Retired NFL Players sue NFL/NFLPA over Madden rights (Update: NFLPA loses big)

[SirFozzie]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080930-lawsuit-nflpa-conspired-with-ea-to-cheat-retired-players.html

EA Sports makes what can only be described as mountains of money from the Madden NFL series. An update is released for every console platform on a yearly basis, and the title continually sells in the millions. Now retired NFL players are coming forward with lawsuits claiming EA isn't giving them the money they deserve for the use of their likeness and career information, and according to some damning internal communication, it appears as if the the NFL Players Association intentionally brokered a lower-than-market-value deal for retired players as a favor to the gaming giant.

Very interesting, and it could have some legs..

Andrew Feffer, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the NFLPA wrote to EA Sports' representative Paul Cairns that "Clay and Joe's negotiation of these discounted terms was a significant contribution to EA as you more than likely would have paid in excess of $1 million for these rights without their involvement and assistance."

Apparently Take Two had to pay six figures to many of the stars to get their likeness in their game..

[Big Fo]

NFL in shady business practices shocker. They're worse than EA really.

[Galaxy]

NFL in shady business practices shocker. They're worse than EA really.

Actually, wouldn't it be the Players Union, not the NFL?

[cuervo72]

How important is it for EA to have this information? "We don't believe there is a market for interactive football that is not based on real players and teams," lawyer Stuart M. Paynter told Ars about a lawsuit that claimed EA had an monopoly on electronic football.

Eh, I wouldn't say there is no market...

[Big Fo]

Actually, wouldn't it be the Players Union, not the NFL?

Looks like it. I just assumed the NFL had something to do with it as well, sort of like when they broached the idea of exclusive NFL video game rights to EA.

[Raiders Army]

It's interesting but I do have some problems with the article:

NFLPA executive Clay Walker
After some digging, I found that Clay Walker is no longer an executive in the NFLPA: http://www.nflplayers.com/user/template.aspx?fmid=181&lmid=238&pid=0&type=l#a8
Players, Inc. is the licensing and marketing subsidiary of the NFLPA. I think it's a stretch for the writer of the article to state that Walker is an executive of the NFLPA and he should've written former executive of Players, Inc.


Andrew Feffer, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the NFLPA
Andrew (Andy) Feffer, likewise, is an executive and COO for Players, Inc. vice the NFLPA.


"I was able to forge this deal with the [Hall of Fame] that provides them with 400K per year (which is significantly below market rate) in exchange for the HOF player rights. EA owes me a huge favor because of that threat was enough to persuade Take Two to back off its plans, leaving EA as the only professional football videogame manufacturer out there."
I'd like to see the actual email. Does Walker say what was in the parentheses or was that the writer of the article? That makes a huge difference in admittance that Players, Inc. provided rights below market value. The other thing was that is it just for the Hall of Fame players? I think the retired players will have a problem determining what is market rate for them.

IMHO, it's a poorly written article.

Edit--
Andrew Feffer, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the NFLPA wrote to EA Sports' representative Paul Cairns that "Clay and Joe's negotiation of these discounted terms was a significant contribution to EA as you more than likely would have paid in excess of $1 million for these rights without their involvement and assistance."
Who's Joe?

While the spirit of the article may be good, it's very confusing, misleading, and generally bad writing.

[SirFozzie]

Update: NFLPA gets socked BIG time, $28.1 Million in damages.

Jury orders NFL union to pay $7.1M to retirees - NFL - SI.com (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/nfl/11/10/union.must.pay.retirees.ap/index.html)

$7.1 million in actual damages, $21 million in punitive damages.

[SirFozzie]

Here's a court document that shows some of the evidence better

http://cdn3.libsyn.com/gamepolitics/Madden-case-unsealed.pdf?nvb=20081111162922&nva=20081112162922&t=03ac545598f60cdc211c9

[Pumpy Tudors]

So, out of the $7.1 million, that's, uh what, about $3500 per player? That seems small to me, but I dunno. I know the NFLPA has to pay a lot more than that with the punitive damages, but I wonder if this is really big money to the NFLPA or if it's just ho-hum to them.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I think it's clear from the court documents that Clay Walker is an absolute schmuck. I can't believe he's bragging in his comments about how they turned down a great deal from Take Two and instead took pennies on the dollar from EA.

[PilotMan]

Yeah, it seems to me that when I heard the results of this that it was really just chump change, and that yeah, there was some wrongdoing found, but that in the end it wasn't the windfall that I would think, the plaintiffs were hoping for.

[gstelmack]

Yeah, it seems to me that when I heard the results of this that it was really just chump change, and that yeah, there was some wrongdoing found, but that in the end it wasn't the windfall that I would think, the plaintiffs were hoping for.

With the evidence, we'll have to see if anything else is forthcoming.

But at the least it opens the door back up for Take Two getting retired players, and/or the NFLPA having to deal fairly with them in the future.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

With the evidence, we'll have to see if anything else is forthcoming.

But at the least it opens the door back up for Take Two getting retired players, and/or the NFLPA having to deal fairly with them in the future.

Agreed. The future contracts will be much better for everyone involved and these people will reap the benefits of those contracts. It's a win for gamers and the retired players.

[jeheinz72]

I'll have to ask my Dad if he got any cashola from this, and how much it was.

[SirFozzie]

Update: The judge let the $28 Million judgement ($7.1 Million compensatory, $20.9 Million Punitive) stand.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=atTj57cCR45U&refer=home

Also: No players have been paid yet, until all appeals had been exhausted