EA Sports College Football 25 pays schools nearly $100,000 in tiered payments

EA Sports College Football 25 has been dominating the headlines over the past week. With cover art leaks and the release of an official trailer from EA Sports, the hype surrounding the first installment of the storied franchise in over a decade is higher than ever.

Much has been made of the zero payment to athletes that allowed the franchise to continue after a court ruling in O'Bannon v. NCAA forced the franchise's shutdown in 2013. All FBS scholarship players can opt into the game and receive $600 to license their name, image and likeness — bigger stars could earn more through a separate deal with EA Sports as brand ambassadors. Now, thanks to documents obtained by clllct media, it has been revealed how much money the schools have made for their institutional IP assets.

To determine payouts, teams were divided into a four-tier system. The tiers are based on the team's cumulative success from the 2014-2023 seasons and the payments are structured as follows:

Level 1: $99,875.16

Level 2: $59,925.09

Level 3: $39,950.06

Level 4: $9,987.52

Not surprisingly, the Big 10 leads with five top-notch programs: Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Iowa and the newly formed Oregon. Close on the heels of the Big 10, not surprisingly, is the SEC with four teams: Alabama, Georgia, LSU and the newly formed conference member Oklahoma.

According to cllct, in addition to their fixed compensation tier, teams could receive bonus payments if they reach certain milestones in game sales. The tiers will remain dynamic for at least the next four years (the term of the current contract) and will be based on a 10-year rolling average of team success.

EA Sports College Football 25 will officially be released on July 19th for Playstation and Xbox.