Report: Six schools partner with new NIL licensing group for college football video game rights

Six schools are now joining forces in a new NIL licensing group that is going to look to sign the college football video game rights of FBS players, per a report by Pete Thamel.

Involved in the venture is Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Wisconsin, Oregon, and Texas Tech. They will be partnered with Pathway Sports and Entertainment, which has now signed the majority of the athletes at those involved schools.

“A new undertaking is signing up FBS college football players’ video NIL licensing rights to be used in the college football video game,” Thamel wrote. “Pathway Sports and Entertainment, founded by Casey Schwab, has signed a majority of the football players at Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Wisconsin, Oregon and Texas Tech, per the company.”

For now, there are six schools involved in this group, but the goal is to sign every FBS program to this arrangement. That would cost in the range of $17 million. For his part, Casey Schwab is calling this “the largest commercial program for college athletes in history” with aims to “be the first group to actually negotiate directly with the video game makers on behalf of the group.”

The company has already signed 450 players to NIL deals with each player receiving $1,500 for the rights to use in the EA Sports college football video game. That’s more than double the $600 and a copy of the game they would have earned last season. For high-profile players, Thamel reports there will be additional money offered.

“Most athletic directors and most college football coaches want to support their football players in making legitimate commercial dollars,” Schwab said. “The reception so far has been excellent.”

This isn’t the first company or licensing group involved in NIL or specifically NIL around the college football video game. Previously, EA Sports themselves contracted OneTeam Partners this past summer to manage the facilitation of NIL rights.

EA Sports College Football 25 came out to much fanfare in the Summer of 2024. This came after the game went on hiatus following NCAA Football 14’s release, largely due to the inability of the game to include player likenesses because those same athletes couldn’t profit from their NIL at the time. So, when there were changes to the NIL rules in college athletics, it gave EA the opportunity to revive the beloved series. It became so popular that EA Sports College Football 25 had already done $500 million in sales within the first two weeks that the game was released.

In January, EA announced that the game is going to be coming back with College Football 26 released ahead of the 2025 season.