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EA Sports College Football 26 to increase NIL payouts to $1,500

It's a nearly 150 percent raise from the $600 players were given for appearing in EA Sports College Football 25.

TJ Denzer

March 19, 2025 2:03 PM

Image via EA Sports

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Electronic Arts is increasing compensation for the players lending their likenesses to EA Sports College Football 26. The developer has raised the payout for NIL (name, image, likeness) agreements with college athletes to $1,500 USD. This is a near 150 percent increase over the payout for EA Sports College Football 25.

Word of the raised NIL payout for EA Sports College Football 26 came via The Athletic this week, which reported the updated offer from EA for athletes participating in the game. Reportedly, EA has already made its offer to players for this year, but where last year’s College Football 25 saw players receive $600 apiece for their contributions, College Football 26 will see that same NIL payout raised to $1,500.

It's a solid move by EA for the athletes participating in its games. While it was nice to see some level of compensation go out to the players last time around, the nearly 150 percent increase from College Football 25 is a surprise likely brought about by the breakout success of last year’s release.

We’re still a ways off from EA Sports College Football 26, but with the NIL agreement going out to players, it seems likely we’ll hear something soon. Stay tuned to the EA Sports topic for further news and updates.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on BlueSky @JohnnyChugs.