NFL Exclusivity Rights with EA Sports

Commissioner Roger Goodell and Chairman Gene Upshaw:

The decision made by the NFL and Players INC to give exclusive rights of your league, with all related graphic, player, and team information and images, to Electronic Arts was a poor decision for the following reasons:

a) EA has failed to meet the demand of your loyal and devoted fan base. This is painfully evident in: lack of significant improvement from one year to the next, failure to standardize the most popular features and mainstays in the game across different consoles, a tremendous lack of desire to please gamers with missed due dates (for example, this season, gamers must wait until at least Week 2 before they have up-to-date rosters) and blatant, glaring glitches.

b) Upstart and long-time challengers to EA Sports created a new buzz and generated vastly increased interest in the NFL with their push to create a superior simulation of the sport we all love. With EA being the only football game in town, these new features are missing, which leads to a general decrease in fan bases interest of the NFL.

c) Due to a severely inferior product, gamers are forced to wait for updates to "fix" games that were supposed to be ready to go on the release date. This could occur with competition, but more than certainly it would force developers to provide worldwide, accurate, and current news releases to keep gamers informed as to when the "finished product" can be expected. As of now, EA has refrained from offering any sort of concrete date for any update to fix the glaring issues contained within their current release.

d) The most obvious and critical issue regarding the exclusivity rights has to be the clear waste and misuse of said privileges. The NFL, as you well know, is one of the premier leagues in the history of sports across the world. Therefore, the video game replicas will always be excellent sellers as long as the league continues its upward trend and stays near the top. This power can be greatly abused if only one company has the opportunity to capitalize on the NFL. With the popularity of the league at this time, the same greatness is expected for video game simulations. An accomplished developer such as Electronic Arts has the means, talent, and experience to deliver the kind of product that would make the majority of NFL fans completely satisfied and excited about both the game and the league itself. However, a quick survey of Internet message boards, gamers at your local electronics store, etc. reveals that gamers are largely disappointed with the current Electronic Arts NFL offering.

We gamers must demand excellence for our hard-earned money. Why should something so high-class and high-dollar as the NFL be so cheaply reproduced in the virtual world? There is no doubt that the Madden franchise has led the way in football simulations, but a recent lack of customer service and serious downgrade in the franchise's value is both alarming and disappointing. If granting exclusive rights is more profitable to the league, then we would recommend giving another franchise an opportunity to prove their worth. Or, more preferably, Madden should be stripped of its exclusivity with the NFL and all competitors should be welcome to push the envelope in terms of creating an exciting and tremendously enjoyable NFL product.

Until then, consumers will continue to purchase Madden (despite its downward spiral of value and customer service) because we love football and the NFL. So when the numbers come up showing how great Madden is selling, realize that we aren't just buying Madden - we are buying the NFL. And as the years continue with this exclusivity, if things continue to downgrade, do not be surprised if sales in Madden decrease. You will likely notice, also, that the dropping sales of Madden will correlate to a lesser interest in the NFL.

Thank you for your time, and please consider the frustrations and disappointment with which we approach you.