Take-Two seeking "longer term commitments" from sports leagues - Eibeler

Publisher Take Two Interactive has approached a number of sports leagues in the hope of securing longer licensing agreements, according to company president Paul Eibeler, although no deals have been reached as yet.

Speaking at a Smith Barney investment conference in the USA, Eibeler said that his company, which publishes the ESPN sports range, is "asking the other leagues and talking to the other leagues about longer-term commitments."

He would not be drawn on further details of the company's negotiations, according to US website GameDaily, saying only that the unnamed leagues which the firm has approached have been "receptive" with regard to the request.

At present, many sports licensing deals are for as little as one or two years, which means that creators of sport franchise titles such as the ESPN games have little security with regard to future use of the license.

This problem was highlighted before Christmas by Electronic Arts' controversial announcement of a five year exclusive deal with the NFL, which was added to earlier this week when the company also signed an exclusive deal with the AFL, a smaller American Football league.

It seems likely that Take Two's decision to seek longer licenses from its partners is a direct reaction to EA's aggressive pursuit of exclusivity from sports leagues, as it gives the company (and ESPN developer Visual Concepts) significantly more security and would prevent a repeat of the NFL situation, which saw the rug being pulled out suddenly from underneath the ESPN NFL series.