More details on EA Sports College Football video game 2024 release

Where things stand as EA Sports works to release its long-awaited College Football video game amid a new lawsuit and questions around NIL payment

Despite a new lawsuit from a group that brokers licensing deals for schools, EA Sports says that will not affect the planned release date for the upcoming College Football video game in the summer of 2024.

Earlier this week, The Brandr Group sued EA Sports over the name, image, and likeness deals believed to be offered to college football players in the game. 

Brandr is contracted with 54 Division I schools to broker licensing deals and has argued that EA is trying to get around its existing agreements with them by negotiating with individual athletes, according to Front Office Sports.

But EA responded by saying the "complaint will not impact our development timelines," in a statement to The Athletic and that "the game is on track and is a priority for EA Sports."

Moreover, the game's creators said they have not offered players any NIL money for their likenesses to appear in the game, though some reports from insiders have speculated that EA was planning on creating a pool of $5 million with which to pay players, amounting to an average of $500 per player.

That number prompted a strong reaction from the College Football Players Association, a group that advocates for players' rights which publicly asked players to boycott the game and to ask for more money.

EA last issued its popular college football video game a decade ago, back in 2013, after which the company announced that it was discontinuing the game.

That decision followed a court ruling that forced EA Sports to pay compensation to athletes who had previously been included in the product but were not paid.

Then, after the creation of the new NIL rules two years ago, EA went public by announcing that the game would return at some point in the future.

That point in the future is getting closer with every day, but not before EA can figure out the obstacles in front of the process right now.

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