Following an 11-year hiatus, 2024 marked the return of EA Sports’ highly anticipated college football video game franchise.
And while there are already plans for the sequel to debut this summer, some changes could be coming to the payment structure for players who opt to participate in it.
As detailed by Front Office Sports’ Amanda Christovich, at least 450 college football players have signed with Pathway Sports and Entertainment in hopes of increasing their payment for participating in the game. College Football 25 — which marked the first college football video game to legally use players’ real names and likenesses — offered a one-time $600 payment, as well as a free copy of the game to players who chose to be included in it.
Meanwhile, additional payments were made to players for marketing purposes, including being featured on the game’s cover.
According to Christovich, Pathway Sports and Entertainment has fronted each player that has signed with it a $1,500 payment, plus a promise of additional royalties. The agency, which was founded by former Altius Sports Partners CEO Casey Schwab, has yet to engage with EA Sports, but is hopeful to get the players even more than the $1,500 payment the group is fronting the players.
While agencies representing players for such matters has already led to its share of controversy — including a lawsuit that later led to a merger between agencies — it’s hardly surprising that players and their representatives would be looking for a bigger payday for College Football 26.
After all, College Football 25 proved to be the highest-selling sports video game of all-time. And while some of that may have been the result of the franchise’s decade-plus hiatus, there’s no reason to think its sequel will be anything short of a success.
As for how much leverage Pathway Sports and Entertainment will find itself with, that will likely come down to both the quality and quantity of players it represents, as EA Sports will presumably want to ensure college football’s biggest stars have a presence in the game. And while these negotiations have yet to even begun, this doesn’t appear to be a conversation that will be going away anytime soon, as both athletes, agencies and companies continue to navigate college sports’ NIL era.
