To: National Football League
To the National Football League and NFL Players Association:
We, the Undersigned, have recently become aware of your agreement with Electronic Arts to give full and complete rights to NFL Players, Teams, Stadiums, etc. to the EA Sports Madden NFL franchise. We feel that this is a travesty, and we wish you to reconsider your decision, as it will adversely affect the standing of the NFL with thousands of fans.
Many thousands of people play Sega's ESPN NFL 2K series, and those of us that do find the game to be a much better and more accurate representation of the NFL than EA's product has ever been. We are given the opprotunity thru ESPN NFL 2K5 to host completely free online leagues, with living rosters that allow for season affecting trades and injuries, etc. This is supported by an excellent team from Sega/Visual Concepts, and they have done an excellent job in promoting the NFL in the process. ESPN's game is stellar from graphics to gameplay, and was a great buy this year. Your agreement with EA will prevent Sega and Visual Concepts from continuing their series, and decimate their Sports division. People will lose jobs as a result of your carelessness. We do not believe this is what the NFL stands for.
Electronic Arts currently has a Class-Action Lawsuit filed against them for poor labor practices, working conditions and unpaid overtime. They have built a poor reputation in the gaming industry as well as the tech industry as being slavedrivers who will produce less than finished work while driving their employees and their families to the brink of their sanity and physical exhaustion. Please see the following link for information:
http://news.com.com/Electronic+Arts+faces+overtime+lawsuit/2100-1043_3-5450316.html
If the NFL goes forward with this no-competition stance and continues to side with EA Sports, we the Undersigned will boycott the NFL for the duration of the contract with EA Games, and will continue to do so until competition in the world of NFL Football Video Games is reborn. We love the NFL and none of us wish to take a hardline stance against the sport we love, but when we are disregarded as fans to support a company such as Electronic Arts, you leave us with little choice.
We sincelerely hope you reconsider your decision on this contract, as your decision will have a very visable affect on the profits of the National Football League in the foreseeable future.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned