EA retains NFL exclusivity through 2013, may revisit NFL Couch series

EA’s Peter Moore has announced that the company has extended it’s deal with the NFL through the 2013 Super Bowl. This also includes exclusivity with the NFL Players union, meaning EA will retain the rights to all NFL teams, stadiums, and player likenesses and player information until the Super Bowl XLVII champion is crowned in 2013.

Also as part of the new agreement, EA will “look at different ways to bring more consumers in,” according to EA Sports president Peter Moore. And this goes even beyond EA’s other NFL games outside of Madden, such as NFL Street and NFL Tour.

One way Moore is hoping to lure more Americans into the Madden fold is through the incorporation of content from the NFL Films production company and the NFL Network cable channel into the “Madden game experience.” Other new EA Sports initiatives include a continuation of the “family play” option for Wii games, expanded investment in the wildly popular fantasy football phenomenon, and undefined initiatives to court football fans during the spring and summer months.

“Both EA Sports and the NFL agree that we need to look at different ways to bring more consumers in. Traditionally, when the Super Bowl’s over, our football business is over, and there’s research that shows there are millions of people out there that can’t get enough football 12 months a year.”

Their newest attempt to gain new NFL football gamers was NFL Tour, which didn’t favor well with critics but is “doing ok” at retail. However, the former Xbox 360 marketing chief isn’t satisfied with just pumping out more NFL Tour or NFL Street. “I think we need to be more innovative,” he said. “For years, we’ve done Street versions of games, and I think it’s time we looked at online models and perhaps doing something that’s truly contra-seasonal.”

One promising way to do this is to revive the NFL Head Coach series, which hit the scene in 2006. “Things like Head Coach…well, for me, I love the X’s and O’s,” he said. “It’s something that I would love to do if I wasn’t in this business. When we look at the success of the Football Manager titles in Europe, there’s no reason we can’t do the same thing here. We’ve kind of tiptoed into it so far, but I think you’ll see continued investment in things like Head Coach.”

Although EA was excited to talk about it’s NFL extensions, it didn’t talk about it’s other American football agreements, those it has with the NCAA and the Arena Football League. “We’ll get to those when we get to those,” he said.

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