Kotaku (currently the best game news site up, IMHO) claims that EA paid half a billion dollars for the rights to the NFL, spread over five years. That’s half of the rumored number that was flying around previously, I feel required to point out that Kotaku lacks a link that shows where that information is coming from, merely a sketchy description of accountant’s comparing EA’s public records before and after the transaction.

That’s still a lot of coconuts. Especially when you throw in the ESPN deal, which he estimates will cost EA $60 million a year, for the next 15 years. Combined, you have EA needing to move $160 million dollars worth of product before being able to pay for other parts of development costs. Like, you know, development costs.

As an aside, I’d be willing to bet that the ESPN deal is in fact EA’s chance to phase out the Madden name (as I predicted they’d have to do soon, before the guy had a Tofurkey-induced coronary). Expect to see ESPN Madden 2006 and 2007, with the Madden name getting smaller and smaller until one year, it’s gone, like Keyser Soze into the night. Being the only game in town covers that messy transition period nicely for EA.