August 27, 2024 | Read Online

The EA Sports CFB 25 Group License is paying off in other ways

The video game deal paved the way for a new trading card deal, with more on the way

Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with Extra Points.

I think most Extra Points readers are broadly familiar with how the EA Sports College Football 25 NIL licensing program worked, but in case you aren’t, here’s a quick refresher.

EA Sports contracted with a company called OneTeam Partners to administer a massive NIL licensing program. In exchange for allowing EA to use an athlete’s name, image and likeness in the video game, EA paid athletes $600 and a free copy of the game on a system of their choice.

By all accounts, the program was a massive success. Over 14,000 athletes opted into the licensing program, including almost all the top players in the sport. The game itself was a runaway bestseller, smashing internal and industry sales projections. It is currently the best-selling video game of 2024, and is actually driving console sales, something that almost never happens with sports video games.

So EA is happy, because their video game includes the official likeness of over ten thousand college athletes, and is selling roughly a gazillion copies. Consumers are happy, because they get to play a college football video game again. Schools are happy, because their licensing revenue is going to increase. And players are happy, because they got the video game back, a little mailbox money, and now, the infrastructure to support other large licensing projects.

That’s right. The video game licensing deal actually makes it easier for other projects that have nothing to do with video games.

Last week, OneTeam Partners announced a new licensing deal with the trading card company ONIT, one that will allow the trading card company to launch at least six new schools for this season.