EA Losing NFL Exclusivity?

News hit today relating to how the NFL is running their exclusive deals with 3rd party companies. The official news story is about clothing/hat companies and who gets to make the official NFL hats. American Needle Inc. claimed they were being excluded from buisness with the NFL due to an exclusive agreement between Reebok and the NFL. American Needle Inc. explained that the NFL is not one company, but a culmination of 32 different ones. The court agreed, effectively ending all exclusive agreements the NFL has, here’s where EA ties in:

Reebok, says Deadspin’s Barry Petchesky in the best explanation of what the ruling means. He says, that Reebok “along with every company that has exclusive licensing deals with the league, could be the biggest losers. The NFL is a money factory, and even given the huge payments for exclusive rights, everyone selling NFL products are making out like bandits. Should the district court find the league in violation of antitrust laws, the field would be open again for other manufacturers.

Electronic Arts has a very similar deal with the NFL as Reebok had with them. If exclusive deals are now over across the board for everything related to the NFL (which they are) that would include Electronic Arts’ exclusive access over the NFL license. Which means competitors such as Sega’s 2k series which has flawlessly been praised higher than any Madden iteration could be back in the competition for the peak annual football game. We’ll find out in the coming weeks.