Is NIL Important in the New College Football Game?

n the last few weeks, it had been reported that EA Sports would be paying the majority of college football players around $500 for opting to have their name, image, and likeness in the college football video game coming out in 2024. The amount EA is willing to pay for an athlete’s NIL has upset several athletes eligible to be in the game, as they feel they deserve more than what is being offered. The question here is should EA pay eligible athletes more than $500? ​

I took to Twitter with my opinion on this topic and said, “…just give me dynasty mode. Having actual players in the game isn't that important. It's cool, but not a necessity.” Much to my surprise, every single response to that Tweet was in agreement with my take. One of the responses brought up an interesting point.

“It’s a group that is definitely way overestimating their power, unless for some reason schools agree to join in on the boycott.”

Based on the responses to these comments, it seems like EA could make a College Football Game with teams with random players and still be wildly successful. Players of the old NCAA CFB games mostly played the Dynasty Mode, which “allows players to control both the on- and off-field actions associated with running a college football program, from playing games to recruiting and developing athletes (IGN).” This mode is 99% of the reason gamers want an NCAA CFB game back.

You can play roughly 60 seasons in this mode before “retiring.” Within four seasons, if every active CFB player opted to be in the game, they would be replaced with a randomly generated player. People don’t play CFB games to play as their favorite CFB player. They play to be the manager of their favorite program and build it up to win back-to-back x20 national titles because it’s freaking fun.

I distinctly remember, in the old games, starting my Dynasty as the offensive coordinator for the Akron Zips. After leading the Zips to 3 consecutive winning seasons, MAC titles, and bowl wins, I accepted a job at… Father forgive me… Texas.

I brought Texas back! I won every bit 10 national titles, consistently had the #1 recruiting class, and went undefeated in most of those seasons. It’s unrealistic, but it’s fun because YOU recruit the players, develop them into superstars, and watch as they get “drafted” into the NFL. For many of us, it’s as close as we will get to being a college football coach.

The other mode fans are dying to have back is Road To Glory. In this mode, you start your career off in high school, where you play an entire season and get recruited by colleges as the season goes on. You then go on to select what college you go to and spend 4-5 seasons working your way up the depth chart and leading your team to glory.

Again, it’s one of those modes that puts gamers into the mindset that they’re getting recruited and leading their favorite team to glory. It’s quite literally like you’re playing out your wildest college football fantasy.

To sum it up, I’ll repeat what I Tweeted. Having actual players in the game isn't that important. It's cool, but not a necessity. With or without actual players, the CFB video game fan base will show out in full force and make this game possibly the most successful sports video game ever released. Take your $500, or don’t. It doesn’t make that much of a difference to us.