The NIL situation forced EA Sports to rage quit its college football game in 2013. The effort to blow on the cartridge and plug it back in during the new era of NIL clarity, however, has not gone smoothly.
Via Chris Vannini of TheAthletic.com, EA recently insisted that it will proceed with the release of a college football game in 2024, despite controversy and litigation over how much players will be paid, and who will have the power to negotiate the deals.
Earlier this week, The Brandr Group sued EA for attempting to acquire player name, image, and likeness rights despite The Brandr Group’s licensing deals with individual schools.
“The complaint will not impact our development timelines,” EA Sports said in a statement. “The game is on track and is a priority for EA Sports. We’re incredibly excited to bring back college football.”
The statement also pointed out that EA Sports has yet to make any offers to any college athletes for the game.
Earlier this month, the College Football Players Association urged players to reject offers from EA Sports for the use of their names, images, and likenesses, arguing that the pool of money allocated for the project worked out to roughly $500 per player.
Vannini reports that EA Sports is in no rush to do the NIL deals, since the game will encompass the 2024 season. EA Sports also realizes that, once the offers start going out, everyone will know what they are.
As an unnamed source told Vannini, “Ninety-nine percent of these kids in the game, this will be the only NIL deal they ever do.”
For the average, random players who aren’t and won’t be stars, being in the game and getting a little cash will be more than enough. The challenge will be properly compensating the big-name players.
Without them, it will be very hard for EA Sports to do justice to the motto made famous in the ’90s: “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game.”