For the fourth year in a row, NFL Players Association licensing income from Electronic Arts came in far off the levels seen in the pre-lockout years, before 2011.
For the year ending Feb. 28, 2015, EA paid the union $2.8 million for the right to use NFL players in the popular “Madden” video game series, according to the union’s most recently filed annual report with the U.S. Department of Labor. Between July 26, 2011, and Feb. 28, 2015, EA paid the union a total in excess of $7.8 million, according to the annual reports covering that time frame.
By comparison, in the 12-month period that ended just prior to the spring-summer 2011 lockout, EA paid the union $37.4 million. In fact, over the five years before the lockout, the union averaged $32.3 million annually from the video-game giant.
What changed?
The NFLPA, as it has in the past when asked about its annual report, declined to comment.
The change, however, is certainly not because of any sales concerns for “Madden.”
“‘Madden’ sells around $250 million a year, add-on content is another $100 million, and the overall royalty [paid to the NFL and NFLPA] is around $50 million,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, who covers EA for the firm.
In EA’s most recent annual report, out last month, the company said its overall sales for fiscal year 2015 rose 26 percent, fueled by “[an] increase in revenue primarily from the ‘FIFA’ and ‘Madden’ NFL franchises.”
When the NFL locked out players in 2011, the union decertified, and for those 4 1/2 months before the sides settled, the NFLPA did not have to disclose its financials. It is possible the union took an upfront payment at that time from EA in exchange for lower annual payments in the future.
That future is now four years of payments. While the amount the NFLPA has received from EA has increased annually since the lockout, it remains low relative to those earlier years. Namely, had the union averaged the same amount over these past four years as it did the previous five, it would have taken in $129.2 million in total instead of the $7.8 million it actually brought in over that time, according to the annual reports.
