EA Sports Payment System For Teams In 'College Football 25' Yields Some Wacky Results
All 134 FBS schools that were featured in the EA Sports College Football 25 game got a payday for being involved in the game, but not all the paydays were equal.
To boot, there are some hilarious oddities in how certain schools got paid compared to others.
Alabama, unsurprisingly, was in Tier 1 of EA Sports' payment system. But there were some surprises in the lower tiers. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Sports
Cllct.com obtained records using FOIA requests about the royalties paid to each football program in the country for appearing in the game. Evidently, royalties were based on a system that gave each school one point for every time over the past 10 seasons (2014-2023) that it finished in the Top 25 of the final AP Poll of the season. There were four ties for receiving payment:
- Tier 1 (6-10 Top 25 finishes): $99,875.16
- Tier 2 (2-5): $59,925.09
- Tier 3 (1): $39,950.06
- Tier 4: (0): $9,987.52
So, where exactly did all of the schools land?
It shouldn't be a surprise that schools like Alabama, Ohio State, and Notre Dame finished in Tier 1. And everyone would have guessed that schools like UConn or Purdue would be in the cellar of this tier system. It just stinks for them that they're getting chump change compared to what schools even in Tier 3 are getting.
But Tier 2 is by far the most intriguing.
See for yourself:
If you look closely in this section, you’ll see the Liberty Flames making a shock appearance in this group. But my alma mater has finished in the Top 25 twice, even earning a New Year’s Six bowl game last year, which…well, let’s just say it was awful.
But still, that showing and their Top 25 finish in 2020 put them in the same category as college blue bloods like Texas, Washington, USC, Tennessee, and Florida State.
That should make every Flame elated. But if I'm anyone involved in Washington's program, I’m peeved.
Not only are they the only school to have multiple CFP appearances and not be in Tier 1, they were the national runners-up last year and still didn’t get top-level treatment. Talk about a crazy disparity.
But then again, what would anything related to college football be without a little chaos?