Want to support your college football team? Use your squad every time you play EA Sports College Football 26.
Electronic Arts has devised a new method of paying universities for the usage of their names, images and likenesses in the new game, and it ties royalties directly to how often the teams are used in game play.
The new royalties structure was revealed in documents obtained by cllct via Freedom of Information Act requests and confirmed by multiple schools.
College Football 26 will be released worldwide July 10, following the incredible success of last year's version, which became the most widely played sports video game of all time with more than 1.7 billion streams of the game.
Beginning with this new edition released in July, all 136 FBS schools that opted into the game will be compensated by their popularity with gamers.
One document states, “For each CFB product released by EA SPORTS, we (CLC Learfield) will provide a percentage for each institution based on the games played for that institution as a percentage of the total games played across all institutions. This percentage of games played will become the final allocation percentage for each school that will be applied to the total gross royalties for all institutions received.”
Sample Scenario:
- Total royalties reported in university pool = $5,000,000
- Total games played = 700,000,000 games
- Institution A’s games played = 7,000,000 games
- Institution A's allocation = 1% (7 million games played using the school out of 700 million total plays)
- Royalties = $50,000 (1% of $5,000,000)
According to previous documents sent from CLC Learfield to the schools in 2024, there was no way to historically tie video game sales to specific institutions, despite having the ability to do so with other traditional licensed products.
That apparently has since changed.
EA Sports did not immediately respond to cllct's request for comment.
The new arrangement should allow schools with breakout stars, who are used more often in the game, to potentially retain that player through increased NIL funds.
Previously, royalty allocations for the game were broken down into four tiers based on teams' real-life, on-field success.
Every FBS school that opted into the game was assigned one of four tiers, based on the previous 10 years of final AP Poll results (2014-2023).
When a team finished the year in the AP's Top 25, it received one point.
- Tier 1: 6-10 points
- Tier 2: 2-5 points
- Tier 3: 1 point
- Tier 4: 0 points
The following graphic shows which FBS schools fell into which tier for the game’s return last year.
As of documents dated March 2024, revenue distribution (based on the minimum guaranteed royalties) ranged from nearly $100,000 for a Tier 1 school to less than $10,000 for a Tier 4 school.
- Tier 1: $99,875.16
- Tier 2: $59,925.09
- Tier 3: $39,950.06
- Tier 4: $9,987.52
With the adjustments made to the payment plan, rather than four tiers, in theory all 136 schools could receive different royalty returns.
According to a May 21 document, teams had until June 4 to either approve the royalty agreement, guaranteeing their inclusion in the game, or reject it and not participate in College Football 26.
But based on a May 29 press release, announcing the release date for the game, it appears every school opted in.
The press release, which went public the day of the trailer dropping, stated:
“Electronic Arts Inc. and EA SPORTS™ today released the official reveal trailer and game details of EA SPORTS™ College Football 26, which delivers more than 2,700 new plays, thousands of real college athletes, and authentic coaching styles from more than 300 real-world coaches. From iconic traditions to heart-pounding road game environments at all 136 FBS schools, every day feels like game day.”
In addition to the new payment model to schools, there will be a massive payment increase for players.
EA Sports College Football 25 paid each athlete who opted into last year’s game $600 plus a free copy of the game. Compensation to individual athletes was exclusively managed by OneTeam Partners. More than 14,000 players opted into the game, with the actual likeness of more than 11,000 used, about 85 per team.
This year, a new partner emerged for player NIL management.
EA Sports told The Athletic in January that it had no news on changes to player compensation, but in February Pathway Sports & Entertainment began procuring video game name, image and likeness rights of players, and paying them $1,500.
Additionally, EA then upped each player's royalty to $1,500, telling The Athletic that Pathway’s actions had no effect on their own decisions. Though, this now means some players will receive $3,000 for their inclusion in the game, $1,500 from EA and $1,500 from Pathway.
Though, of note, players do not receive any royalty compensation based on sales of the game, whereas the schools do.
Multiple documents obtained via FOIA requests last year indicated that based on sales of the game, schools would receive proportionate royalties tacked on top of their minimum payments for their names, images and likenesses.
This part of the deal will continue, per May documents from CLC Learfield, though there was a hint of caution.
“The game was launched after a 10-year absence from the market, which spurred demand from pent-up anticipation. It’s important for institutions to understand that we can’t predict next year’s sales or how the modification in the allocation method alone will affect a school’s game-related income for CFB26.”
Matt Liberman is a reporter and video producer for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.