By Peter Keating/ESPN Magazine
Did Players, Inc. help Electronic Arts buy rights to the likenesses of nearly 150 Hall of Famers for far less than those rights are worth?
Last week in San Francisco, a jury ordered the NFL Players Association to pay $28.1 million in damages to 2,056 retired players for not including them in payouts from software developer Electronic Arts, the maker of Madden NFL video games. Now another group of players, including some of the greatest names in NFL history, is wondering if their union has shortchanged them, too. Their reason? Players, Inc., the licensing arm of the NFLPA, helped Electronic Arts buy rights to the likenesses of nearly 150 Hall of Famers from the Pro Football Hall of Fame for far less than those rights are worth, according to documents obtained by ESPN The Magazine.
For example, in a Feb. 20, 2007, e-mail that was entered into evidence in the just-settled case, Clay Walker, then-senior vice president of Players, Inc., wrote to Joe Nahra, staff attorney for the NFLPA: “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.”
And on Nov. 1, 2007, Andy Feffer, chief operating officer of the NFLPA, e-mailed Paul Cairns, then-vice president for business affairs at Electronic Arts: “[T]he total payment to HOF is $400,000 [per year]. I can tell you that Clay [Walker] and Joe [Nahra]‘s negotiation of these discounted items was a significant contribution to EA, as you more than likely would have paid in excess of $1M for these rights without their involvement and assistance.” READ MORE
