EA Sports to Become La Liga Naming Partner, Grows 26%

EA Sports is the maker of the most successful sports video game series in history. Now, it will lend its name to real-life competitions.

On Tuesday, the company struck a deal with La Liga to become the Spanish soccer league’s naming partner, beginning in the 2023-24 season, replacing Spanish bank Santander.

• The deal is reportedly for five years at nearly $30.5 million annually, per Marca. EA Sports already pays that amount to La Liga for licensing rights connected to its gaming properties.
• La Liga’s name, logo, graphics, and other visual elements will be rebranded to include EA Sports.

Electronic Arts and FIFA are not renewing their long-term partnership after this season. EA instead will follow “FIFA 23” with “EA Sports FC.” In addition to La Liga, the company has licensing deals with the Premier League, MLS, and Bundesliga.

EA’s Ultimate Team offerings, which include its FIFA, Madden, and NHL franchises, brought in $1.6 billion in revenue in FY 2021, 29% of the company’s total revenue.

Strong EArnings

On Tuesday, Electronic Arts posted $1.8 billion in revenue for its fiscal Q1 2023, which ended June 30, a 13.9% year-over-year increase. Full-year growth was even stronger, with EA’s $7.2 billion representing a 26% increase from FY2021.

“FIFA Ultimate Team” engagement was up close to 40% year-over-year during the quarter.

“Our FIFA franchise and the successful launch of F1 drove our net bookings outperformance, delivering another quarter ahead of expectations,” said CFO Chris Suh.