Notre Dame has some company.
Northwestern, according to Steve Greenberg of the Chicago Sun-Times, has doubled the number of FBS schools that won’t participate in the resurrected EA Sports college football franchise unless and until rules are created that allow players to receive money for their names, images, performances histories, etc.
It’s unclear whether the game will return before the so-called NIL rules are finalized. A national approach is needed, and federal legislation would be the best solution.
EA Sports dumped the college football game due to litigation issues arising from the use of players in the game who aren’t officially in the game. The know-it-when-you-see-it similarity between supposedly generic video-game figures and actual humans becomes a very real problem for EA Sports. Without those similarities, however, the game becomes far less realistic.
Hopefully, the potential return of the EA Sports college football game will push the NIL process toward a conclusion, getting rules in place that allow players to get paid for being in the video game.
Then, maybe, college football players will start getting paid for being in the real thing.