EA set to get exclusive NFL player rights - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Grondar · 05-18-2004, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Well-respected sports-industry magazine says the game giant is close to a billion-dollar deal.

Two weeks ago, The Sports Business Journal, one of the most respected trade journals of the athletic entertainment business, revealed the identity of Madden NFL 2005 cover athlete Ray Lewis several days before EA Sports announced it.

Now it appears they may have broken one of biggest sports-licensing stories in the game industry's history.

The May 3 issue of the Journal contained a story with the headline "EA set to pay Players Inc. $1 billion." According to the 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.

Given the large sums reportedly at stake, the exclusivity of the EA/NLFPA deal would be almost certainly strict. 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.

When provided with excerpts from the article by GameSpot, EA Sports representatives promised to pass them along to "someone who can answer your questions." As of press time, no official confirmation or denial of the EA/NLFPA negotiations had been given by EA, and The Sports Business Journal remains the only publication to have published the story.

GameSpot will have more details on this developing story as they become available.

Article can be found HERE.

shaggyy98 · 05-19-2004, 02:40 PM

Can they do that? Sounds like a monopoly. I like EA but competition keeps them on there toes. If they have none they can sit there and put out bad products like Microsoft.

winsecure · 05-19-2004, 06:53 PM

Sure they can do that.

Interesting story...

BigGov · 05-19-2004, 07:09 PM

What good is ESPN without the the NFLPA?

EA Sports gets the smartest marketing decision of the year award already if they can pull this off.

Phaenx · 05-19-2004, 07:22 PM

I hate EA so bad. I don't care about football games but it doesn't surprise me.

Someone should punch them in the cunt.

Serpent · 05-19-2004, 08:29 PM

Sony did this with formula one through 2008 so i'm sure EA will beable to accomplish this.

Grondar · 05-20-2004, 06:10 AM

Quote:

[UPDATE] After a well-respected sports-industry magazine reports that the sports-licensing deal of the century is in the works, NFLPA reps say the story has been retracted.

Two weeks ago The Sports Business Journal, one of the most respected trade journals of the athletic entertainment business, revealed the identity of Madden NFL 2005 cover athlete Ray Lewis several days before EA Sports announced it.

Now it appears they may have broken one of the biggest rumors in the game industry's history.

The May 3 issue of the Journal contained a story with the headline "EA set to pay Players Inc. $1 billion." According to the 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.

Given the large sums reportedly at stake, the exclusivity of the EA/NLFPA deal would have been almost certainly strict. If such a deal were ever done, no non-EA Sports game could license NFL player likenesses--an almost certainly fatal blow to the Madden series' rivals, such as ESPN NFL Football.

When provided with excerpts from the article by GameSpot, EA Sports representatives promised to pass them along to "someone who can answer your questions." However, off the record, one source close to the company called the story "way off."

While The Sports Business Journal broke the story, it was, ironically, reprinted in the magazine ESPN. This prompted a moderator at ESPNvideogames.com to call the NFLPA. According to the moderator, NFLPA reps denied that anything other than "normal" licensing deals were in play.

When contacted by GameSpot, NFLPA executives said that not only was the story false, but The Sports Business Journal has since run a retraction. EA representatives also later contacted GameSpot to confirm the retraction, a fact that will undoubtedly make fans of the ESPN NFL franchise breathe much easier.

Article can be found HERE.

05-19-2004, 07:09 PM	#4 (permalink)
BigGov WoW or Class... Location: UWW	What good is ESPN without the the NFLPA? EA Sports gets the smartest marketing decision of the year award already if they can pull this off. __________________ One day an Englishman, a Scotsman, and an Irishman walked into a pub together. They each bought a pint of Guinness. Just as they were about to enjoy their creamy beverage, three flies landed in each of their pints. The Englishman pushed his beer away in disgust. The Scotsman fished the fly out of his beer and continued drinking it, as if nothing had happened. The Irishman, too, picked the fly out of his drink but then held it out over the beer and yelled "SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT, YOU BASTARD!"

05-19-2004, 07:22 PM	#5 (permalink)
Phaenx The Northern Ward Location: Columbus, Ohio	I hate EA so bad. I don't care about football games but it doesn't surprise me. Someone should punch them in the cunt. __________________ "I went shopping last night at like 1am. The place was empty and this old woman just making polite conversation said to me, 'where is everyone??' I replied, 'In bed, same place you and I should be!' Took me ten minutes to figure out why she gave me a dirty look." --Some guy

05-19-2004, 02:40 PM	#2 (permalink)
shaggyy98 Crazy Location: South Carolina	Can they do that? Sounds like a monopoly. I like EA but competition keeps them on there toes. If they have none they can sit there and put out bad products like Microsoft.

05-19-2004, 06:53 PM	#3 (permalink)
winsecure Tilted	Sure they can do that. Interesting story...

05-19-2004, 08:29 PM	#6 (permalink)
Serpent Insane Location: florida	Sony did this with formula one through 2008 so i'm sure EA will beable to accomplish this.