EA College Football 26 Will Pay Schools Based on Player Usage

EA Sports added a new wrinkle to College Football 26, the latest rendition of their popular college sports franchise: the frequency with which players use a given program will impact the amount of revenue that program earns from sales of the game, per a report from Matt Liberman of cllct media.

The franchise went defunct from 2014 to 2023 after legal disputes caused a series of programs and conferences to withdraw licensing rights. During the initial run of the game, athletes were referred to by number rather than their actual name because doing so would have violated NCAA rules regarding compensation for student athletes. The landmark Name, Image and Likeness decision opened the door for athletes to receive compensation in 2021, and the franchise came back to life in 2024. WVU Football brought in $59,925.09 in revenue from sales of the game in 2024.

Last year’s edition of the game brought in more than $500 million in sales during its first month on the market, and schools reportedly receive 10 percent of overall revenue from the game.

Split between the 136 programs that opted into the game, no school will end up rich beyond their wildest dreams because of this change, but it could increase the growing disparity between the haves and the have-nots in college athletics… and give fans a reason to stick to the program they like best when playing.

For a related story, WVU football made one of the covers for EA Sports’ College Football 26.