[Kanobi]

A highly interesting read on the backroom shadiness that basically killed All-Pro Football 2k and NFL2k - http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...is-Cheating-Us

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Former NFL Player: EA Deal is Cheating Us ANDY CHALK | 30 SEPTEMBER 2008 8:28 AM A former NFL player has written an open letter to John Madden, calling for his support in a class action lawsuit on behalf of retired players while highlighting the hardball tactics employed by EA to push 2K Sports out of the football game. Jeff Nixon, a free safety for the Buffalo Bills from 1979 to 1984, penned the appeal in support of the Retired Players Class Action Suit against the National Football League Players Association and its marketing division, Players Inc. In it, he claims that instead of representing the interests of retired players, NFLPA executives provided a sweetheart deal to Electronic Arts which was "significantly below market rate." According to an email from NFLPA COO Andrew Feffer to Paul Cairns of EA Sports, the NFLPA negotiated a deal for EA that was less than half what it would have been without their "involvement and assistance." While it's unfortunate that Players Association executives are apparently working against the very people they're supposed to represent, of greater interest to gamers is the impact this deal apparently had on 2K Sports, which found itself muscled out of the NFL videogame business. An internal email written by the NFLPA's Clay Walker takes credit for making the deal for the Hall of Fame player rights, and adds, "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." As it turns out, Take-Two's departure from the scene was not only bad for gamers, but also for the football players themselves, according to another email from Players Inc. attorney Joe Nahra. "We definitely aren't going to require you to pay an additional price unless you choose to add players that didn't sign off on the original deal. You have the existing HOF [Hall of Fame] players that responded to our letter for several years with no increase in cost," he wrote. "The per player price for most of these guys was tens of thousands of dollars less than what they were guaranteed by Take Two Interactive so it's a real coup that we were able to pull this off so cheaply." "You have to remember that EA's total cost is only $200,000 per year," he continued. "We know that Take Two offered six figure deals to several former NFL players so the total cost is millions below market prices. That being said, we'll continue to go after the new inductees for the same price per player (around $2500) and I think we'll be successful."

Source: GamePolitics

More on this - http://gamepolitics.com/2008/09/30/l...adden-himself/

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In Lawsuit Over Madden Payments, NFL Retirees Appeal to Madden Himself September 30, 2008 by gamepolitics NFL retirees who are seeking a bigger slice of the pie from licensing deals such as the one involving the Madden NFL video game series have appealed to the man himself. In Parrish, Adderley et al vs NFL Players, Inc., a class action lawsuit scheduled for trial in U.S. District Court in California in October, the former players claim that they have not gotten their fare share of revenues despite being depicted as members of some classic teams in Madden. The retired players are suing NFL Players, Inc., the licensing arm of the players union, the NFLPA. Jeff Nixon, 51, who played free safety for the Buffalo Bills from 1979-1984 is tracking the lawsuit on his blog. Nixon has penned an open letter to John Madden, calling for the football announcer and former NFL coach to support the retired players: You are… the face and name behind the wildly popular EA Sports Video Game – Madden NFL… will you sit back and let the NFLPA and EA Sports continue to take advantage of our Hall of Fame players? …Evidence in the Retired Players Class Action suit demonstrates that the NFLPA and Players Inc. were working against the interests of the retired players and in favor of your boss EA Sports. For example, this internal email from NFLPA Executive Clay Walker, confirms that Players Inc. negotiated a deal with EA on behalf of retired Hall of Fame players which was significantly below market rate: “I was able to forge this deal with the HOF 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.” …Instead of negotiating the best possible deal for the retired players which it purported to represent, the NFLPA and Players Inc. were doing favors for EA by reducing compensation to retired players, and driving a competitive licensee [Take-Two’s NFL2K series] out of the market… And in this February 22, 2007 email from NFLPA Executive Clay Walker to Players Inc. in-house attorney Joe Nahra, the naked truth is exposed to the world: “…The per player price for most of these guys was tens of thousands of dollars less than what they were guaranteed by Take Two Interactive so it’s a real coup that we were able to pull this off so cheaply. You have to remember that EA’s total cost is only $200,000 per year. We know that Take Two offered six figure deals to several former NFL players so the total cost is millions below market prices…" John, these are your fellow Hall of Fame Players they are talking about! Are you going to let them get away with this? I know that EA is your employer, but come on…