{"id":809421,"date":"2026-03-13T04:30:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T04:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/809421\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T04:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T04:30:20","slug":"trinidad-chambliss-ncaa-eligibility-battle-cost-chance-to-appear-on-cover-of-ea-sports-college-football-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/809421\/","title":{"rendered":"Trinidad Chambliss: NCAA eligibility battle cost chance to appear on cover of EA Sports College Football 27"},"content":{"rendered":"

As he fought for eligibility in 2026, Trinidad Chambliss<\/a> alleged he missed out on an opportunity to appear on the EA Sports College Football 27 video game cover, according to court documents obtained by On3\u2019s Pete Nakos<\/a>. The Ole Miss<\/a> quarterback said the uncertainty around his status caused the video game company to back out of negotiations.<\/p>\n

Chambliss said earlier this month, as recently as March 6, he was one of three college football players in discussions to appear on the next installment of EA Sports College Football. In fact, his lawyers hinted he might have been the top choice to grace the cover.<\/p>\n

However, according to the filing, EA Sports withdrew from the talks roughly three days later due to potential \u201crisk\u201d that Chambliss would not be able to play for Ole Miss in 2026. His attorneys cited the NCAA\u2019s decision to deny Chambliss\u2019 waiver as a reason talks stopped.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn or about March 9, 2026, EA Sports withdrew from negotiations with Trinidad, explaining in a text message that EA Sports\u2019 leadership \u2018just can\u2019t stomach the risk\u2019 that Trinidad may be unable to play college football during the 2026-27 football season,\u201d the filing states. \u201cThe risk, as perceived by EA Sports, arises from the NCAA\u2019s bad faith denial of Ole Miss\u2019s request for an extension of eligibility waiver for Trinidad and from the NCAA\u2019s continued opposition to Trinidad\u2019s eligibility, including filing of the NCAA\u2019s meritless and specious Interlocutory Petition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NCAA initially denied Chambliss\u2019 waiver to play in 2026, but a judge granted him a preliminary injunction<\/a>, which makes him eligible. In an anticipated move, the NCAA appealed that decision<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s unclear which other players were in talks to be on the cover of EA Sports College Football 27, Trinidad Chambliss\u2019 lawyers said the company\u2019s decision to withdraw from negotiations meant he missed out on both marketing and publicity opportunities. They also pointed out what it would have meant, personally, for him to be on the cover.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs late as March 6, 2026, Trinidad was one of three college football players, if not EA Sports\u2019 favored player, to whom EA Sports was prepared to offer the cover of its upcoming College Football video game. In addition to the NIL compensation which Trinidad would have received for being featured on the cover, Trinidad would have enjoyed heightened notoriety and prestige since the cover shot is considered an honor in college football and in the gaming community,\u201d the filing states.<\/p>\n

\u201cAppearing on the cover would have created organic publicity for Trinidad, enhancing both his marketability and publicity rights. Being on the cover would have been personally meaningful to Trinidad, who could have shown his cover photo to potential employers and even his children and grandchildren.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As he fought for eligibility in 2026, Trinidad Chambliss alleged he missed out on an opportunity to appear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,49,48,65393],"class_list":{"0":"post-809421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-trinidad-chambliss-21-forest-hills-northern"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116219990808903588","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}