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EA To Get Exclusive NFL Player Rights?

Posted by simoniker on from the wonder-borg dept.

Thanks to GameSpot for its news story reporting that EA may be on the verge of an exclusive contract for NFL football player likenesses. According to the piece, which quotes a Sports Business Journal article: "Electronic Arts is in final negotiations with Players Inc., the NFL Players' Association marketing arm, to exclusively license all NFL player rights for the next four years. The Journal set the price tag of the deal at $250 million each year, which EA would pay Players Inc.; in other words, a literal billion-dollar contract." The story goes on to note: "If that turns out to be the case, no non-EA Sports game could license NFL player likenesses--an almost certainly fatal blow to the Madden series' rivals." Update: 05/19 21:07 GMT by S : It seems the linked article has been retracted: "When contacted by GameSpot, NFLPA executives said that not only was the story false, but The Sports Business Journal has since run a retraction."

3 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Thats a real Shedload of cash. by iainl · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Can this really be profitable?

    Madden is already the biggest selling NFL title. Even assuming that this manages to persuade every single current purchaser of a non-EA NFL game to switch, and furthermore that none of those customers currently buy the EA game as well, that can't be close to $250M a year.

    The top selling PS2 game of an average month (from NPD released stats, not including the big December) seems to only take in about $20M, and both EB and EA will want at least some slice of that too.

    --
    "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
  2. Possible Lawsuit on the Horizon by humpTdance · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't think this is true. If exclusive rights, such as these, were going to be made available, it would be in the NFL's greatest interest to entertain all possible bids. With their Disney roots, the ESPN line of football games certainly could afford it.

    If the deal is legit and EA is awarded exclusive rights, without competitive bidding, I imagine EA's rivals will come together and file a class-action lawsuit against the NFL. Awarded damages could be huge (revenues for the games and costs of production). As I see it, EA's rivals could sit on their hands and wait for it to happen and recoup their annual earnings without doing any work.

  3. Gamespot reports the article has been retracted by yoDon · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.gamespot.com/gba/sports/maddennfl2005/n ews_6098784.html