Athletes Hurry to Opt-In Late for EA College Football 25
There is a groundswell of hype around the college football community thanks to Electronic Arts finally releasing their next installment of their college football video game series for the first time since 2013. With the growing excitement, the chaos has begun to grow for current players thanks to a new opportunity.
One of the biggest additions in the new installment of the game is that they will have accurate rosters thanks to NIL allowing players to get compensated for being in the game. There is a catch, though, in that players must opt-in to receive benefits.
Each player that opts in to be on the roster will receive $600 and a copy of the game. The chance to opt-in has been around for months, and the amount of opt-ins they received almost immediately had exceeded five digits.
The game releases in less than two months and the first trailer got announced just the other day. EA had encouraged players to opt-in by April. With the excitement growing for the game, it must have reminded some players that they still need to opt-in as posts have begun to circulate with players trying to get in contact with the company.
A player that found success was LSU wide receiver Kyren Lacy. On May 23rd he sent out a message on X:
I’m tryna opt in yall tag @EASPORTSCollege !!!!!!!!!!
— Kyren Lacy (@alltimegreattt) May 23, 2024
Support poured in from fans, with the post reaching over 3200 interactions. A day later, Lacy shared an update that he was indeed going to be in the game. His cry for help was answered by EA.
A school like LSU has such reach that it was likely easy to get back in contact with the company, a player from a smaller school may not have as much luck. Vanderbilt offensive lineman Steven Hubbard, who didn’t get to his new school until April 19 was another player that sent out a post asking for help opting-in. Late transfers might have some trouble opting-in so close to the game's release.
Is it too late to opt in @EASPORTSCollege SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!!!!!
— BigGlo♎️ (@Allbetheglory1) May 24, 2024
The highly-anticipated game releases on July 19, which is when you can find out if your favorite player is in the game or not.
DYLAN SANDERS
Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders