College Football 25: EA Sports breaks NIL record with massive contract offer to 11,000 CFB players

EA Sports has set an NIL record by offering contracts to over 11,000 college football players in its upcoming video game, College Football 25.

The publisher announced that the game would return this summer after a decade-long hiatus, and now the brand has taken a step forward to have actual players in the title.

According to ESPN, college football players can opt-in to College Football 25 and get paid for it, as up to 85 players per school will initially appear on rosters in the game, which comes out this summer.

All players who opt-in to have their name, image and likeness appear will eventually receive $600, plus a copy of the game that's typically valued at $70 and will be in it for the entirety of their college football career. They can also opt out of future editions if they choose, and players will be paid annually for every year they are in the EA-developed title.

"We feel very proud that we'll be the largest program, likely the highest-spending program," Sean O'Brien, EA Sports' vice president of business development, told ESPN. "And really an inclusive opportunity with an equitable distribution of funds across the board."

Per EA Sports, the company looked at deals completed with other sports titles, like the Madden NFL and NHL series, to come with the $600 price per player.

"There's nothing been done on this scale that EA is doing, where every student-athlete that participates in the game is guaranteed revenue," said Cory Moss, the CEO of the Collegiate Licensing Company, which has worked with EA on the game.

As well as being in the video game, EA Sports revealed there will be more than 100 additional NIL opportunities, which could include social media posts and on-campus promotions, among other advertisements.

According to the publisher, if a player opts out, it will create a generic avatar based on the traditional strength or weakness of a position for that school over the past decade.

Every school will be in College Football 25

The EA Sports College Football 25 also got some good news this week, as all 134 FBS schools have agreed to be in the game.

The biggest hurdle was getting Notre Dame to agree to be in College Football 25, but the school announced it agreed to be part of the video game.