EA and the FIFA Brand

[RaychelSnr]

The FIFA name keeps coming up in the news these days, for good and bad reasons. We’ve had the nice addition of women’s international teams to Electronic Arts’ FIFA 16 — about time — and we’ve seen the FIFA organization rocked by indictments of high-level officials, stemming from alleged offenses of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering. It’s not often that the sports game world gets crossed up with big stories like this, but it’s fascinating to see how companies navigate these waters when it does.

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[speedtrucker]

Re: EA and the FIFA Brand

there is a huge difference between ejecting from the NCAA deal and ejecting from a FIFA deal. the NCAA deal was a side gig from their real money train- Madden. look how hard EA has fought for the NFL at every turn they could. now then look at FIFA and see that it sells double or even triple the numbers that Madden does.

they are 2 years into the new deal that goes through 2022, who knows how dirty EA's hand just might be in the big picture as well. (just like Nike, Bud, Addidas, Coke, et al) which is why everyone has been pretty quiet and sitting tight.

now if UEFA were to leave FIFA, I could see EA jumping at that and focusing on a UEFA deal to "silently" leave the FIFA mess.

but lets be honest, these charges aren't a surprise... we all know/knew that FIFA was corrupt, that Blatter was a dirty as they come. this isn't an out of the blue Tiger Woods meltdown that caused it.

and all that to say, would I buy a EA soccer game that didn't have the rights to all the teams? I do not buy PES because I'm not going to play London Blues against Merseyside Reds... just like I didn't buy the 2k non-NFL football games when they lost the NFL rights.

just my 2 cents.

[believeinnow]

EA actually stuck with Tiger for a few years after his scandal. Tiger was caught cheating in 2009 while EA ended their partnership with him in 2013. According to all press who saw the woman's reveal ahead of time, the date planned was always their embargo date. Too bad the US Government didn't tip off EA earlier so they could push their news before the crap-hit-the-fan.

EA won't give up the FIFA license, they have too much at stake and you can be certain, if they give up on the license, another company would jump on it without hesitation (even to just hold the naming rights).

Another thing, we can't lump EA in the same vein as Coca Cola, Visa, Budweiser and others. EA is not a sponsor of FIFA or its tournaments. They simply pay to license the FIFA name, there is a difference that most people are failing to realize. EA pays to use NFL rights, but they aren't a sponsor of the league.

[Wiggy]

EA actually stuck with Tiger for a few years after his scandal. Tiger was caught cheating in 2009 while EA ended their partnership with him in 2013. According to all press who saw the woman's reveal ahead of time, the date planned was always their embargo date. Too bad the US Government didn't tip off EA earlier so they could push their news before the crap-hit-the-fan.

EA won't give up the FIFA license, they have too much at stake and you can be certain, if they give up on the license, another company would jump on it without hesitation (even to just hold the naming rights).

Another thing, we can't lump EA in the same vein as Coca Cola, Visa, Budweiser and others. EA is not a sponsor of FIFA or its tournaments. They simply pay to license the FIFA name, there is a difference that most people are failing to realize. EA pays to use NFL rights, but they aren't a sponsor of the league.

While they aren't a sponsor, their use of the brand and promotion of it puts them in a tough spot. I fully acknowledge in the piece that it's likely impossible for them to eject without financially damaging themselves, but by associating with a toxic brand, it's a tough spot to be in.

Then again, the resignation of Blatter probably buys them some breathing room.

[ggsimmonds]

Focusing purely on the video game side of things, is adding women's teams something that EA deserves praise for? Was there actual demand for this or is it similar to the old March Madness games that included women teams that no one ever used?