USC's Caleb Williams on EA Sports college football video game payout: 'It depends on who you are'

EA Sports made the announcement in May that college football players would be able to profit from its upcoming college football video game.

The video gaming company contracted OneTeam Partners to facilitate college athletes’ likeness and payouts for appearing in the game. Details of those contracts remain murky. At the time, On3 reported the cash pool was expected to be in the $5 million neighborhood, which would pay out to $500 per player.

Sources in recent weeks have indicated to On3 that the cash pool could be upped due to recent news. The College Football Players Association told On3 in June of plans to organize a boycott of the game, putting some public pressure on EA. An EA spokesperson also told On3 earlier this month that the numbers were “speculative” and no offers had been made.

In an interview with Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, USC quarterback Caleb Williams said he is unsure if he would agree to the $500 compensation payout.

“Thing about life is, you have to adjust to anything,” Williams told Dellenger. “Businesses and brands and things like that have to adjust to the new brand of college. I’d love to have the game back, but it’s the new day and age and everybody knows what the new day and age in college is.

“It’s like if you go to school and you are a straight-A student and there’s another kid whose strong suit isn’t school and he gets B’s or B-minuses. How fair would it be if you get the same grade as him? That never works in school and it doesn’t make sense. That’s how I look at that game with the situation with the $500.”

The last time the EA Sports video game hit the shelves in 2013, roughly 1.5 million copies were sold. Since then, the gaming industry has seen significant growth and interest. Esports leagues have been started. Twitch has become an extremely popular live streaming service thanks to video games.

The Madden franchise is estimated to generate $600 million in annual revenue, Jefferies analyst Alex Giaimo told Barron’s in 2020. Williams is not the first athlete to speak on the payout. Multiple FBS players at June’s NIL Summit spoke on the issue, sharing that many have already had internal locker room conversations about the video game and possible holdouts. There’s almost a consensus that $500 is too little for the game’s top stars.

“It depends on who you are and your situation and if you earned it,” Williams told Yahoo!. “There’s certain people that have been in college for many years and been playing for many years, and there’s other guys who have been in college for many years and haven’t played and haven’t been doing this and that. It depends on your situation and who you are and what you have actually earned. I’m not talking about money earned… I’m talking about all the hard work you’ve put in.”

The college football video game franchise ran from 1998 until 2013. Moving from the “Bill Walsh College Football” moniker to “NCAA Football,” the annual game was eventually discontinued. Lawsuits emerged, most notably former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon and 19 others’ decision to sue the NCAA, arguing the organization violated United States antitrust laws by not allowing athletes to make a share of the revenues generated from the use of their in broadcasts and video games.

A judge later ordered the NCAA to pay $44.4 million in attorney fees along with another $1.5 million in costs to lawyers for the plaintiffs in O’ Bannon’s class-action lawsuit.

Next summer’s edition will be the first that allows FBS athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness. Odds are Caleb Williams will be in the NFL by the time the game comes out. Or he could be playing at USC, opting out of the game.

That remains to be seen.