In the era of the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), a group representing college athletes will stand against sports video game titan EA Sports.
The College Football Players Association (CFBPA) is planning to boycott the 2024 EA Sports video game, claiming that the compensation that the company has allotted for athletes is too low of an offer.
As of right now, EA has contracted OneTeam Partners to develop the college athletes’ likeness.
This comes on the heels of the NCAA introducing an updated NIL policy that would allow student-athletes “to profit from deals with various brands.” This marked the first time in college sports history that amateur players could profit from their own brands.
But now that EA offered athletes in the video game a chance to cash in $500 each from a pool of $5 million, the CFBPA says that amount isn’t enough, according to Afrotech.com. Players also will not be able to draw in royalties from the game. Student-athletes also cannot ask for more cash, according to Sportico.
“I am excited for a new college football game,” CFBPA Vice President Justin Falcinelli said. “I know how much people love it and how much hype there has been. It’s exciting that we’re now at the point where you can create group licensing deals for college football players to create this game. I think that is a huge milestone.”
Still, Falcinelli said the deal isn’t good enough.
“But as soon as you get below the surface, it’s a bad deal,” he said. “It’s another one of those things that seem to be the pattern in college football. Like, ‘Oh, there’s one thing that’s happening that sounds great. But when you dig into it, and you’re like, ‘Alright, maybe a step in the right directions, but it’s just exploiting the players.’”
Falcinelli implores players not to participate in this deal, according to Afrotech.com.
But On3 Founder and CEO Shannon Terry said players should join the deal.
“For 99.9% of the players, opting in the deal makes sense,” the CEO said. “For so long, players were not able to receive a dollar for having their image and likeness used. The $500 can go a long way and is a bonus — because the real value is being in the game for generations.”
As NIL deals continue to grow, the CFBPA will continue to look into the best interest of college athletes.
Stay tuned.
