EA tried to buy the EXCLUSIVE NFLPA Rights for 4 years

Sudz · Post by **Sudz** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 9:54 am

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/05/20/203033.php

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 12:06 pm

hehe, yeah I guess their idea was if you can't make a better game than the competition, just run their asses out of business.

Those kooky bastards at EA never fail to amuse me.

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 1:12 pm

Badgun wrote:hehe, yeah I guess their idea was if you can't make a better game than the competition, just run their asses out of business.

Those kooky bastards at EA never fail to amuse me.

Kooky? Sounds like a great idea to me, if they could have pulled it off. I'm hoping they don't let you make business decisions where you work...

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 1:16 pm

Unbelievable that. That just shows they dont even care for the industry.

Oh great we have no more competition so heres your shitty game with the crap AI. enjoy. see you next year.

Errr NO i boycott you and your billion dollars.

I hope they finally do pull something like this off ,just so the gaming public can show them No, its about the games not them.
I hope it bites them in the arse.

Well done EA i dislike you more and more.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 1:29 pm

None of this should surprise anyone. It's up to the licnse holder (the NFL in this case) to ensure the good-will with their fans by refusing to sell rights exclusively to ANYONE.

EA, and in fact any other game maker, has tried this unsuccessfully and successfully with any-and-all types of licensable (is that a word) material. They now have the exclusive rights to NASCAR, as we all know. I blame NASCAR for being so short-sighted as to not see the danger in precluding any kind of competition in the games market regarding a product related to their licnesable product. In the end, they are the ones who lose teh goodwill from the fans, as well as the (IMO) underappreciated new fan converts who are drawn to a sport because of a game (witness F1 for me, even IndyCar to an extent with me, or how about european soccer for many fans of WE).

There was a time when NFLPA rights were in some games (like for example EA's Madden) in the absence of an NFL license. Believe it or not, it happened. Same with MLB and MLBPA etc. We are lucky not to have these issues the last 5 years or so.

Clearly this would have given them a huge advantage in the market without doing anything illegal, why wouldn't they try to pursue it?

Again, I blame the license-holder if they agree to exclusive deals to anyone in this kind of issue. They are the ones who can and should say 'no.'

badgun wrote: hehe, yeah I guess their idea was if you can't make a better game than the competition, just run their asses out of business.

Those kooky bastards at EA never fail to amuse me.

I fail to see the difference between this and any other business. This is how things are done. Hell, look at MS for crissake. If there is a problem here, it is up to congress to make laws to solve it, not for businesses to artificially curtail the tools at their disposal that their competitors would use in a second.

spooky157 · Post by **spooky157** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 1:31 pm

Kazuya wrote:Kooky? Sounds like a great idea to me, if they could have pulled it off. I'm hoping they don't let you make business decisions where you work...

You think this sounded like a good business idea? Why would EA want to spend a billion dollars to wipe out the competition in a marketplace where they already own almost 90% of the market share? If Sega were to really make some headway and chop into EA's sales in the next few years then I could see it. But not at this stage of the game.

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 1:46 pm

spooky157 wrote:
Kazuya wrote:Kooky? Sounds like a great idea to me, if they could have pulled it off. I'm hoping they don't let you make business decisions where you work...
You think this sounded like a good business idea? Why would EA want to spend a billion dollars to wipe out the competition in a marketplace where they already own almost 90% of the market share? If Sega were to really make some headway and chop into EA's sales in the next few years then I could see it. But not at this stage of the game.

This was all rumored. If you have the patience to play follow the link, you will see that there isn't a single fact to be found. We don't have any idea what the price is/was. I'm assuming that EA isn't stupid enough to pay $100 for a $10 gift certficate and that if they did do the deal then it would make sense financially. Maybe $1 billion makes sense, maybe it doesn't... bottom line is we don't know and we don't know any true facts about this rumored deal.

I would think that if they did get the NFLPA rights then they could finally ditch Madden (with no penalty being the only game in town) and build up their own name brand (NFL 200X?). Of course, they may have no intention whatsoever of doing that but I always thought that was one of their long term goals.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 1:59 pm

Err, OK, I'm an idiot. Obviously I would be talking about blaming the NFLPA, not the NFL, but my argument still stands: blame the seller, not the buyer, when it comes to exclusive deals.

skidmark · Post by **skidmark** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 2:00 pm

Kazuya wrote:I would think that if they did get the NFLPA rights then they could finally ditch Madden (with no penalty being the only game in town) and build up their own name brand (NFL 200X?). Of course, they may have no intention whatsoever of doing that but I always thought that was one of their long term goals.

Why would they ever ditch Madden... they have successfully marketed that name very well - I don't see them ever throwing that away. They've built on the name so well, that people that don't even play video games think of EA's football title before the actual broadcaster when you hear the name.

