Ed O’Bannon must be a happy man right now.
Sixteen years after the former UCLA basketball star brought an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA for the governing body’s use of player names, image, and likenesses without compensation, collegiate football players are set to get a bit of a pay raise.
Video-game company EA Sports told FBS college football players on Tuesday that they would receive payments of $1,500 each for their inclusion in EA’s latest iteration of its college football game series, “College Football 26.” Last year, players received $600 for use of their names, images and likenesses.
Last year’s version of the game resulted in payments to more than 11,000 players. That total covered approximately 85 players per team. In February, according to Chris Vannini at The Athletic, a name, image, and likeness organization called Pathway Sports and Entertainment started getting the rights for players. About 1,000 players signed with Pathway, and the group has said its goal is to have every scholarship player in FBS onboard to negotiate a larger sum of money.
“EA Sports College Football 25” was the highest-selling sports video game of all-time. It was the first college football video game released since the decision in the O’Bannon vs. NCAA case resulted in the games’ discontinuance following “NCAA Football 14.”
EA Sports will spend more than $16.5 million for the NIL rights of players in this year’s game. Last year’s game, through November, the last date numbers were immediately available, was the best-selling game of any genre or type in 2024.
O’Bannon won a national championship with UCLA in 1995. No word has been made about the potential for EA Sports or another company to bring back its college basketball or baseball series of video games.
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