features. The last EA Sports college football video game was NCAA 14, which had Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson on the cover.
In 2021, EA Sports announced its plans to bring back a college football game. Earlier this month, EA Sports released a teaser trailer.
Details of EA Sports College Football 25 will be revealed in May, with the game expected to officially release this summer.
