After so many years of begging and pleading EA Sports and the NCAA to finally work something out to bring back the NCAA Football video game, we’re finally getting what we’ve been asking for.
The NCAA Football video game series is slated to come back next year in 2024. The best part? Players are actually going to get a chance to opt-in to having their likeness used in the video game for the first time. Instead of using QB #13 for USC, for example, we’ll actually get a chance to play the game as Caleb Williams. And that’s awesome.
Well, it would be. Except there’s one tiny problem — it might not actually happen that way.
The NCAA’s players are currently being advised by the College Football Player’s Union to boycott the game, according to On3. All of a sudden, the game that we all thought was coming back better than ever is now marred with controversy once again.
Let’s talk about why.
A quick overview
So here’s where we are. The NCAA Football ’24 video game is scheduled to release next summer and players will finally be permitted by the NCAA to have their likenesses included in the game.
To make that possible, though, each FBS player must opt-in to allow the game to use their individual image virtually. The game’s developer, EA Sports, is reportedly working with a company called OneTeam Partners to get each player’s decision, ESPN previously reported.
Here’s more:
Details — such as how much an athlete will receive and the structure of payments — are still being finalized, but the EA Sports representative said the goal is to be “as inclusive and equitable as possible.” On the OneTeam website, the company stated that if the influence of individual sales couldn’t be figured out — including for video game licensing — then “revenue will be divided equally among the athletes included in each licensing program.”
We’ve finally gotten more information on how much athletes will be paid for allowing their likenesses to be used. That’s where the problem comes in.
OK, so what's the problem?
The licensing deal that OneTeam Partners signed with EA Sports includes a $5 million pool of cash for the players in total, according to reporting from Sportico. There are roughly 10,000 players playing FBS football that could potentially be included in the game, should they so choose to be.
That means each player would be paid about $500 for their likeness. If that feels like an extremely low number to you, don’t worry — you’re not tripping. It is.
The deal also doesn’t include any royalty payments from the game’s sales, which is typically included in licensing product deals. The players don’t make out too well from this at all.
But...how much should they be getting paid? Is $500 actually a small amount?
Yes, it absolutely is. The players should be getting paid far more than this for the use of their likeness just off of the value they bring to their school via the football program alone.
But let’s take that out of it for a second and just look at what their counterparts have been paid.
Justin Falcinelli, a former player for Clemson and current vice president of the College Football Player’s Association, broke down how much players are being paid to include their likeness in Madden — another EA Sports production.
“Given the context and the hype that surrounds this game. When we first heard the number, we’re like, ‘Alright, that sounds low. Let’s go figure out if it is low.’ And started talking to guys, talked to some of my friends, some guys who are still playing in the NFL. ‘So, what are NFL players getting paid for Madden?’ And the numbers we were given were from 2019, it was disclosed that they got, I think, about $17,000. And then a current NFL player told us that he got a check for $28,000 this year for Madden.”
As you can see, that number is far more than $500.
Yeah, that's pretty significant. So will the players actually boycott?
To this point, that’s unclear. Jason Stahl, the president of the CFBPA, made a pretty compelling case for why they should in his newsletter, though.
“You’re not “kids” who should just be happy to be in a video game. You’re hard-working young adults who generate billions and billions and billions of dollars every year for conferences, colleges and corporations. The real game and the video game happen because of your labors and your sacrifices. You deserve just compensation for both and I urge you to join the CFBPA today to make sure bad deals like this don’t happen in the future.”
It’s difficult to know if this will actually happen because college football, as a whole, has not unionized to this point. However, some players are already discussing holdouts, according to On3, so it’s totally possible this could happen.
The future of this video game is very much up in the air once again. It’s up to EA Sports and OneTeam Partners to change that by opening up things for negotiations with the players. We’ll see if they do.
