Amid the hysteria around EA Sports Colleg Football 25, one key voice is furious.
Pro Football Talk wrote Thursday that the College Football Players’ Association isn’t happy with the payouts for the game. As part of the licensing agreement, and through NIL, the players who opt into the new EA Sports College Football 25 title will receive $600 and a free copy of the game.
Not enough, according to the CFBPA.
The CFBPA said the players “are being treated like children” according to a post from PFT.
College Football Players Association says that college football players "are being treated like children" by EA's $600 NIL offer for its new video game. https://t.co/Qe7nQnC8de
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 22, 2024
Via Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk wrote that the group told Front Office Sports, “The news here is that this is the first group licensing deal in sports business history to not include royalties. 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].”
Considering these unique circumstances, the players probably aren’t getting the raw deal being described. It appears that based on the launch and rollout from EA Sports that many players may well opt in. Several of them might be involved in ambassador and ad campaigns that could allow the ones who might opt out because of “low pay” not to do so at all. Plus, considering that the former EA Sports franchise was wildly successful without player names to begin with, the players don’t have a ton of leverage in this situation.
So it goes.