This past week, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling that opened up the possibility of NCAA sports stars being compensated via education-related benefits. That's particularly relevant to Electronic Arts, which announced earlier this year it would release EA Sports College Football in 2021. EA Sports College Football originally would not feature player names and likenesses, but the Supreme Court's new ruling could lead EA to change its mind.
Now EA is responding to the Supreme Court's decision, weighing in on the future of its college football franchise. In a response sent to Axios, EA says that it's watching developments within the NCAA closely. However, it doesn't have any announcements to make at this time. "It's still very early stages at this point," is how EA characterizes what's happened since the Supreme Court decision. That said, EA does say that it's going to "explore the possibility" of bringing back player names and likenesses.
EA's response hints at, but doesn't directly mention, the incredibly complicated nature of the situation. The Supreme Court's decision opened up an incredible range of possible changes in terms of how players could be compensated going forward. And a major part of that is a player's name, image, and likeness (NIL). It isn't clear how much control a player has over their NIL now, or whether they can be compensated for their NIL. And if they can, it isn't clear how they can be compensated, and for how much.
Regardless, collegiate players are already moving forward. Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports reported earlier this week that one college football player was preparing to announce a "national deal" soon. The nature of the deal is unknown, but it's no surprise that corporate sponsors may be the first to test just how far the Supreme Court's decision will go.
What complicates the situation for EA is that there's no longer a unifying body handling every player's NIL. Before, EA could make an arrangement with the NCAA for every player's NIL. Now, it's very likely EA would have to make arrangements with each person, which would understandably get very expensive very quickly.
Odds are that EA will continue with its previous plan of keeping EA Sports College Football without real-life NIL. Even if it was simple and legal for EA to get the players' NILs, it would take an immense amount of time to scan them all. With EA Sports College Football's coming back after so much time off, waiting might be the smartest choice at hand. Still, it's going to be interesting to see where the Supreme Court's decision takes the NCAA Football/EA Sports College Football franchise next.
EA Sports College Football is currently in development.
Source: Axios, CBS Sports