College Football Players Urged To Boycott EA’s Upcoming CFB Game By Union

The College Football Players Association has reportedly urged college football players to boycott EA’s upcoming revival of its long-running CFB franchise, calling the amount offered to players for their appearance “just a ridiculously low amount of money.”

As separately reported by sports outlets On3 and Sportico, the cash pool for CFB athletes is “in the $5 million neighborhood,” which roughly translates to $500 per player. As currently constructed, the deal will also not provide any royalties to players. CFBPA representative Justin Falcinelli told On3 that “all current players should boycott the deal,” and called it “a simple cash grab.” Falcinelli noted that the union obtained data from NFL players that suggested that the payouts from the Madden series are in the range of $17,000 to $28,000 per player. It’s unclear what this might mean for the CFB revival, which is currently slated for a Summer 2023 release.

EA released CFB games from 1993 to 2013, with the first official NCAA Football title coming in 1997. However, the series has been on hiatus for a decade due in large part to lawsuits and uncertainty surrounding the use of player likenesses in the game. Such lawsuits have had a large impact on college sports writ large, with a 2021 Supreme Court ruling paving the way for NCAA players to be compensated for the use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL). This offseason, college football has experienced a number of controversies, especially those related to tensions between schools in the prestigious “Power Five” conferences and those in the rest of Division 1.