In the early 2010s, NCAA Football by EA Sports became a video game staple for many gamers because it combined simulation video game football with everyone’s desire to control college programs and the iconic legends of the sport.
The series was wildly successful, and its last iteration came with NCAA Football 14. It’s been almost a decade since we last saw one made, but that drought will end soon.
When EA Sports announced the return of its college football series in 2021, everyone wondered how they would address the elephant in the room: Name, image, and likeness. The series ended because of the increasing dialogue about NCAA athletes’ ability, or lack thereof, to profit off their name, image, and likeness. EA scrapped the series, and the decade since has seen the debate rage on until the beginning of the NIL era.
With a new game on the way, we have the answer.
Players can opt-in and profit from their likeness in the upcoming iteration of a new EA Sports NCAA football game. The partnership between EA Sports and OneTeam Partners to “facilitate collegiate athletes’ names and likenesses” will include the chance for all eligible FBS players to opt-in to have their likenesses in EA Sports College Football, a representative told ESPN’s, Michael Rothstein. Those players will receive compensation for being placed in the game.
If a player doesn’t want to be included in the game, a generic avatar would be used in that player’s place, previously the standard. Per Rothstein’s report, “more than 120 FBS schools have committed to being in the game — along with all 10 FBS conferences and the College Football Playoff — with the goal remaining to have every FBS school in the game.”
For franchise fans, this partnership with OneTeam seems like the best-case scenario. EA Sports has a long-standing relationship with them. The two have collaborated on other EA games, such as Madden and FIFA, through a partnership with player unions like the NFLPA, MLSPA, and USWNT Players Association.
Oklahoma has never publicly opposed the idea, unlike a school like Notre Dame, which was outspoken about it in the past. Former Sooners in recent years, like Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, and CeeDee Lamb, would have been candidates for the game’s cover. It remains to be seen how many Sooners join and opt-in for their likeness to be used, but it’s an exciting time for any FBS player to have the option to do so and be compensated for it.
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