05-18-2004, 10:40 PM
|
#1 |
|
Commander
  
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,189
|
EA to sign NFLPA
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/05...s_6098784.html
UPDATE] Well-respected sports-industry magazine says the game giant is close to a billion-dollar deal. However, ESPNvideogames.com reps claim to have debunked the story as false. 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 might 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, 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." As of press time, no official confirmation or denial of the EA/NLFPA negotiations had been given by EA. 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. Attempts to contact the NFLPA directly were unsuccessful as of press time. GameSpot will have more details on this developing story as they become available. Talk about trying to find a way to put your competition out of business. |
|
|
|
05-19-2004, 06:32 AM
|
#2 |
|
Admiral
 
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 7,223
   |
yeah, as much as I like EA and Madden, this is stupid as hell...EA is becoming like Microsoft, and they better stop.
|
|
|
|
|
05-19-2004, 07:33 AM
|
#3 |
|
Banned
 Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Posts: 8,700
|
cough monopoly cough
|
|
|
|
|
05-19-2004, 11:50 AM
|
#4 |
|
Rear Admiral Lower Half
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 2,102
|
This is bad bad news for gamers. Competition drives quality up. Personally, I think ESPN Football 2k4 is superior to Madden 2004, so this move is even more frustrating to me. This really screws Sega Sports (maker of the ESPN line) too, because you can bet they had an ESPN Football 2k5 in the works. Screw EA. The only EA game in recent memory that I enjoyed was NBA Street volume 2, and that got old quickly too.
|
|
|
|
|
05-19-2004, 11:54 AM
|
#5 |
|
Commander
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,189
|
|
|
|
|
|
05-19-2004, 12:01 PM
|
#6 |
|
Rear Admiral Lower Half
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 2,102
|
Good. Man that would have been stupid. EA can still kiss my analog sticks.
|
|
|
|
|
05-19-2004, 08:29 PM
|
#7 |
|
Admiral
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Redlands & San Diego, CA.
Posts: 5,882
 |
heh they better spend some of that cash to improve the NHL game over getting rights. The most recent version is real crappy imo. It changed a lot but has so many bugs in it.
__________________
|
|
|
|
|
05-19-2004, 08:51 PM
|
#8 |
|
Commander
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,189
|
I didnt like NHL2004 as much as 2003.
|
|
|
|
Linear Mode
