EA and the Premier League are reportedly closing in on a commercial deal that could be worth close to £500 million, to ensure that their FIFA successor EA Sport FC retains the all-important license for the most popular football league in the world.
Per Sky News, all 20 Premier League clubs were briefed on the six-year deal that EA and the Premier League are close to signing, worth about £488 million in total, and more than £80 million annually. This is more than double the previous deal, but will ensure that EA retains the exclusive rights to feature the Premier League in their video games.
Divided by 20, and that works out to around £4 million per team, per year, which is just a drop in the water compared to the TV licenses and other direct sponsorships that help to pay the frankly obscene wage bills that some Premier League teams have.
It’s rather important for EA to have a strong catalogue of licensed players, teams, leagues and competitions for their football games, since they are parting ways with the FIFA license that they held for the last 30 years. They will be moving forward while still having over 19,000 players and their likenesses, 700 teams, 100 stadiums and over 30 leagues from around the world. They will still have the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, CONMEBOL Libertadores, Premier League, Bundesliga, LaLiga, Serie A, and MLS, among many others that you can see here.
The news came out last year, with a rather amusing statement from FIFA to insist that the FIFA branded games will be “THE BEST”, and that was at least true of FIFA 23, the final game in their partnership, which has certainly been one of the most significant games in the series. For one thing it’s the only time that the game features not one, but two World Cups are taking place within the same calendar year, and FIFA 23 has represented the men’s FIFA World Cup that took place in Qatar last winter, with the women’s FIFA World Cup taking place in Austalia and New Zealand this summer.
Source: Sky News
