EA Sports College Football 26 will be released on July 10, 2025, and the gaming company has announced they will be changing the criteria for how much each school will make for being in the game.
EA Sports College Football 26: How Much Will Schools Get Paid?
Last year, schools were paid based on their AP Top 25 finishes from 2014 to 2023. However, this year, the schools will be paid based on their usage in the video game itself.
CLLCT’s Matt Lieberman wrote an article breaking down how EA Sports will now switch to a royalties-type payment system for schools that appear in the game.
Basically, there is a pool of money that EA is willing to pay, and based on how much each team is used in the game, they will get a percentage of that pool.
BREAKING: In EA College Football ‘26, schools will get paid based on how much gamers play with their team.@cllctMedia’s @Matt_Liberman has the details on the innovative change.https://t.co/8wBmOJuimU
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 6, 2025
For example, if the game receives 100,000,000 total plays, and Alabama is used 1,000,000 times, then Alabama will receive 1% of the total pool.
Not only does this change reward fan-favorite teams, but it also levels the playing field in some ways. Schools that may not consistently finish in the Top 25 but have massive national fan bases — like Nebraska, Tennessee, or even UCF — could see meaningful payouts based on loyal support.
Whichever fan base uses their school the most will directly be bringing in money for that program.
This also opens the door for schools to promote the game as a fundraising tool. Expect programs to encourage fans to “rep your school in-game” as a form of modern support. In an NIL-driven landscape, this type of engagement is more valuable than ever.
This is an awesome way to not only help EA drive more users to the game, but it also gives fans a chance to genuinely make an impact on their favorite team, which is not something that could be said about any sports video game until now.
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Overall, this is a great switch by EA and should be in place for every college football game moving forward.
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