EA Reportedly "Exploiting" Athletes For New College Football Game
EA is reportedly "exploiting" college athletes for its new College Football video game by offering low sums of money as compensation. EA is one of the biggest video game publishers out there and has been able to generate tons of money off of its sports games. One of the most beloved franchise EA has been responsible for are the NCAA Football games, a series that ended abruptly in 2013. Due to issues with how college players could be compensated for their likenesses and such, the series stopped being made. However, in 2021, things changed when the NCAA changed its rules and allowed players to receive money once again. Shortly after this, EA announced it was making EA Sports College Football, a sort of spiritual successor to the NCAA Football games.
With that said, things apparently aren't going very smoothly. On3 is reporting (via Kotaku) that the CFBPA is encouraging players to not sign away their likeness to the new EA Sports game. The reason being is that EA and a company it has hired to handle the contracts/legal matters, OneTeam Partners, have set aside a pool of somewhere around $5 million to be used to pay out players. While that would be great for one player to have, when divided up amongst the massive roster and teams, it is estimated it would mean players would only walk away with about $500 and Sportico added there are no rights to royalties. Royalties aren't very common in the world of video games when it comes to actors/those who lend their likeness, but it stings more when the pay is pretty rough.
Justin Falcinelli, vice president of the CFBPA, claims they're "exploiting the players" and is urging players to outright boycott the production of EA Sports College Football. He noted that NFL players are getting as much as $28,000 for the Madden games. While NFL players are different from college athletes, it does show a very significant disparity.
"All current players should boycott this deal," said Falcinelli. "It is an opt-in deal, and they should not opt into it. It is just a ridiculously low amount of money. Given the context and the hype that surrounds this game. When we first heard the number, we're like, 'Alright, that sounds low. Let's go figure out if it is low.' And started talking to guys, talked to some of my friends, some guys who are still playing in the NFL. 'So, what are NFL players getting paid for Madden?' And the numbers we were given were from 2019, it was disclosed that they got, I think, about $17,000. And then a current NFL player told us that he got a check for $28,000 this year for Madden."
Are you still excited for EA Sports College Football? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.