Topic: It’s Happened Again...EA Hate Nintendo, Its happened Again!

[nickmitch]

All it takes is another publisher offering enough to make FIFA or NFL agree to open up to non-exclusive licenses. Why take money from one publisher when they could get more from other studios? It all comes down to when those contracts are negotiated and if EA can pay enough when the time comes.

Part of the reason they have the exclusive was to make it easier on those brands to keep an eye on the games.  Blitz was a big reason for the NFL license to go exclusive.  While EA brought it back, people were reminded of concussions again so that will be a one time thing for now.

[NWR_insanolord]

Yeah, the NFL was the one who sought out the exclusivity deal. They prefer having the leverage over EA and likely wouldn't make that much more money without that deal. Short of someone else offering even more for their own exclusive deal, that probably isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

[Ian Sane]

All it takes is another publisher offering enough to make FIFA or NFL agree to open up to non-exclusive licenses. Why take money from one publisher when they could get more from other studios? It all comes down to when those contracts are negotiated and if EA can pay enough when the time comes.

Part of the reason they have the exclusive was to make it easier on those brands to keep an eye on the games.  Blitz was a big reason for the NFL license to go exclusive.  While EA brought it back, people were reminded of concussions again so that will be a one time thing for now.

The odd thing is the complete disconnect from how sports leagues view their "brand" and how the fans do.  The NFL is probably the best example of this.  They care very much about how their brand is viewed but the truth is that I'm not sure anyone actually likes the NFL per se.  They like football, like to see it played at the highest level, and are a fan of their favourite team.  But I've never met a fan who didn't think the NFL is run by a bunch of clowns with their heads up their asses.  NFL Blitz is a well regarded game and most companies would be thrilled to have a hit like that on their hands but the NFL's goal is to take out the very things in the game series that made it popular in the first place.  It's the same mind set that birthed the nickname "No Fun League".  The individual team brands are very strong but the league brands are basically "millionaire creeps and idiots succeeding despite attempts to ruin the sport".

So you have EA, who no one is actually a fan of, selling a game with the NFL licence, which no one is actually a fan of, which has the Packers/Steelers/Patriots/etc. in it which is what people are actually fans of.  EA and the NFL "brands" are essentially holding companies.

[nickmitch]

LOL. I never thought about that, but it's kind of hilarious.  They work so hard to fail in so many regards.

They're kind of like the WWE, who may be even worse that regard.

[NWR_insanolord]

Here's the thing, though: the NFL and the teams are the same thing. The league is just the collective of all the individual team owners, and the fact that Roger Goodell and "the NFL" get all the blame for things people don't like while people still love the teams means things are going exactly the way the owners want them to.

[nickmitch]

Yeah, it's easy to hate the "rules" and "the man" while still loving the team, even if the owners of said team vote on the rules and elect the man.

It's more like professional wrestling than I thought.

[RABicle]

Sports fans are idiots. Why do they even like the teams they do?

• Because the teams claim to represent the city the fan is from
  or
  
• Because they win.
  or even
  
• Because they see them on TV a lot (this can be a subset of the first one)

These are the sorts of a reasons a dog might provide for why it likes things.

[ThePerm]

To be fair Madden games are the best NFL games possible today. They're the only ones possible.

[ShyGuy]

Have I told you about my plan to rob EA of the NFL, Fifa, and Star Wars?

[RABicle]

If it involves assembling a team of (sexy) rivals to perform one last heist, then I'm keen hear it.

[Ian Sane]

To be fair Madden games are the best NFL games possible today. They're the only ones possible.

EA should put "the best [league name] game available" on all the packaging of their sports games.

In regards to sports fan being idiots, one thing that is nice about cheering for a local team is that it's something easy to bond with other locals on.  For example I can socialize with a lot of my co-workers based on our mutual fandom of the Vancouver Canucks.  Aside from that and our job, some of us don't necessarily have much in common.  But we can get together and all go to a pub to watch a Canucks playoff game together (THAT hasn't happened in a while) and have a good time.  Meanwhile if I want to socialize over Nintendo there are only a handful of my co-workers that would have any idea what I was talking about other than knowing that Mario and Pokemon are things that exist.

[NWR_insanolord]

Sports fans are idiots. Why do they even like the teams they do?

• Because the teams claim to represent the city the fan is from
  or
  
• Because they win.
  or even
  
• Because they see them on TV a lot (this can be a subset of the first one)

These are the sorts of a reasons a dog might provide for why it likes things.

You forgot a big one, and that's being raised that way. All the non-soccer teams I'm a fan of are because those were the teams my dad liked so I grew up watching them. Until extremely recently the only non-insane reason to be a Browns fan was because you'd been born into it.

[Ian Sane]

Sports fans are idiots. Why do they even like the teams they do?

• Because the teams claim to represent the city the fan is from
  or
  
• Because they win.
  or even
  
• Because they see them on TV a lot (this can be a subset of the first one)

These are the sorts of a reasons a dog might provide for why it likes things.

You forgot a big one, and that's being raised that way. All the non-soccer teams I'm a fan of are because those were the teams my dad liked so I grew up watching them. Until extremely recently the only non-insane reason to be a Browns fan was because you'd been born into it.

Acceptable reasons for picking a team:
-geographically closest team
-team from an area you used to live in
-some specifically personal connection  ie: My grandpa is a Montreal Canadiens fan despite never having lived in Quebec because when he first immigrated some French-Canadian co-workers helped him integrate into Canada and he ended up following their team.
-family tradition (though only acceptable if historical reason for family tradition is one of the above conditions)

Unacceptable reason:
-picking a team solely because they're really good at the time

Switching teams is only acceptable if you move and switch to the new geographical choice, a relative/close friend starts playing for a team, or the team relocates away from you.  Switching to whatever team is currently good is the mortal sin of sports fandom.  And if you live somewhere with multiple teams like New York you can't flip-flop.  You to have to pick one team per sport and stick with them. 

So until essentially this off-season I can't imagine anyone being a Cleveland Browns fan without following the acceptable reasons for fandom.

[NWR_insanolord]

Some people are getting ahead of themselves and jumping on the bandwagon, buying into the hype of Baker and OBJ and picking them under the assumption that they're about to be really good, which I wouldn't say is really any different from picking a team just because they're good.

[RABicle]

Switching teams is only acceptable if you move and switch to the new geographical choice, a relative/close friend starts playing for a team, or the team relocates away from you.  Switching to whatever team is currently good is the mortal sin of sports fandom.  And if you live somewhere with multiple teams like New York you can't flip-flop.  You to have to pick one team per sport and stick with them.

I believe this too but uh, you should see the farcical EPL fans. Put simply, Manchester City didn't have 2 million members in 2016. And they didn't have a million in 2010.

[Adrock]

There’s no “acceptable” reason to pick a team. It’s all arbitrary.