How a College Football Video Game is Affecting Real-Life Athletes
By Movieguide® Contributor
Heading into the college football season, head coaches have a new problem to tackle as the release of EA Sports College Football eats up many players’ time.
“That’s really all we do now in our free time, we play the game,” Michigan cornerback Will Johnson — the highest-rated player in the game — told ESPN.
“When I leave here today, that’s my only goal: To get back home and play,” added LSU linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. during an SEC media day.
This sentiment is shared by nearly all of the 11,000 players who opted into EA Sports’ offer to include them in the game. Not only did the players receive at least $600 for their name and likeness but also got a free copy of the game.
Now that the game has been released, many players are finding it extremely alluring to play as themselves and as their team. However, as the college football season appears on the horizon, coaches now have to consider how the popularity of the game might impact their players in real life.
“People joke about it with our staff, it’s like, ‘Hey, that game, what day does it come out? And what are we doing football-wise the next day? Because every kid’s going to be up until 4 a.m. playing this game,” Arizona State’s head coach Kenny Dillingham told ESPN. “We can tell them not to, but they will. So how are we working around it?”
Thankfully, video games are nothing new to these players, and many are savoring the free time they have at the end of the summer to enjoy the game before they exercise self-control to focus on their real-life responsibilities.
“I don’t play games in camp,” Arkansas wide receiver Andrew Armstrong, an avid gamer, told ESPN. “I turn all distractions off in camp. Last year I broke my controller on purpose. You gotta grind [before camp]…play as much as you can right now.”
“I’ll have to cut myself off,” added Northwestern wide receiver A.J. Henning. “I’ve got to get it in before camp. You don’t get a lot of downtime in camp. You want to be resting, you want to be recovering.”
Coaches throughout the league have different opinions on how it will impact their season. Some believe its newness will wear off, while others are preparing to set rules on playtime, while others still believe the game will have a positive impact on their team, as long as the players are wise with their time.
“So for camp, you’re only allowed to play the video game on…the walkthrough or days off,” said Wisconsin coach Luck Fickell, explaining his planned rule. “We’ll use it in some ways so that we can compete and have some fun with it, but they all understand…once [camp] comes, you can play a little bit, but you better be in bed, you better be sleeping.”
“A lot of people say video games are bad; I actually kind of disagree,” Dillingham said. “I want our guys to do anything that’s competitive. If it’s going out on Saturday night to a nightclub or going out to a party, or if it’s having four or five guys over and hanging out and playing [College Football 25] all night, give me the latter 10 times out of 10. They’re competing, they’re building chemistry, they’re hanging out together. So I really try to embrace what guys like to do with each other.”
As for the players’ interest in the game, it’s only natural. It has the potential to be the biggest game of the year, and they star in it.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Most EA Sports College Football players got access to the game this week, but it’s already widely popular, thanks to strong marketing and general interest in college football.
The game serves as a successor to the NCAA Football franchise that was popular in the early 2000s through 2014 when the series was put on an indefinite hold for profiting off of the likeness of college football players without compensating them — something that was illegal to do at the time. A court case in 2021, however, reopened the door when the Supreme Court ruled that college athletes could be compensated for their name, image and likeness (NIL).
This ruling provided EA with the ability to revive the franchise and create an even better experience for players. In the past, the game couldn’t feature the names of players, so a major star like Tim Tebow, for example, was simply “QB No. 15.” Under the new NIL rules, however, EA paid athletes to include them in the game, resulting in over 10,000 college football players receiving a minimum $600 check and a free copy of the game upon its release.
Other features that improve on the old games include a “Road to Glory,” “Dynasty” and “Road to College Football Playoffs” mode which can be played both online against friends or solo against the game.
