Madden Is Ignoring Lawsuit Filed Against His Franchise, Former Players Upset

Monday, November 17, 2008


It's been a few days since a Federal Jury ordered that the NFLPA was to pay over $28 million dollars to former players for using their likeness various years on Madden's video game franchise, and the announcer has yet to make a comment regarding the suit.

The back story is simple, and if you've ever played the game you'll know exactly what the lawsuit refers to. For years the Madden games would have "All-Time" teams that used just former player's numbers and likenesses, but not their names. A group sued on their behalf and it even came out in testimony that one official even told EA to "scramble" the players names and numbers so they couldn't be paid.

Now that they've been awarded the money, some of the ex-players want to hear at least some comments from Madden himself. Via Fox Sports....

The class-action lawsuit was filed in 2007 on behalf of 2,062 former NFL players, about 570 of whom were found to have appeared in various versions of "Madden" without compensation. The games include 142 vintage teams, among them the '66 Packers, the '71 Cowboys and a seemingly inordinate number of Raider teams. According to a plaintiff's exhibit, the Madden '05 Collector's Edition for PlayStation 2 includes every Raiders team from 1967-1977 except '73. Anyone who played for Oakland in those years played for Madden. In fact, the plaintiffs include any number of storied Raiders, guys like Ken Stabler, Jim Otto, Dave Casper and Ben Davidson.

"If John Madden knew that they were scrambling us, it's a disgrace," said Herb Adderley, a Hall of Fame defensive back who initiated the suit. "If he didn't know, well, no blame to him. ... But I'm sure he's seen some of these video games himself. I mean, I played against the Raiders in the Super Bowl. He can obviously see that the guy on '66 Packers and the '71 Cowboys is Herb Adderley.

"He should say something. It would really help if he would come out and say something to heal the animosity between the current and the retired players. It's been a real bad thing."
I never really thought things like this were a big deal, but if someone were to use my likeness in say a blogging video game and I didn't get anything out of it, I'd probably be a little upset too. And I'm pretty sure a Sports Blogging video game probably wouldn't approach the profits that Madden has. It'll be interesting to see if Madden discusses the issue, but if I were Herb Adderley, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Madden can be agent for change in NFL union (Fox Sports)

Posted by Awful Announcing- at 1:45 PM

6 Comments:

AA,

Herb Adderley's exactly right. If you play the Madden games and you know anything about NFL history, you know who the players are so Madden's being a dillweed, just as he always is.

Brad James said...
Nov 17, 2008, 2:27:00 PM  

I touch myself at night.

Anonymous said...
Nov 17, 2008, 2:31:00 PM  

I figured they were doing that to avoid paying all the players, but I also thought they would know it was fool proof and they couldnt be sued. It serves EA right for losing.

Anonymous said...
Nov 17, 2008, 3:15:00 PM  

AA, just for that, I'm going to make the best blogging video game ever and refer to you as Awfull Announcing. You will never see a dime!!!

/insert maniacal laughter
//realizing that no one would ever by a video game about bloggers

GMoney said...
Nov 17, 2008, 4:09:00 PM  

What would a sports blogging game consist of, AA?

Mike Brown said...
Nov 17, 2008, 5:51:00 PM  

"What would a sports blogging game consist of, AA?"

I imagine it would like the Onion News Network's game "World of World of Warcraft"...

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/warcraft_sequel_lets_gamers_play

The best part is when you have to scroll through the licensing agreement so you feel like you're installing the game.

Anonymous said...
Nov 17, 2008, 5:58:00 PM  

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