As for Archie Manning, the incoming freshman quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, he’s in the game. That’s what he announced this week, on Twitter, of course, with the help of his Super Bowl winning uncle Eli Manning. What he was referring to was that he was officially opting in to be a part of the new EA Sports College Football video game, the newest release in this once revered series. Manning is one of over 11,000 college football players that will be included – meaning you’ll be able to play them in the game. That means a digital version that looks like them, plays like them, has their name and number, and so on. For the record, over 14,000 said yes to EA Sports, but a few thousand didn’t make the cut.
For their name, image, and likeness, college football players will each get at least $600 and a free, deluxe edition of the game – valued at around $100, as I’m sure I will find out soon via a credit card bill. Some will get paid a bit more as brand ambassadors, and a few will get even more for being on the game cover. For the record, it’s rumored Manning got somewhere between 50 and 60 thousand for saying yes. Sometimes it pays to wait.
Now if it feels like forever since you last heard about this game, it’s because it has been. EA Sports last released one in 2013, when they were sued by players for using their name, image, and likeness without compensation. EA Sports settled and basically put the college game on ice. That is until earlier this decade, when the NCAA finally allowed college athletes to make money off themselves, which led us to here, the cusp of one of the most anticipated video game releases in history not involving car theft or machine guns and the largest NIL deal in its nascent history. And this version of the game brings all sorts of new life into the program. Like the new game has a transfer portal, and NIL deals – which is very meta. It will have all kinds of conference realignment. Essentially if it’s part of the wild west of today’s big time college football, you can play it with EA Sports. In other words, it’s in the game.
There will be a fair amount of conjecture about whether a) this is a breakthrough for college athletes and their ability to finally leverage their worth, or b) they’ve gotten relative pennies while a few rich guys use their fame to make a fortune. It’s kind of like how on The Office the sales team bought off the accounting staff by giving them free pastries instead of sharing their commissions. But I digress.
It's probably important to remember that beyond revenue, there’s a whole lot of psychology in this deal. Take away what any player is actually worth as a commodity on a video game and the idea of labor vs management, and what you’re left with are often 18-22 year old young men who love nothing more than to not only play EA Sports College Football, but to actually be able to play themselves. It’s like when your fantasy has a fantasy. The buck-sixty in cash and goods is really just icing on the cake.
Beyond that, though, we did learn a little something about bargaining power and collective worth in the new world order of college sports, where professionalization is supposed to change everything. And what we learned is that while most players are worth 600 dollars, one is worth 100 times that – and probably more. Because if the backup right guard on that same Texas team tried to hold out for more cash, they’d still be waiting. Which means that opening up college sports to capitalism isn’t going to be equally kind – with divides likely far greater than those that exist in the pros, where even the bench warmers get rich. That will be even more pronounced for athletes in sports that don’t have video games, unless there’s a market for EA Sports Cross Country I’m unaware of. So the near future of college sports will definitely be more lucrative. But it may also be more Charles Dickens. It’s hard to say whether these truly are the best of times and for whom.
At the very least, times seem pretty good for Archie Manning, who you must remember is highly unlikely to start next year for the Longhorns. That said, he’s definitely in the game.
Keith Strudler is the director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. You can follow him at @KeithStrudler
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