EA to BUY NFLPA rights???

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Tue May 18, 2004 2:29 pm

Actually, PK, I meant to qualify that..I'd still play the occasional racing and other games, but I'd be done with football. And that would be a shame, since footballl and baseball are by far my two favorite sports.

I buy NCAA every year but would stop just to show my disapproval of EA's move. I'm pretty bored with the whole EA style of football anyways, so I wouldn't really miss it that much. I doubt that the EA-NFLPA thing will happen, but if it does, I'll stick to my word.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed May 19, 2004 1:43 pm

Well Gamespot has a piece and most of the parties are denying it.

As noted previously, it makes no financial sense for EA.

Even if VC went out of business, those developers are still around and when the NFLPA license comes up again, a competitor could easily hire developers and launch a game.

When the new consoles launch, there are going to be new entrants anyways.

Really if EA wants to f*** with VC, they could just hire away VC developers, something they've been accused of doing before with other competitors. It would be far more cost-effective, than to pour $1 billion to get exclusive licensing rights.

Murph · Post by **Murph** » Wed May 19, 2004 1:57 pm

wco81 wrote:Well Gamespot has a piece and most of the parties are denying it.

As noted previously, it makes no financial sense for EA.

Even if VC went out of business, those developers are still around and when the NFLPA license comes up again, a competitor could easily hire developers and launch a game.

When the new consoles launch, there are going to be new entrants anyways.

Really if EA wants to f*** with VC, they could just hire away VC developers, something they've been accused of doing before with other competitors. It would be far more cost-effective, than to pour $1 billion to get exclusive licensing rights.

The Gamespot article:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/05/18 ... 98784.html

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Thu May 20, 2004 5:26 am

Gamespot article was updated late tonight. Both EA and Players Inc say the story was false. The cynic in me still thinks there were serious discussions and some type of deal struck, which lead to this information coming out by SBJ. Something pushed either the NFL or EA to back of, be it a legal issue, pressure by someone like ESPN or public opinion on such a deal.

Well I can always dream that is what happened.

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.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Thu May 20, 2004 9:20 am

the retraction, a fact that will undoubtedly make fans of the ESPN NFL franchise breathe much easier.

It should make fans of all football games breathe easier.
This includes Madden.....Its competition that pushes the games to greater heights.

JeffBarnes · Post by **JeffBarnes** » Sat May 22, 2004 9:04 am

When you don't give money sacrificially it shows that you have the Devil's Nature.

Benny Hinn