EA Sportsthe sports division of Electronic Arts, seems to be about to sign a £488m deal which will give you the rights of the for six years Premiere League English. The contract is reportedly worth more than double the original deal between the two companies.
According to Sky Sports, the clubs have been advised of the deal, which will bring in around £80m a year, on Friday. EA Sports of its own will get the rights to some of the strongest and most popular teams in the world, among them Manchester CityArsenal e Liverpool.
The cost of the agreement reflects the growing importance of the Premiere League in the world of football, where it is first for profits thanks to its pharaonic TV deals.
Electronic Arts needs similar deals after losing the FIFA license, which would have cost them around a billion dollars, causing the series to change its name for the first time in thirty years.
So no more FIFA 20XX, but EA Sports FC. Of its own EA has not been idle and has reached agreements with more than thirty leagues, obtaining the official licenses of hundreds of teams, in order to maintain the gap with the eFootball series, much weaker on this front, despite the agreements with Barcelona , Manchester United and Inter Milan.
After all, Electronic Arts cannot afford to lose its goose that lays golden eggsgiven that it is the FIFA series, the FUT mode in particular, that has managed the bulk of its budgets in recent years thanks to microtransactions.