When “EA Sports College Football” returns next year, gamers might not have to play with “TEX QB #16.” Instead, they’ll have a chance to play with “Arch Manning” and several other of college football’s biggest stars thanks to an agreement between Electronic Arts and OneTeam Partners to use players’ names, images and likenesses in the upcoming game.

Per an ESPN report, OneTeam Partners will help to “‘facilitate collegiate athletes’ names and likenesses’ into the game, solving one of the major questions about college football’s return to the video game space.”

All eligible FBS players will have the option to opt in to have their likenesses in “EA Sports College Football.” Those players will receive compensation for being placed in the game.

Details on compensation have yet to be finalized.

On Nov. 22, 2022, EA Sports announced the return of the hugely popular series would arrive in the summer of 2024. 

The last iteration of the game was “NCAA Football 14,” released on July. 9, 2013. Eight days later, the NCAA declared it wouldn’t extend its licensing agreement with EA Sports due to litigation involving players’ concerns over compensation in regard to their likenesses being used in the game.

In August 2013, the SEC, Big Ten and Pac-12 blocked EA Sports from using any logos associated with their conferences, effectively halting future production of the series. The following month, EA Sports confirmed the series wouldn’t return for the 2014 season. On Sept. 26, 2013, a federal judge accepted a $60 million settlement between EA Sports and college athletes.

When first announcing the revival in February 2021, four months before the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on college athletes’ ability to earn compensation through NIL deals, Cam Weber, the executive vice president and general manager at EA Sports, told the Washington Post “the game’s rosters will feature randomly generated names, numbers and attributes, avoiding potential infringement on any current players’ [NIL] rights.”

Per ESPN, Tulane and Northwestern announced they will opt into next year’s game because of the agreement with OneTeam Partners, while Notre Dame was mentioned as a school that remains on the fence. 

According to a report from The Athletic in March 2021, Notre Dame, TCU, USC and Wisconsin are among the programs that announced they wouldn’t take part in the revived college football gaming series without an agreement on NIL compensation.