The University of Utah can thank the success of Kyle Whittingham’s program over the past decade for a well-earned forthcoming payday, one that will be reportedly more lucrative than what BYU and Utah State will receive.
On Friday, Cllct’s Matt Liberman detailed the royalty payouts for EA Sports College Football 25 that will be paid to the 134 teams that compete at the FBS level in college football, and Utah will have among the highest payouts in the country.
The amount of those payouts for each school have been determined by a four-tiered system, Liberman said, based on the number of times a team has finished in the top 25 rankings in the Associated Press poll from 2014-23.
Records that Cllct obtained indicate that schools would receive one point for each season they finished in the AP top 25 — Tier 1 schools earned 6-10 points, Tier 2 schools earned 2-5 points, Tier 3 schools earned 1 point and Tier 4 schools earned 0 points.
Based off that, Utah will receive the highest-tier payout, $99,875.16, according to Liberman, while BYU and Utah State are in the second-highest tier and will each receive $59,025.09.
Tier 3 payouts are $39,950.06 per school, while Tier 4 schools will receive $9,987.52, per Liberman.
Utah is one of 13 programs in Tier 1, along with Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Oregon, Oklahoma State, Penn State and Iowa, per Cllct data.
Utah earned six points, having finished ranked in the AP top 25 in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2022. Six of the Utes’ 11 all-time top 25 finishes in the AP poll have happened in the past 10 years, per College Football Archive.
BYU and Utah State are two of 41 schools in Tier 2. Both the Cougars (2020 and 2021) and Aggies (2018 and 2021) finished in the top 25 twice in the past 10 seasons.
Utah, which joins the Big 12 Conference this year, is one of two league teams in Tier 1, along with Oklahoma State.
BYU is one of nine Big 12 schools in Tier 2 — along with Cincinnati, TCU, Baylor, UCF, Kansas State, Arizona, West Virginia and Houston — while Kansas, Colorado, Arizona State and Iowa State are in Tier 3.
Texas Tech is the lone conference university in Tier 4, according to Cllct.
College Football 25 will be released on July 19.
