Caleb Williams unhappy with NCAA’s "stupid rules" and doubts EA Sports College Football’s flat-fee compensation model

Caleb Williams is the face of college football as the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and arguably next year's NFL No. 1 draft pick. He was widely expected to be on the cover of EA Sports' new College Football video game, but that now looks doubtful.

The launch of the much-anticipated game was pushed from this summer to 2024 due to various legal issues surrounding its production.

Several student-athletes were also not happy with the speculated compensation model for appearing in the game.

According to Yahoo Sports, speculation has it that EA Sports' proposal was a one-off payment of $500 to the players with no option of future royalties.

Caleb Williams addressed the speculation regarding the flat-fee compensation model head-on while speaking to Yahoo Sports.

“It’s like if you go to school and you are a straight-A student and there’s another kid whose strong suit isn’t school and he gets B's or B-minuses. How fair would it be if you get the same grade as him? That never works in school and it doesn’t make sense. That’s how I look at that game with the situation with the $500.”

He even had a parting shot at the authorities (NCAA).

“That’s football evolving. Outside of football, we have NIL now. College has to evolve. Sports have to evolve. It’s just, how do the people in charge adapt to it and not hold things back and make stupid rules to affect people instead of protect people?”

Caleb Williams admits to playing the game when he was younger, often choosing to play with the Oregon Ducks.

“I used to play with the Ducks and go tear it up,” Williams said. “It’s always been a dream of mine to play the game again.”

Williams already has NIL deals with prestigious brands like Beats By Dre, PlayStation, AT&T, Neutrogena, and United Airlines.

According to On3, Caleb Williams has a NIL valuation of $2.6 million, which perhaps explains his reluctance to settle for less than he's worth.

Is the Caleb Williams issue with the game an isolated one?

In early August, an EA Sports spokesperson confirmed to On3 that the popular video game would be making a return next summer, an announcement that was well-received by fans.

“We’re incredibly excited to bring back an authentic college football experience for fans and athletes that have shown such passion for the franchise, and we’re looking forward to delivering it in Summer 2024.”

Years ago, Ed O'Bannon, a former UCLA player sued the NCAA for violating antitrust laws regarding the usage of player's images without fair compensation.

The legal issues brought a halt to the production of the game that had been released every summer from 1998-2013.

EA Sports' woes didn't end there. The Brandr Group which negotiates group licensing contracts for college programs also sued them earlier this year.

The lawsuit covers the image and likenesses of the players represented by the group and is due to be heard on October 19.

In the current NIL-rich environment enveloping college sports, student-athletes like Caleb Williams will certainly extract their money's worth from corporations using the images and likenesses to make money.