Insider Gaming's Mike Straw broke the news that the NFL and Madden will continue their exclusive partnership for the NFL license. He said EA was open to a non-exclusive deal, but the league wanted to keep things the same. I'm not surprised by any of this, and here's why.
The NFL loves its own mythology. The brilliant work of NFL Films reminds us what a small, upstart organization this was back when baseball was America's national pastime. Look at the sad NFL drafts of the 1980s held at your local Hilton with serious Chamber of Commerce energy. Now, pro football is America's true religion, cemented by moving right onto Christmas Day TV despite all the NBA's hapless objections.
Coach John Madden and the way he transformed the game is a huge part of the NFL' s sacred history. His work as a coach was Hall of Fame worthy. Then he went on to become the most legendary broadcaster not just in pro football, but pro sports history. More Hall of Fame work. Then he and EA created the most profitable sports game franchise ever. I'd argue that at this point, the league is doing more to protect Madden NFL's legacy than EA Sports is.
The news that EA was willing to settle for a non-exclusive partnership tracks. We all saw their ugly divorce with FIFA that resulted in EA Sports FC. They're trying to find ways to cut licensing costs. But Madden is a luxury brand for the league, it has zero interest in watching it deteriorate into EA Sports NFL.
Madden is a gateway drug, it's something many kids pick up before they have interest in the real NFL. The league isn't trying to lose one of the best tools it has to turn young kids into lifelong fans. That would be like banning Taylor Swift from Chiefs games.
The NFL's partnership with Amazon has yielded another lucrative link in John Madden's legacy. Nicolas Cage will portray Madden in an MGM Amazon movie directed by David O. Russell. Cage is never more than one eclectic performance away from an Oscar. There was no way the league was parting ways with EA before Madden NFL: The Movie hits Amazon Prime.
The NFL loves controlling its own narratives. There's no scenario in which it is going to potentially add a Madden Oscar to its trophy case and have all of us running around talking about how excited we are to play the new NFL 2K.