Report hints why Arch Manning reversed course on joining EA College Football 2025

Fans were somewhat happily surprised by the last-minute announcement that Texas' Arch Manning will be in EA's upcoming College Football 25 video game. An insider revealed the offer EA Sports made that possibly influenced Arch Manning's decision to be in the game.

"EA Sports paid Texas QB Arch Manning between $50-60k to promote College Football 25," according to Pete Nakos of On3.

Arch Manning joins 10,000 other student-athletes in EA College Football 25

While Manning's likeness decision took until the 11th hour, EA Sports was able to sign over 10,000 student-athletes early on in the process as well as the rights to use all 134 FBS schools' names, images, and likenesses in the game.

Despite not playing many snaps last season, Manning was a consensus No. 1 overall recruit in the 2023 class. The recruit will likely not play a lot this season either with Quinn Ewers returning for what will likely be his last season of College Football.

In addition to his top potential, the quarterback is one of the more noticeable college football athletes because he is the nephew of Super Bowl-winning QBs Eli Manning and Peyton Manning. Additionally, the Texas student-athlete is the grandson of Archie Manning, who was a two-time NFL Pro Bowler.

Manning will likely be a top spokesman for the game in the opening days of the launch with his social media following. He has more than 69,000+ followers on X and 229,000 followers on Instagram.

While fans had to wait for official confirmation that Manning's likeness will be in the new college football game, the student-athlete seemingly did the right thing by waiting as he received additional compensation for his likeness to be used in the game and further marketing materials for the promotion of the game, which releases on July 19.

If Manning hadn't been in this game at first launch, it would have likely been a huge loss for EA and opened up the possibility for embarrassment if the game was received poorly. Whether the game is good or not is still yet to be seen but fans will be able to play as Arch Manning at least.