EA to get exclusive NFL Players Rights

[BucsFanUCF]

Report: EA set to get exclusive NFL player rights

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.

(link (http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/05/18/news_6098784.html))

For those who don't understand, if this deal goes through, games like ESPN football cannot legally use real players names in their games. This would be a devastating blow for ESPN football (and other rival games) and a huge victory for the Madden franchise.

[Cerious]

Whoa! If this deal goes through it'll be the death knell for ESPN and Gameday.

[atlBuc53]

Wow I didn't see that coming. Good strategy for EA though.

[Phantom2k4]

I hope the deal goes through

If bucsfan87 was here he's be freaking out right now:D

[XTrenTX]

That would suck, and I think it would hurt the development of Madden, they wouldn't be pushed to improve, all they'd come out with minor changes and new rosters because they know they have no competition at all, everyone is going to buy their game, no matter how crappy it is.

[Cerious]

Originally posted by XTrenTX
That would suck, and I think it would hurt the development of Madden, they wouldn't be pushed to improve, all they'd come out with minor changes and new rosters because they know they have no competition at all, everyone is going to buy their game, no matter how crappy it is.

Isn't that what Madden does every year anyway? People (including me) still buy Madden because its a good game that only need minor tweaks every year. The game engine is going to be revamped on the Next-Gen platforms for sure, so as it stands I didn't think we'd see any major changes to Madden before then anyway. Sucks for ESPN fans though...

[XTrenTX]

Originally posted by Cerious
Isn't that what Madden does every year anyway? People (including me) still buy Madden because its a good game that only need minor tweaks every year. The game engine is going to be revamped on the Next-Gen platforms for sure, so as it stands I didn't think we'd see any major changes to Madden before then anyway. Sucks for ESPN fans though...


I garauntee Madden would nevar have come out with Owner mode if tehy had no competition...hell, I bet they wouldn't even have franchise if they weren't pushed to make a better game than their competitors.

The only thing about Madden that is better than ESPN is the franchise and Owner mode. ESPN has much better gameplay.

[Buczilla]

Originally posted by XTrenTX
That would suck, and I think it would hurt the development of Madden, they wouldn't be pushed to improve, all they'd come out with minor changes and new rosters because they know they have no competition at all, everyone is going to buy their game, no matter how crappy it is.
Exactly, it's the competition that has made Madden as great as it is today.....if EA gets a monopoly on football games that would absolutely SUCK.

[Bucs13 49ers6]

The franchise mode needs to be fixed. The cap hits need to count for the current season instead of it all being pushed to the next season, they can even have June 1st cuts with half the hit being in current season and they other half being in the next season. The draft needs to go slower so you can jump up and take a player, maybe 30 seconds for every pick in 1st round, 15 seconds for every other round. The CPU should offer trades before the draft. An online franchise mode would be great also. The plays need to be tweaked a little bit too.

[Fantasyplayer87]

Originally posted by Phantom2k4
I hope the deal goes through


I think Madden still needs competition. I want them to have cheap prices and good results. That won't be as prominent if EA goods threw with this deal.

[CrAsH_oVeRdRiVe]

Monoply = Illegal.

[southernbird]

It won't go down,the NFLPA declined the offer.

COuld it be possible that EA was going after this deal so that they could own the rights to NFL primetime on ESPN?

[bucdude79]

That would never go through... as somebody said... Monopoly is Illegal

[Alstott1990]

I like Monopoly :rolleyes: ;)

[Frank784]

Although Madden greatly outsells everything else, I think that this could be quite a crushing blow to the other nfl gaming companies. Although its perfectly legal, it seems kind of unfair to the other companies who arent nearly as big as EA, because they dont have the big bucks that EA does. Personally, this doesnt really affect me because I've bought Madden and only Madden for years.

[Rocafella]

idc whether this happens or not ill still have NFL Street and Madden soo owell:D

[ReSpEcT]

Originally posted by therealbucsfan
they denied it. it isn't going to go through.
Oh well , if it was I thoght it was kind of a bad thing , not saying that I dont love Madden, which I do, but just Unhealthy to have no competition, not sayng ESPN is even close, but yeah competition is still competition



Respect

[Frank784]

Originally posted by therealbucsfan
they denied it. it isn't going to go through.

Is that a fact?

[DBuc4U]

ya it wouldnt really matter for me cause i only play Madden, so all it will mean is more people for me to beat up on ONLINE.:D :D :D

[Frank784]

So, was it made up? or was it something that was considered and then denied? Because from the article (I skimmed through) it looks like it was made up or something, but then someone said it was denied.

[SPQRBucs]

It wouldn't be allowed even if EA was to try to do it. It elimanates all competition basically and that is considered a Monopoly.

[BucFanForLife]

Originally posted by Cerious
Whoa! If this deal goes through it'll be the death knell for ESPN and Gameday.

My thoughts exactly

[Sortin]

I would rather play a no-name game with franchise mode, and customizable players that progress every year, than a Madden without those features.

I've never gotten into a regular baseball video game based on the real major leagues. Obsessed over "Baseball Stars" on the Nintendo though, because you could improve players by winning games.