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Supreme Court ruling states NFL teams are separate entities
According to USA Today, a recent Supreme Court ruling has denied the National Football League antitrust law protections, stating that its 32 constituent teams must be considered separate entities. The court reversed the dismissal of a suit filed against the league by American Needle, Inc., a company which was locked out of the football-themed hatmaking business after the NFL penned a 10-year exclusivity agreement with Reebok. Gee, that sounds awfully familiar. The case of American Needle v. NFL has returned to the lower courts, where a decision in favor of the former could drastically change the face of the NFL's licensing business. In short, if the district courts find the league in violation of antitrust laws, it could repeal exclusivity agreements like the one with Reebok -- or, likely more pertinent to your interests, the one with EA Sports, which brought a hasty end to the NFL2K series. We'll keep an eye out for further developments in this lawsuit.
Economist: EA overcharged Madden buyers up to $926 million
Most sports game fans are none too happy about EA's monopolization of the NFL -- but only because of the limited choice of official football games they're afforded. A little over a month ago, two game enthusiasts, Geoffrey Pecover and Jeffrey Lawrence, filed a class-action suit against EA -- not due to the loss of fun that resulted following the eradication of the competing NFL 2K franchise, but rather, due to the loss of funds.The two men called University of Michigan economics professor Dr. Jeffrey MacKie-Mason (for those keeping count, that's three Jeffs in this story so far) as a witness in the case. His findings, which he admits are based on incomplete data, are shocking -- he claims that with no direct competitor, EA was able to raise the price on the Madden series. By his estimate, EA effectively overcharged the game's purchasers between $701 million and $926 million from 2006 to 2009.Wedbush analyst and Joystiq celebrity Michael Pachter responded to the estimate with vitriol, claiming that the professor had based his claims on faulty figures -- for instance, EA only made about $800 million off the Madden franchise during that period, and the series' average price only increased by a few cents after the NFL 2K series bit the dust. Thanks for the clarification, Pachy -- but we could have guessed the estimates were bunko. A billion dollars is a difficult thing to take from a group with such a keen eye for acts of corporate Ledgermain.
