You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Behind the scenes wheeling and dealing can generate tasty bargains, but sometimes those bargains come with a nasty aftertaste.

In this case, it appears that EA and the NFLPA along with Players Inc. struck a deal for retired NFL player rights that was significantly below fair market value. A class action lawsuit was filed by the players in question against Players Inc, but the fun didn’t stop there. In a letter crafted by 51 year old former Buffalo Bills safety, Jeff Nixon, Madden was asked to come to the aid of his fellow Hall of Famers.

Jeff’s “Dear John” letter to the former Raider’s Head Coach is laced with incriminating quotes, the most shocking being that EA’s total cost to produce Madden each year is apparently no more than $200,000!!

You are… the face and name behind the wildly popular EA Sports Video Game – Madden NFL… will you sit back and let the NFLPA and EA Sports continue to take advantage of our Hall of Fame players?

…Evidence in the Retired Players Class Action suit demonstrates that the NFLPA and Players Inc. were working against the interests of the retired players and in favor of your boss EA Sports. For example, this internal email from NFLPA Executive Clay Walker, confirms that Players Inc. negotiated a deal with EA on behalf of retired Hall of Fame players which was significantly below market rate:

“I was able to forge this deal with the HOF that provides them with 400K per year (which is significantly below market rate) in exchange for the HOF player rights. EA owes me a huge favor because of that threat was enough to persuade Take Two to back off its plans, leaving EA as the only professional football videogame manufacturer out there.”

…Instead of negotiating the best possible deal for the retired players which it purported to represent, the NFLPA and Players Inc. were doing favors for EA by reducing compensation to retired players, and driving a competitive licensee [Take-Two's NFL2K series] out of the market…

And in this February 22, 2007 email from NFLPA Executive Clay Walker to Players Inc. in-house attorney Joe Nahra, the naked truth is exposed to the world:

“…The per player price for most of these guys was tens of thousands of dollars less than what they were guaranteed by Take Two Interactive so it’s a real coup that we were able to pull this off so cheaply. You have to remember that EA’s total cost is only $200,000 per year. We know that Take Two offered six figure deals to several former NFL players so the total cost is millions below market prices…”

John, these are your fellow Hall of Fame Players they are talking about! Are you going to let them get away with this? I know that EA is your employer, but come on…

Afterthought: What say you? Do you think John Madden will come to the aid of his fellow hall of fame brothers, or will his role be exposes as nothing more than a powerless figure head?

Source: gamepolitics.com