Earlier today, EA Sports confirmed all 134 FBS schools will be featured in EA Sports College Football 25. First reported by Extra Points’ Matt Brown and later confirmed by Chris Vannini at The Athletic, EA Sports has begun sending out NIL contracts to all players. Players that opt in will receive $600 and a copy of the game on their platform of choice. Some of the higher profile players will receive additional NIL compensation as ambassadors for the game and promoting.
UPDATE: (3-4) Just to provide an update. Over 10,000 athletes have already opted-in to the game, following the window that opened on February 22. That’s around 90% of the eligible players in roughly 12 days.
As stated by our friend Matt Brown, Freshmen have until April 30 to opt into the current deal if they’re enrolled and academically eligible. While this deadline isn’t firm due to potential roster changes, developers offer no guarantees afterward.
More than 11,000 players and up to 85 per school will be included on the initial roster. Any player that does not opt in will have a generic player avatar. According to EA Sports’ senior vice president, Daryl Holt (via ESPN)… “if a player chooses to not be included in the game, he will not be able to be created in the game by users — although Holt wouldn’t say how they would prevent that, only that it will not be allowed.”
Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler, David Pollack, Jesse Palmer, Kevin Connors, Rece Davis and Desmond Howard have officially announced they will be voices in the game. Rich DeMarco will be the PA announcer. EA Sports College Football 25 will release later this summer on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
