Whatever case EA made, they no doubt backed it with sales and MUT numbers. No other publisher has a proven and established record of $$$'s with the license in the last 15 years. This was a sales pitch. We can say what we want about the quality of Madden but it makes money and business-wise, EA is no joke. Not difficult to see how the NFL was easily convinced.
Hopefully, with 2k now making NFL Football titles (arcade, semi-sim or otherwise), they will have a compelling argument of their own next time around.