John Madden may have retired from the public limelight this week, but it seems that isn't taking any targets off his back. Fresh from their $28 million victory against the NFL Players Association, a contingent of retired NFL players now appear ready to sue John Madden and Electronic Arts over what they argue is the use of their likenesses in the Madden NFL series without compensation.
In a new post on the blog of former NFL player Dave Pears (via GamePolitics), NFL retiree Bernie Parrish makes his and other retirees' intentions abundantly clear: "The retired NFL players who were used in Madden EA video games will be suing Madden and EA for using us in those games without compensating us," Parrish writes. He also alleges that "Madden's agent Sandy Montag boasts he and Madden collected over $100,000,000 in royalties while paying the retired NFL players used in those games absolutely nothing. Madden knows that the ugly truthful litigation is coming and is probably factoring that into his retirement."

Parrish also explains in the post that the players "probably will not use...the attorneys who obtained a $28.1 million verdict for us against the NFLPA for 'scrambling retired players identities' in those video games." He further states that, "In my opinion, Madden should have been included in our licensing suit against the NFLPA and so should EA."

The original class action lawsuit against the NFLPA (which included over 2,000 retired players) alleged that the organization conspired with EA to "scramble" the appearance of the retired players to avoid paying them royalties. The lawsuit also uncovered emails that showed the NFLPA locked the Pro Football Hall of Fame into a deal with EA at a rate that was deliberately "far below market value."

wow, no one needs the amount of money those people get. Like there are people such as police fire ambulance and soldiers who risk their lives everyday or save live everyday and dont get anywhere near enough money they should do. Then you get people who catch balls or kick balls for a living and moan that they dont get enough money for it. Or teachers, in the UK, that say they want a pay rise and go on strike, not taking into consideration that they get paid more than soldiers on the front line, police, and fire and rescue who risk their life for other everyday.
Sorry for the rant

athletes are no different than movie stars, it's all entertainment. They get paid so much because the fans provide the funding for so much. And the good players get huge contracts because they'll help teams win and if the team wins, more fans in the seats. It's all just entertainment, the salaries wouldn't be near as high if fans just boycotted it and stopped going to games, because that is what pays the salaries. For emergency workers, etc they don't get good money because they are paid by taxes or public funding, which isn't very much when the police force is a large size for just one small city. Rough life we live in.