Notre Dame’s Jack Swarbrick wants players to get paid for EA Sports game

News of the new EA Sports College Football game (which replaces the “NCAA Football” name) had fans everywhere extremely excited about the future. Notre Dame Fighting Irish fans were no different, and many are very eager for the release — even though it may still be 2 or 3 years away.

That timeframe should provide enough of a buffer between how these things are licensed and how the money is divided. Notre Dame’s Jack Swarbrick released a strong statement on Monday about such things, and stated that Notre Dame won’t be involved unless the players are compensated for name, image, and likeness.

“Notre Dame Athletics welcomes the return of EA Sports College Football, a video game series that has historically helped promote interest in college football. Notre Dame will not, however, participate in the game until such time as rules have been finalized governing the participation of our student-athletes.

As those rules are developed, it is our strong desire that student-athletes be allowed to benefit directly from allowing their name, image and performance history to be used in the game.”

-Jack Swarbrick, University Vice President and James E. Rohr Director of Athletics

This is a powerful play by one of the most powerful brands in all of sports. Only time — and probable legislation — will help decide how this all goes down.