For a while now, the exclusive deal that EA has with the NFL means that Madden is the only football game in town...or the only one in town with the rights to any of the real people who play the game. Still, documents that surfaces when the NFLPA sued the NFL for money owed to their retired players shows just how insidious this whole thing is.

A letter from the NFL's attorney to the league talks about how the $28 million settlement is getting off easy, especially in light of the fact that Take Two was going to be forced to pay tens of thousands of dollars to license the likeness of all of their Hall of Fame players, which would have cost millions of dollars and ended up putting Take Two out of the football gaming business for good, thus securing EA's monopoly.

Competition is a good thing, even if you love Madden, and it would be good to have another game pushing it to do better.

Source