How EA Sports College Football 25 Dynasty mode incorporates NIL, transfer portal

NCAA 14 “Dynasty” mode was simple enough. Recruit top players to build up your program and then play the game and compete for national championships. But with how college football has changed over the past decade, there will be so much more to the game mode in the new EA Sports College Football 25, mainly with the inclusion of the NCAA transfer portal and NIL.

On3’s Andy Staples went to Orlando to play the game, breaking down how each is implemented into dynasty mode.

“Brand building” is how Staples described NIL, saying the bigger you build your program, the more resources you will have at your disposal. Meeting with specific players about potential financial deals is not yet a thing and more relevant when it comes to the Road to Glory mode.

Making sure the game could remain realistic as NIL changes moment by moment was critical for EA Sports.

“Their thought was, ‘We’ve got a game that’s got to last us a year here.’ Let us incorporate brand building,” Staples said. “That’s really what stands in for NIL, from the coach perspective. … You do have to think about that from a team perspective. Do you have the brand? Which stands in for — do you have the NIL war chest to get the kind of players you want?

“Are you meeting with guys about their NIL deals or do you have guys hitting you up for bigger NIL deals? No, not yet.”

NIL then translates over to the transfer portal, where players will have to decide how resources are allocated. Recruiting remains important to the game mode but burning through funds on the high school ranks will mean there’s not any left for the portal.

Staples used the example of Penn State starting quarterback Drew Allar appearing in the portal while there, similar to the move now-Syracuse QB Kyle McCord made to leave Ohio State after last season.

Sometimes, tough roster decisions will have to be made if you want to upgrade. And making sure there are enough NIL resources to get it done will play a factor.

“It mimics the real-life decision that coaches have to make about ‘How much do I devote resources to recruiting high school players? How much do I devote resources to getting guys out of the transfer portal?’,” Staples said. “You might lose your starting quarterback to the transfer portal or you might be able to get an upgrade out of the transfer portal. You have to decide what resources to that.”