Cha-Ching State University
Colleges Featured in "EA College Football '26" Stand To Make a Cut.
You don’t have to be a gamer to know that video games (and esports) are big bucks. As one of my many alter-egos (codenamed “Novanta”), I’ve been lucky enough to lend my voice for several esports. The list goes from “Rocket League,” to “Fortnite,” to even Madden NFL:
Come on, who doesn’t love my buttery and velvety tones?
So when EA Sports launched a College Football Series last year starting with “‘25” I bought in early. But it’s not just a semi-famous esports broadcaster that’s buying in these days. As originally reported by cllct, EA Sports will offer colleges royalties on a sliding scale that is proportionate to each school’s use in-game. In other words, the more times players choose a particular school, the bigger that school’s share of the pot:
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…
…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…
…“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.”
Sayeth what?
Colleges are out here finding new ways to rake in the dough and I have to save up for “the good ramen” in town.
And while it’s very easy for me to be bitter about this, (My undergrad didn’t have a football team, therefore my alma mater isn’t even in the game), I like this as a point of school pride for some of the smaller schools on this list. Yes, people are going to play Texas or USC until the cows go home but I can see the potential of say, Florida Atlantic University asking their students to play as them for a month as a school spirit activity. I’m also a fan of this because as someone who works adjacent to the entertainment industry, I feel it’s about high time royalties made a comeback. If I have to pay Adobe a monthly charge for simply existing on my computer, I should get something regularly for existing too.
And the athletes are getting a bit of that windfall as well. Football players who opted-in to having their likeness used in last year’s edition got $600 and a copy of the game. (What? No PlayStation?!) This year, that check bumps up to $3,000. Still not a whole lot of money but with the rise of NIL deals, that money may be a drop in the bucket for elite talent and a sizeable payday for the rank and file. For the record, I do believe athletes should be paid for their services. And while I understand the noble endeavor of students playing for free because of the love of the game, there’s a thrill of being able to provide for your family while you’re in college.
Lastly, the cllct article goes through a potential royalty scenario for a team featured in a game
Sample Scenario (of College Team Royalties):
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)
Well hot dang! That could buy a whole lot of ramen. EA College Football 2026 hits stores on July 10th.