Playing with Miami on EA College Football 26 will get the program paid

If you needed another reason to play with the Miami Hurricanes on EA College Football 26, Matt Liberman of cllctmedia obtained a report that stated EA will pay the universities for how often the teams are used in gameplay. In theory, this would help programs keep athletes who drive up the usage in the game by paying them part of the money they bring in from EA's College Football 26.

Liberman obtained documents through a FOIA request to reveal EA's payment plan for the schools in the game. Part of it reads: "For each CFB product released by EA SPORTS, we (CLC Learfield) will provide a percentage for each institution based on the games played for that institution as a percentage of the total games played across all institutions. This percentage of games played will become the final allocation percentage for each school that will be applied to the total gross royalties for all institutions received."

Previously, EA Sports allocated royalties to participating FBS schools in its college football video game based on a four-tier system reflecting each program's on-field success. This classification was determined by the number of times a team appeared in the final Associated Press (AP) Top 25 Poll over a ten-year span from 2014 to 2023. Each Top 25 finish earned a school one point, and the total points dictated their tier placement. For reference, Miami was in tier two last year.

What's also different this year is the amount that players are being paid directly for being in the video game. Last year, players received $600 and a free copy of EA College Football 25. This year they will receive $3,000 which is split between EA and Pathway Sports and Entertainment.

So, if you play as Miami in the upcoming game, just remember that you are doing your part to help the program.