In fact, since we are speaking hypotheticals... one of the best moves a competitor could make if EA did snag exclusive rights to NFLPA names would be to buy the rights to have Madden sponsor their game.

spooky157 · Post by **spooky157** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 2:11 pm

Kazuya wrote:This was all rumored. If you have the patience to play follow the link, you will see that there isn't a single fact to be found. We don't have any idea what the price is/was. I'm assuming that EA isn't stupid enough to pay $100 for a $10 gift certficate and that if they did do the deal then it would make sense financially. Maybe $1 billion makes sense, maybe it doesn't... bottom line is we don't know and we don't know any true facts about this rumored deal.

I would think that if they did get the NFLPA rights then they could finally ditch Madden (with no penalty being the only game in town) and build up their own name brand (NFL 200X?). Of course, they may have no intention whatsoever of doing that but I always thought that was one of their long term goals.

This rumor has been floating around for months. Even sites like Gamespot and MSN picked up the story a while back. I was just responding to your statement that it sounded like a good business idea, even given the rumored billion dollar price tag.

And the Madden name is golden. I can't see EA wanting to get rid of their partnership with him after 15 years of building up the brand.

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 2:16 pm

skidmark wrote:Why would they ever ditch Madden... they have successfully marketed that name very well - I don't see them ever throwing that away. They've built on the name so well, that people that don't even play video games think of EA's football title before the actual broadcaster when you hear the name.

Well, it's hard to know what Joe Q. Public is thinking, we only get impressions on the internet from the hardcore, disc-boiling fan. But the presence of Madden is at best an afterthought to said fan, and at worst an irritant. I seriously doubt he would be missed one iota *inside* the box. Plus, I don't how much EA shells out to Madden. But you're right, Madden's brand name recognition is powerful.

My thinking is that there is no doubt someone at EA who thinks they're big enough to sell the game without paying Madden just to grace the box, unlike when the game was released in 1990. And as long as they could get people to understand the game is made by the "creators of Madden" I don't see why this wouldn't be true.

skidmark wrote:In fact, since we are speaking hypotheticals... one of the best moves a competitor could make if EA did snag exclusive rights to NFLPA names would be to buy the rights to have Madden sponsor their game.

Heh... that would be brilliant!

RiverRat · Post by **RiverRat** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 2:29 pm

Nothing wrong with trying to buy a marketing advantage. Happens all the time. This isn't socialism, folks. It's not EA's job to make sure SEGA has a chance. It's not the NFL's job either.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 4:11 pm

That would have sucked for us...........Imagine EA without competition of any kind.........

Thats UGLY!

PantherFan · Post by **PantherFan** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 9:01 pm

Hey Kaz,
Who's the chick ?

Schmev · Post by **Schmev** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 11:14 pm

I'm sort of surprised the NFL didn't bite. Must have been too long a commitment. Afterall, the NFL sold everyone out on giving DirecTv the exclusive on NFL Sunday ticket. Thanks to them, I get to keep up a useless landline. I can't wait till every provider of cable and major satellite can provide the Sunday ticket.

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 11:28 pm

PantherFan wrote:Hey Kaz,
Who's the chick ?

It's Aria Giovanni.... she's an, err... adult picture poser. Very nice all-natural body.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 2:25 am

Schmev wrote:I'm sort of surprised the NFL didn't bite. Must have been too long a commitment. Afterall, the NFL sold everyone out on giving DirecTv the exclusive on NFL Sunday ticket. Thanks to them, I get to keep up a useless landline. I can't wait till every provider of cable and major satellite can provide the Sunday ticket.

You are aware that they extended their contract AGAIN a couple years ago...I think the current one runs through 06, maybe 07. Whatever the case, you've still got a while.

Plus you don't need a land line to get the ticket anyway. Everything can be updated via the website now.

Schmev · Post by **Schmev** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 7:11 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:
Schmev wrote:I'm sort of surprised the NFL didn't bite. Must have been too long a commitment. Afterall, the NFL sold everyone out on giving DirecTv the exclusive on NFL Sunday ticket. Thanks to them, I get to keep up a useless landline. I can't wait till every provider of cable and major satellite can provide the Sunday ticket.
You are aware that they extended their contract AGAIN a couple years ago...I think the current one runs through 06, maybe 07. Whatever the case, you've still got a while.

Plus you don't need a land line to get the ticket anyway. Everything can be updated via the website now.

Yep, I know about the renewal, but the NFL did have an out, if they chose.

Directv requires the landline for ordering payperviews and the like. If you haven't been polled in awhile(because the tuner isn't connected to a landline), you have to do a system test to generate a call to your unit.

Once done, then all of a sudden any pay per views you might have ordered and never were billed for suddenly show up on your bill. The reason why you have to have the landline is they will actually lock you out. You'll get a contact customer service message and can't order something like Euro2004.

Directv is a mess. Perhaps I'm missing something. I know I can order online, but they will shut you down eventually if they can't get the information stored in your tuner(for whatever their reasons).