Murphy: "Cutting athletes out of this reboot so they aren't responsible for paying them for their likeness is a gave injustice."
EA Sports announced plans to release a new college football video game, much to the delight of various fans and athletes across the country. But Tuesday's announcement didn't come without its share of criticism.
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy criticized EA Sports in a statement saying the college football reboot "is just further proof that the NCAA's priority is keeping their profits coming."
The new EA Sports game will not feature the names or numbers of active players and effectively bypass the need to compensate athletes for their name, image and likeness. Murphy called the decision from EA Sports as a "grave injustice."
"Cutting athletes out of this reboot so they aren't responsible for paying them for their likeness is a grave injustice," Murphy said. "I'll be introducing legislation soon to help players finally profit off their talent so they don't need to face continued mistreatment like this.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker introduced a bill in Congress in December titled the College Athletes Bill of Rights. The bill would guarantee NCAA athletes monetary compensation and long-term health care among other benefits. It also would grant athletes the right to profit off their name, image and likeness in video games and other merchandise.
Booker noted in December that he wishes to see a college football video game return, but only if athletes can profit from it.
“You and I both know that college athletics and college football is an important part of our culture,” Booker told Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger. “People do want these things back. I have a lot of friends that really want to see it come back. They also know that, when playing, they want to have that feeling that comes with knowing athletes are actually benefiting from it.”
EA Sports stopped making new college football video games after the release of NCAA Football 14.
The latest edition of EA Sports's college football video game does not have a release date as of Tuesday and it is unlikely to debut in 2021, per ESPN.