EA Sports College Football May Have To Pay Athletes A Lot More Next Year

College football players who lent their names and likenesses to both EA Sports College Football 25 and EA Sports College Football 26 reportedly received a pay bump from $600 to $1,500 per player. However, that may not be enough for players when EA begins putting together the deals for College Football 27.

According to Front Office Sports, the issue at hand is revenue sharing. EA’s Madden NFL and other pro sports games include players when dividing the revenue. However, EA’s deal for the College Football games only included extra payments if the athletes appeared on the cover or if they were involved with the marketing of the game.

FOS notes that EA also left out the language in the contract that allowed college players to opt out of the deal, but the company told Front Office Sports that players can still do so if they contact EA directly. OneTeam Partners–the organization that worked with EA to line up the college players–has shared a statement calling for revenue sharing in the next installment of the series.

“OneTeam does not dictate the terms of the NIL agreements between college players and EA,” a OneTeam spokesperson told FOS. “The decision to remain silent on the opt-out was EA’s unilateral choice. We continue to work with EA to influence its NIL License agreement, but these changes were implemented by EA … The higher payouts in this year’s title show the progress, but it’s not enough. We continue to advocate for meaningful revenue sharing for college athletes from all partners.”

Earlier this year, Pathway Sports and Entertainment reached out to college players directly for their name, image, and likeness rights for $1,500, which was the rate EA reportedly ended up paying for College Football 26. Since there isn’t a union for college athletes, neither OneTeam nor Pathway Sports can negotiate deals on behalf of all college players.

The report adds that OneTeam objected to EA’s terms for this year’s College Football 26, but was contractually obligated to present those deals to the athletes as written. Without a union in their corner, college football players may not have the leverage to get revenue sharing from EA in the immediate future.