John Madden could be one of the main casualties to arise from the NFL lockout and not from a broadcast point of view. Electronic Arts (EA) have reported that the lockout could see their gross revenue decline by as much as $70-80million if the season is lost. Madden NFL would be the obvious casualty from all this as fans are likely to go to other means of sport-related entertainment if the season is locked out. The end result will affect EA with customers unlikely to play a sport that isn’t on the TV.
President of EA Sports, Peter Moore, told Bloomberg, “You do get concerned that the attention of sports fans goes elsewhere. People not only get disenchanted, they get angry.”
Moore also added that the lockout could have a 35% impact on the company. This was less than analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities who put the potential drop in Madden sales at around 50%. This added to the New York Post’s estimate that the potential loss in gross revenue would be closer to $165million.
The NFL’s fate could be similar to both the National Hockey League (NHL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) both having lost the faith of the fans following the respective lock-outs. If the National Basketball Association (NBA) also suffers from a strike the results could be catastrophic.
One good thing to come out of the lockout while we’re here – there’ll be no Madden curse this year, something of a relief to all those praying not to be on the cover of John’s latest game.
