EA Sports has announced a partnership with the legendary band Metallica. The "For Whom The Band Tolls Competition," as it's called, will see EA Sports and Metallica come together to give one collegiate marching band the chance to record the CFB theme song and a Metallica song for a future CFB title.
The existence of this competition is pretty much all we know so far. The announcement stated that the winning marching band will get to record a Metallica song for a future version of CFB, and given that this is only just being announced in late April, it would seem the song wouldn't be ready until the inevitable CFB 27 in 2026.
For CFB 25, EA's Torsten Staley recorded every team's fight song in Nashville with a group of musicians made up of students and alumni from schools like Oklahoma, North Texas, Vanderbilt, USC, Auburn, and Tennessee. The CFB theme song was also recorded in Nashville with a house band--check out a recording below.
For what it's worth, CFB 26 hasn't even been officially announced yet, though EA has said fans can expect another entry this year. EA is paying student-athletes at least $1,500 to appear in the game this year, which is more than double last year's rate. We also know CFB 26 will have a Lowe's tie-in.
CFB 26 is expected to launch in July. EA Sports executive Daryl Holt told The Athletic that the team knew it was never going to be able to get everything it wanted to in 2024's game. "So there's a lot of meat left on the bone," he said.
Holt declined to get into specifics regarding new features for CFB 26, but teased, "We've got a lot of things still to come."
He added: "We release a game, we understand what's important to players and what they play and what they would like changed, improved or added. This is a game for fans built by college fans ourselves, and we want it to be that type of relationship to understand what's important to them."
CFB 25 was 2024's No. 2 best-selling game overall in the US, trailing only Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
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The existence of this competition is pretty much all we know so far. The announcement stated that the winning marching band will get to record a Metallica song for a future version of CFB, and given that this is only just being announced in late April, it would seem the song wouldn't be ready until the inevitable CFB 27 in 2026.
CFB + Metallica = The Ultimate Marching Band Competition!
@EASPORTSCollege and @Metallica are joining forces to give one college marching band an opportunity to take the field and get in the game: The Division 1 winner of the For Whom the Band Tolls! competition will not only… pic.twitter.com/WPzVwawFmb
— EASPORTSCollege (@EASPORTSCollege) April 21, 2025
For CFB 25, EA's Torsten Staley recorded every team's fight song in Nashville with a group of musicians made up of students and alumni from schools like Oklahoma, North Texas, Vanderbilt, USC, Auburn, and Tennessee. The CFB theme song was also recorded in Nashville with a house band--check out a recording below.
For what it's worth, CFB 26 hasn't even been officially announced yet, though EA has said fans can expect another entry this year. EA is paying student-athletes at least $1,500 to appear in the game this year, which is more than double last year's rate. We also know CFB 26 will have a Lowe's tie-in.
CFB 26 is expected to launch in July. EA Sports executive Daryl Holt told The Athletic that the team knew it was never going to be able to get everything it wanted to in 2024's game. "So there's a lot of meat left on the bone," he said.
Holt declined to get into specifics regarding new features for CFB 26, but teased, "We've got a lot of things still to come."
He added: "We release a game, we understand what's important to players and what they play and what they would like changed, improved or added. This is a game for fans built by college fans ourselves, and we want it to be that type of relationship to understand what's important to them."
CFB 25 was 2024's No. 2 best-selling game overall in the US, trailing only Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Source