StaffEA sports are reportedly set to close a six-year contract with the English Premier League (EPL) worth a whopping £500 million. According to reports, the deal will include all 20 EPL teams and will bring over £80 million in revenue annually.
When Electronic Arts (EA) took the bold decision to walk away from its decades-long relationship with the World’s football governing body (FIFA), it forged a new world for its soccer game series. This soccer game series going by the name of EA Sports FC introduces a whole new world for the organization.
Electronic Arts have already developed a network of relationships around the football arena in the last three decades. That includes several licensing deals with individual teams and leagues offered for betting at 1xbet india all year long. EA are comfortable striking without the notoriously corrupt FIFA associated with the process. As such, it’s not surprising to hear reports that EA is set to sign another major deal in its post-FIFA era by associating with the EPL.
According to Sky Sports, the deal between Electronic Arts and the EPL will be worth almost $600 million (£500 million) and will bring the premier league around $95 million (£80 million) annually. That seems to be a significant amount of revenue, apparently more than twice the previous contract between the two parties. However, the Ultimate Team mode from EA soccer games delivers a whopping $1.6 billion in revenue annually.
After signing the deal, Electronic Arts is set to retain exclusive video game rights to the premier league and remain the lead partner. There was no doubt that EA could manage to make the deal and we can assume that all their other deals are necessary to ensure that EA Sports FC becomes as fully-features as FIFA falls behind it.
The EPL is a great market and commercial powerhouse that brings together the world’s most famous teams including Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool. Its superiority was also seen recently as it stopped an attempt to develop a breakaway European Super League (ESL) by persuading top England clubs to stay behind.
After three decades of delivering the most successful football video game series in the world, EA is now holding a similar position of power. During their breakup with FIFA, which holds the World Cup rights, the video game powerhouse pledged to keep the existing FIFA video games running independently. However, with partners like the EPL and EA expertise in the industry, it’s hard to see how they could compete.
