JUNE 10, 2010 • Quick Hit Football, the online football game that launched last October, has managed to secure a multi-year deal with the NFL to bring league teams, logos, schedules, and stadiums to the Flash-based game. More than one million people have signed up to play Quick Hit Football in its first five months. EA does have an exclusive third-party license with the NFL running through 2012, but it doesn’t cover online or mobile platforms. Yet since EA has chosen not to release a PC version of Madden NFL this year, Quick Hit Football becomes the only NFL licensed title playable on a PC.

Impact: It was surprising that a small startup like Quick Hit could find this type of loophole in EA’s contract with the NFL.  While, in the short term, it is unlikely to make a dent in the Madden franchise, it does present a good opportunity for the NFL to expand its property beyond the EA-based console games.  The inability of EA to capitalize on the huge base of dedicated football fans that are looking for a less action based experience on non-console platforms has been a major gap in the Madden franchise.  Clearly the NFL is now looking for some smaller partners that can focus on building out different niches.