College football players who agree to appear in the upcoming EA College Football 26 will reportedly receive more than double the $600 EA paid players last year. And they will also get a free copy of the upcoming sports sim, too.
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Last year, EA published College Football 25, the first college football video game since 2013’s NCAA Football 14. That was the last of that franchise due to multiple legal issues facing the NCAA and EA over including the likeness of college athletes. In 2021, after everything was figured out, the NCAA began allowing players to make money off their stardom and name. This let EA return to making college football games, and in 2024 fans finally got a new one. College Football 25 was a massive hit for EA, eventually becoming one of the best-selling sports games in history in less than 6 months. And likely thanks to that success, EA is now seemingly offering players more money to appear in the follow-up, set to arrive later this year.
As reported by The Athletic, EA sent emails to players on Tuesday that announced an increase in name, image and likeness (NIL) payments. Players will now receive $1,500 if they agree to allow their likeness to be used in EA College Football 26. This is more than double the $600 offered last year.
An EA Sports rep told the outlet that the increase in payments was to “make sure athletes feel recognized for the success of the game.” Players will also still get a free copy of the game, too.
“From the beginning, we’ve designed our NIL program to be accessible, direct, voluntary and equitable for all, offering the same base-level compensation to every FBS athlete that opts-in using the OneTeam platform and COMPASS NIL app,” an EA Sports exec told The Athletic.
“This approach empowers each athlete to make their own decision. College sports are growing and changing, and our focus at EA Sports is on continuing to put athletes first as we bring them in the game in College Football 26 and beyond.”
It’s believed that around 11,00o players will allow their likenesses and names to be used in College Football 26, which is roughly the same as last year.
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