College Football 26: Release Date, Cover Athletes & Payouts For This Year’s CFB Video Game

After years of anticipation, and only after college athletes were permitted to profit off of their NIL, “EA Sports College Football 25” was the highest-grossing sports video game ever.

Now the question is, how does EA Sports follow that up? How much will the company try to change or improve from a model that was already clearly successful?

I personally played it and loved it. It’s the only game I’ve played on my PlayStation 5 for more than 100 hours. I thoroughly enjoyed being the head coach of a Group of Five school and leading my team to a national championship – on All-American, granted, because I was about .500 on Heisman and barely made the College Football Playoff.

Anyway, here’s more about the upcoming version of the game.

When Does College Football 26 Come Out?

College Football 26 will come out on July 10, 2025, according to EA Sports’ website. However, The MVP bundle and Deluxe Edition will be available on July 7, giving gamers three days of early access.

How Much Money Do Schools Get From EA Sports College Football?

The money distributed to schools from the College Football 25 game reportedly depended on how those schools ranked in the AP Poll over the 10 seasons leading up to CFB25, from 2014-23. 

Based on a scoring system from those rankings, schools were put into one of four tiers. Schools from the top tier received nearly $100,000 while the bottom tier received just under $10,000.

No G5 schools were in the top tier. Boise State, Utah State, Liberty, Louisiana, Memphis, San Diego State, USF, Fresno State, and Navy were among the schools currently in the Group of Five that were in the second tier and received $59,925.09 each. 

Washington State, Marshall, Army, Troy, Coastal Carolina, Western Michigan, Air Force, App State, Tulane, Ball State, Buffalo, Oregon State, Western Kentucky, and San Jose State were among the G5 teams in the third tier and received $39,950.06. All other G5 schools would’ve been in the fourth and lowest tier.

How Much Money Do Players Get From College Football 26?

Players will reportedly receive $1,500 each for appearing in CFB26. That’s up from the $600 players received from College Football 25.

There was an 11-year span of no college football game due to complications related to EA Sports’ inability to use college athletes’ names, images, and likenesses. But that has since changed, and EA Sports is now paying players for appearing in the video game.

Who’s On The Cover Of This Year’s College Football Game?

The cover of this year’s College Football game will feature several players, like Ohio State wideout Jeremiah Smith and defensive back Caleb Downs, Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams, Florida quarterback DJ Lagway, and Penn State running back Nick Singleton, and coaches like Kirby Smart of Georgia, James Franklin of Penn State, and Kenny Dillingham of Arizona State.

Some of the other people on the cover are Heisman Trophy winners Tim Tebow and Reggie Bush.

List Of All Covers Of The NCAA College Football Game