Shared goals: EA Sports, MLS renew deal

EA Sports and Major League Soccer have signed a five-year partnership renewal, extending a relationship that has evolved from strictly licensing to one seen as helping to drive the league’s growth.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. EA will continue as an official partner and the video game of MLS.

“When we first aligned with EA, we wanted to make sure our league and clubs were featured in the FIFA game,” said Maribeth Towers, senior vice president of consumer products at MLS. “Now, our focus goes beyond just being featured, to bringing MLS fans closer to their favorite clubs and players with additional in-game development. We are also creating significantly more content that drives regular and consistent engagement with our clubs within FIFA.”

MLS will be heavily featured in FIFA 17, including on a custom cover.



The league first appeared in the 2000 edition of the game, and moved to both a licensing and sponsorship agreement in 2012, Towers said.

As part of the deal, each side will continue activating around each other’s brands. EA will receive in-stadium placement on LED light boards during national broadcasts and branded content used for MLS broadcast partners and MLS Digital properties. Meanwhile, MLS will be heavily featured in FIFA 17, which includes EA’s in-game news feed pushing MLS content promoting matches and encouraging fans to play as MLS clubs in-game.

In addition, MLS and EA are working closely on a club marketing program that would have the video game company set up relationships with each of the league’s clubs, helping them to engage fans through the game’s content. Fourteen clubs are working with EA on the program, and more deals are expected soon.

While EA does not disclose sales numbers, video game sales tracking website VGChartz estimates more than 2 million copies of FIFA 16 were sold in North America, and the game ranks as one of the top-selling games across the world each year. The newest edition, FIFA 17, was released Sept. 27, and sold more than a million copies in England alone in a week. In its 2016 fiscal year, EA reported that revenue from worldwide sales of FIFA 16 represented 16 percent of EA’s total net revenue, which the company reported was $4.396 billion, according to its proxy statement.

MLS Chief Marketing Officer Howard Handler called EA Sports one of the league’s most critical partnerships because of the aligning strategies. “Our research and EA’s research tells us the same thing: There is just as much likelihood of someone becoming a fan from playing FIFA and learning the players, the game and the skills as there is by playing the game on a grassroots level,” Handler said.

David Pekush, senior global product marketing manager for EA, said that recent research on the FIFA fan base has indicated that half the people playing the game in North America don’t consider themselves big fans of soccer, which creates an opportunity not only for the company but for MLS as well.

“These are people who are new to the sport, and there are a lot of people becoming soccer fans because they’re watching MLS, playing FIFA or both, so we see the opportunity to convert them further together,” he said. “It’s the perfect intersection of really what we’re both trying to achieve, and that’s growing the game of soccer in North America.”

Towers said the game presents an important global platform for the league as well. VGChartz estimated that the 2016 edition sold more than 16 million copies worldwide, and Towers said having the league and its clubs featured prominently amongst the other top-tier league is key. She noted that the league receives data from EA regarding the usage of its clubs in the game, and has seen correlation between an increase in games featuring players with MLS clubs and the further increase of MLS international television partnerships, as well as the signing of prominent international players.

For last year’s game, EA held an online tournament in-game where you could only play as MLS teams. Pekush said that hundreds of thousands of people participated.

“I think what’s really amazing about it is that there were kids who played 50, 60, 80-plus games with the Columbus Crew, and really got to know those players in the same way they know the Real Madrids of the world,” he said. “Fifty percent of the game’s fan base is under the age of 18 in North America, and that’s the sweet spot for both us and MLS in terms of growing.”

Though the sides were not revealing new activations and integrations, Handler said he sees opportunity to work with EA on projects around storytelling and game play, on ways to further integrate MLS into the realm of popular culture that EA often is a part of, as well as in esports, which he said the league considers an area of priority.

“They are as sophisticated as it comes when it comes to fan focus, and really living and breathing data to drive themselves forward, which is the same approach we take,” he said.

