Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 APRIL 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick said his team won't be in the return of the EA Sports Col- lege Football video game until rules regarding player name, image and likeness (NIL) are implemented. A further decision on involvement will come then. "Notre Dame athletics welcomes the return of EA Sports College Foot- ball, a video game series that has historically helped promote interest in college football," Swarbrick said in February. "Notre Dame will not, however, participate in the game un- til such time as rules have been final- ized 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 al- lowing their name, image and perfor- mance history to be used in the game." EA Sports announced in early Feb- ruary it is bringing back the game, which was last made in advance of the 2014 season. There is not a release timeline, but it's not expected to be ready for the 2021 season. The revised game will not include college football team rosters with players' names, im- ages and likenesses. The prior versions did not use names, but the video game players strongly re- sembled real players' physical appearances, jersey numbers and positions. NCAA rules cur- rently prohibit stu- dent-athletes from profiting from their name, image and likeness, though the Division I Council will vote on legisla- tion regarding the is- sue this year and is expected to introduce it sometime in 2021. Federal NIL legisla- tion has also been in- troduced. More than half the states have passed bills that prevent the NCAA from enforcing its current NIL laws, some of which will go into effect later this year. Without group licensing for EA Sports to negotiate with players, though, it's unlikely the athletes would be able to fully profit off their names, images and likenesses that appear in video games, as Swarbrick wants. It's not yet fully clear to what lengths the NCAA's NIL rules will go, but an NCAA working group designed to handle NIL discussions called group licensing "unworkable in college sports" in an April 2020 report. "We are here to support our student- athletes," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said in a tweeted state- ment. "Much like we have empowered our players when it comes to providing a platform to speak on racial inequali- ties and social issues that are important to them, we must support them when it comes to NIL and the work that still needs to be done." S w a r b r i c k a n d Notre Dame Presi- dent Fr. John Jen- kins have been in favor of NIL leg- islation for some time, dating back to a 2015 Jenkins interview in The New York Times, making Swarbrick's position on the football program's involvement in EA Sports College Football unsurprising. "We want the experience of the stu- dent-athlete to be as much like the ex- perience of the non-student-athlete at this university as possible," Swarbrick said in December, reaffirming his NIL position. "Of course, every other stu- dent at Notre Dame can capture their name, image and likeness value. "The implementation is a mess, and sadly so. We have a number of state laws. We have Congress that may act this spring in this area. And we have the NCAA struggling to figure out what the final legislation may look like. I wish the implementation could enjoy a little more clarity than I think it's go- ing to. It'll be a rough first year or so." — Patrick Engel THE FUTURE OF RECRUITING In a Feb. 24 interview on The Paul Finebaum Show, Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick acknowledged tricky residual effects of name, image and likeness (NIL) that make organizing video game appearances straight- forward and devoid of drama. "If we can't successfully keep this out of recruiting, that would be really harmful," Swarbrick told Finebaum. "People fail to un- derstand that of all the sports, local golf club, Little League baseball, college athletics is the only place that doesn't have some way to con- trol talent distribution. Little League baseball is geography. At the golf club, it's a handicap. "College sports have to be able to produce some version of that, or there's no competi- tive equity and sports aren't very interesting. If recruiting becomes about who has NIL deals in place that someone is offering to prospec- tive student-athletes, then we're going to get in real trouble." Preventative measures to getting there, though, would be nearly impossible to enforce because they would require the cooperation of people offering the endorsement deals. Those parties aren't in the NCAA's purview, and legislating their intent is not feasible. As far as Notre Dame is concerned, it'll try to avoid those situations as best it can. "We're not going to get into recruiting bat- tles with another school because they can have a guy go to a car dealership and sign au- tographs for $10 an autograph," Notre Dame associate head coach Brian Polian said on National Signing Day. "If you're picking Notre Dame, something like that is not going to be the difference in picking this education and this atmosphere on this incredible campus. "If you want that, a car show is not going to be the difference." — Patrick Engel Swarbrick said Notre Dame will not be in the ini- tial return of the EA Sports College Football video game until NIL clarity emerges. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS Jack Swarbrick Comments On EA Sports And NIL