EA is reportedly closing in on a $588 million (£488 million) commercial football deal with the English Premier League.
According to a new report by Sky News, 20 of the UK's biggest football clubs were briefed yesterday about a proposed six-year deal with EA Sports that is "close to being finalised."
An anonymous executive told Sky News that the deal would deliver "more than $96m/£80m annually" in a bid to retain one of soccer's biggest draws, the Premier League.
According to the source, it would make EA the league's "lead partner" and "retain its exclusive electronic game licence", suggesting the league would have an exclusive deal with EA Sports.
We knew things were up between EA and FIFA when EA filed an application in the UK and the EU for something called 'EA Sports FC' last October, publicly stating that it was "exploring the idea of renaming [its] global EA Sports football games" and moving away from the FIFA brand.
Fast-forward to March last year, and rumour had it, it looked like EA was indeed rebranding its smash-hit FIFA franchise as EA Sports Football Club.
Interestingly enough, the trademarks were filed shortly before the company revealed it was "reviewing [its] naming rights agreement with FIFA, which is separate from all our other official partnerships and licenses across the football world."
At the time, we were reminded that EA Sports Football Club was a FIFA social feature that ran from 2011 until 2020, so it was possibly connected to that. Now, however, it feels more likely that it may indeed be FIFA's new name.
EA Sports FC is the brand new football series coming from EA, with FIFA 23 marking its final entry in that franchise. Its replacement won't be here until late in 2023, but even so, EA has already shared details surrounding some of its licenses.
What will this fresh start mean for Ultimate Team, women’s squads, Creation Centre, and other in-game features? Here's everything we know so far about EA Sports FC.
