Last year, the college football fans and video game enthusiast got a treat when the college football video-game returned. EA Sports College Football 25 was released in July of 2024. This video-game release was a little different as college athletes were offered an opportunity to be compensated for their inclusion in the game. Players who opted to be included in the video-game received a $600 payment and a free copy of the video-game. While this did provide financial rewards to the athletes that had not been available previously, I was very critical of this deal as I believed that the players who opted in should have had an opportunity to receive royalties and more upfront cash. In fact, the universities had an opportunity to receive a bigger piece of the pie, as EA Sports set aside 10% of the sales revenue for a licensing pool for the participating colleges and universities. However, the athletes were capped to $600 and a copy of the game. It is important to note that the cover athletes did receive a separate deal for being featured on the cover.
The return of the college football video game was a major success. In fact, EA Sport College Football was one of the best-selling video games ever. EA Sports has announced that there will be a EA Sports College Football 26. This time around the college athletes may be afforded a bigger piece of the pie due to Pathway Sports and Entertainment, a new company led by Casey Schwab that is focused on monetizing college athletes NIL rights. Pathway Sports and Entertainment has entered licensing agreements with over 450 football players at schools such as Georgia, Illinois, and Alabama. Per the agreement, the players will receive a $1,500 upfront payment. The agreement would also create a structure for the football players to receive royalty payments.
While the deal seeks to expand the financial opportunities for the participating football players, it is still far from a done deal. Soon after its announcement, the NFLPA released a statement citing a potential conflict with the Pathways Sports and Entertainment agreement. Per the agreement, when a player becomes a professional athlete Pathway Sports and Entertainment will have the first option and right of first refusal to license a player's NIL in connection with professional sports videogames. The NFLPA cautioned that this may be a conflict with the standard NFL Player Contract which requires each NFL player to assign his group NIL rights on an exclusive basis to the NFLPA and its licensing affiliates. The NFLPA cautioned that this could cause a conflict.
As you can see, there is much to be worked out in regards to this deal. However, it is great that the football players may have an opportunity to receive a bigger piece of the pie for a game that was successful only because of the players represented in it.