EA To Sign Exclusive NFL Deal?

An unconfirmed report in The Sports Business Journal has suggested that Electronic Arts officials may be about to sign a $1 billion dollar deal for the exclusive rights to use NFL player names and likenesses. The deal is rumored to be for four years, at a cost of $250 million every twelve months. The deal would give the company’s NFL products a considerable advantage over Sega's ESPN NFL Football, which would no longer be able to use official player names and likenesses. However, the company’s Madden NFL titles are already far more successful than any other franchise, which does make suggestions of such an expensive deal seem less believable. Source: The Sports Business Journal