Earlier this morning, XA reported that Electronic Arts was in the hunt to secure the exclusive rights to the NFLPA license, effectively granting the rights to player likenesses and names to EA. It appears, however, that the story was about as accurate as punter trying to hit a third string tight end to convert on 4th and 27.
The May 3 issue of the The Sports Business Journal, one of the most respected trade journals of the athletic entertainment business, 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.
As of press time, no official confirmation or denial of the EA/NLFPA negotiations had been given by EA. However, off the record, one source close to the company called the story “way off.” 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.
While the 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 in regards to this story, NFLPA executives said that not only was the story false, but that The Sports Business Journal has since run a retraction.
