Notre Dame won’t be in new EA video game, at least not yet

Jack Swarbrick and Notre Dame announced on Monday that they would not be in the new college football video game from EA, so long as players won’t be able to make money from their name image and likeness from the game.

This goes back to the tradition of EA using player likenesses for their video games. For instance, in NCAA 14, the last game that EA made, you could easily play with players like Everett Golson. Ultimately, this is what led to the end of the game series, as legal actions started to spring up and it became better to stop producing the game.

That won’t be the case in the new game, though, as EA has already announced that under the current NIL rules they won’t be making players the way they used to. If those rules change, EA’s plans may change. Except, Notre Dame’s statement regarding the current rules, which EA is working within.

Notre Dame picks a strange time to announce they are out

The move was timed incredibly strangely by Notre Dame. For one, the game is years away from coming out and it was just announced a month or so ago, so why announce you’re not going to be in it already? Furthermore, Notre Dame is the first team to make this announcement and it comes without much benefit to the program.

There may very well be teams that join the Irish here, but it’s not to the benefit of anyone to not be in the game. In fact, as a recruiting tool, the game is surprisingly valuable and you don’t want to miss it.

All of this comes back to NIL rules, though. Currently, if a star player takes $5 for an autograph he and his school will be punished beyond a reasonable extent. However, there is a push at the level of many state governments to make it legal for college athletes to make money from NIL.

In states like Florida, the legislation will make NIL legal as early as this summer. The NCAA can’t run from this anymore, but they punted to Congress in hopes of things working out for them, but it’s expected NIL becomes reality sooner than later, and certainly, before the new game comes out.

So, again, why bother with this statement at all? EA’s game won’t violate the rules that you don’t want to violate, and those rules will likely change before the game comes out anyway? Is it just to position Notre Dame as being pro player’s rights when they go to recruit, or maybe even put pressure on the NCAA to move forward with new NIL rules?

Notre Dame should be in this game. It’s an access point to the game for many young fans and can help build up a new generation of fans. Players used to love to play with their own characters, and if NIL comes through, Notre Dame needs to be in the game. In fact, this is not something happening overnight and the Irish should be in the game than not. So, don’t expect them to miss out just because of this statement.