Texas Longhorns young star quarterback Arch Manning was not originally expected to be included in the upcoming EA Sports College Football video game which releases next week. But it sounds like one major thing changed his mind: money.
On Tuesday, Arch Manning announced that he would indeed be included in the upcoming video game, and it sounds like EA Sports paid a pretty hefty sum of money for his name, image, and likeness. According to a report from college football insider Pete Nakos of On3, the quarterback received between $50,000 and $60,000 to be included in the game.
“It appears he’s ready to be in the game. For EA Sports, it’s a huge win getting one of the most notable names in the sport. The company is paying Manning between $50-$60,000 to promote the game, in addition to the $600 and copy of it he receives as part of the NIL deal facilitated by OneTeam,” On3 reported this week.
NIL Whispers: EA Sports paid Texas QB Arch Manning between $50-60K to promote College Football 25, @On3sports has learned.
The former No. 1 overall recruit in the 2023 class will also receive $600 and a copy of the game for opting in.
More: https://t.co/XTTBb5kXNM pic.twitter.com/i2hxPcqCL4
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) July 9, 2024
Obviously, this is some pretty insane money for a backup quarterback, and it led to a lot of conversation and controversy on social media.
Chess not checkers marketing, here. https://t.co/qPXBsIeV3L
— Jesse Simonton (@JesseReSimonton) July 10, 2024
In all seriousness, good for him. EA was just paying $600 to everyone because they knew that was what they could get away with, most would just wanna be glad to be in the game and aren’t particularly marketable, themselves. https://t.co/ms1iYwqUcv
— Zach Mullis (@zmullis) July 10, 2024
Wow I could’ve kept my thoughts to myself 😒😒 Still ready to play &thankful for my $600 tho😭😭😭 https://t.co/ugylQMaHB5
— DeCarlos Nicholson (@Dee2nich) July 9, 2024
It was always about money. Money ruined our sacred sport. https://t.co/hfua1dFIxp
— The 4 Horsemen Podcast (@HorsemenPod) July 9, 2024
Bad precedent. It’ll be much more difficult for EA to secure stars moving forward as pretty much all of them will be advised to hold out for $$$$. This is going to get really annoying https://t.co/IbQYoO9eIW
— Ballsack Sports (@BallsackSports) July 9, 2024
Paying a backup QB all that? Why? https://t.co/zH6KG4NRrA
— Matt Landry (@Landry1117) July 9, 2024
So a backup QB gets more money than anyone else who opted into this game? How does that make any sense? https://t.co/3377H5EKNe
— Eli (@elihays03) July 9, 2024
waste of money, the game promotes itself, no one cares about the backup QB at Texas https://t.co/DeS1XUCFxN
— Ryan Kaminski (@PghSki17) July 9, 2024
Clearly, EA Sports really wanted to make sure that the young quarterback was included in the game, even if he is expected to be the backup this season.
