Report: FIFA wants to charge EA more than double for licensing rights

The New York Times reported today FIFA wants to charge EA $1 billion every four years for the organization’s licensing rights.

This comes after EA announced plans to drop “FIFA” from the franchise’s name. Six days ago, EA Sports general manager Cam Weber said the company was “exploring the idea of renaming our global EA Sports football games.” EA had not explained then the reason(s) behind its decision.

The current 10-year agreement between EA and FIFA ends after next year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar. EA pays FIFA about $150 million per year of the current contract. Under the FIFA license, EA can use the organization’s name and logo as well as the rights to the World Cup.

Though the main cause of the dispute between both FIFA and EA is financial, they both have plans of their own to increase revenue.

The article says FIFA wants to limit EA’s plans for additional monetization in future FIFA games, while EA wants to explore additional opportunities for monetization, “highlights of actual games, arena video game tournaments and digital products like NFTs.”

EA has already advanced plans by filing the trademark EA Sports FC.

Game industry analyst Piers Harding-Rolls told NYT he estimates EA earned $1.2 billion last year with the Ultimate Team mode in FIFA games. The company had announced earlier this year it had earned $1.6 billion in 2020 from “extra content sales.” Most of the earnings came from FIFA’s Ultimate Team.

Even without the FIFA trademark, EA has over 300 deals with soccer leagues from around the world. The company had already made a separate deal with FIFPro, the union that represents FIFA players worldwide.

FIFA may have to find other ways to find revenue for future plans such as creating a World Cup for clubs and making the FIFA World Cup tournament every two years instead of four.

[Source]: The New York Times: EA Sports Is Planning for a FIFA Without FIFA – [Archive].