Chargers' Tomlinson turned down Madden cover; not curse, but cash

by Ross Miller { Apr 19th 2007 at 3:15PM }

It turns out Vince Young might not have been the first choice for the Madden 2008 cover. According to CNBC Sports Business reporter Darren Rovell, multiple industry sources have told him that Electronic Arts asked San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson of his interest and presented him an offer. Tomlinson turned it down.

The reason purportedly has nothing to do with the oft-cited "Madden curse," but that Tomlinson was not happy with EA's financial offer. Electronic Arts, according to Rovell, understands their cover to be what he calls the "Wheaties box endorsement," which means that EA will offer the cover athlete less than his market value. Tomlinson opted against it.

Young, afraid of no curse, is now the cover athlete. But as Rovell justly observes, Madden titles sell well regardless of who graces the cover.

Tags: chargers, cnbc, darren rovell, DarrenRovell, ea, electronic arts, ElectronicArts, foot ball, FootBall, la dainian tomlinson, LaDainianTomlinson, madden, nbc, nfl, rovell, san diego chargers, SanDiegoChargers, sports, tomlinson, vince young, VinceYoung

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jack of No Trades @ Apr 19th 2007 3:19PM

I bet the offer was in the millions. I fuckin hate Professional Sport Player. What a jackass.

JodyAnthony @ Apr 19th 2007 3:21PM

good. these people deserve all the money in the world for playing a childs game. when are people going to realize that?

OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ Apr 19th 2007 3:22PM

I can totally see this. EA will just say, "HA! Pay you more money? We're literally the only game it town! Deal with it, Tomlinson!"

I wonder if there's some kind of "reverse" Madden anti-jinx? I mean, this is the first time someone's openly rejected the cover. Maybe that means the Chargers are winning it all this year.

(Seriously...all they need to do was have the guy who intecepted Tom Brady take a freaking knee!!! ARRGH!)

hvnlysoldr @ Apr 19th 2007 3:23PM

We come to Earth to make pizza not money.
No, it's the other way around.
Oh, well in that case deal agreed.

Put a 1 and two 0's in front of that and you got a deal.
Great, how much do I get.
$100

Neal @ Apr 19th 2007 3:44PM

I officially don't respect LT anymore.

I'll be on it for free if they want.

Neal @ Apr 19th 2007 3:44PM

Only little girls wear face shields.

Aaron @ Apr 19th 2007 3:45PM

I wonder how much 989 sports paid LT???

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/435/435543p1.html

TK00 @ Apr 19th 2007 3:59PM

Why do people bitch about athletes being so highly paid? The NFL GENERATES a fuk-ton of revenue! Why should the athletes not get a huge cut? They're the main attraction. Would it be more fair for the owners and corporations to keep all the money? Think.

^FourthDimensionGod^ @ Apr 19th 2007 4:00PM

JodyAnthony

yes they play a childs game but dont hate them becuase they play it way better than you ever can. Thats why they get paid millions because their simply better athletes than you.

plus he has a chance to make millions if he plays a full season. with the madden curse if he gets injured $200k wont be enough to cover lost wages and medical bills

^FourthDimensionGod^ @ Apr 19th 2007 4:03PM

people are acting like EA cant afford to pay him.

$650 million thats how much EA paid for the NFL license sh!t stabbers

Retrofied @ Apr 19th 2007 4:08PM

@Neal

He wears the eyeshield for medical reasons.

U guys Suck @ Apr 19th 2007 4:13PM

You guys probly sit at home and jerk off insted of going out side and doing things.
LT Could take on all of u.

Jake @ Apr 19th 2007 4:13PM

LT says it wasn't about the curse. Fact of the matter is he turned down money to be on the cover of Madden. I am curious exactly how much they offered him. Personally, I think the curse has something to do with it. Why sacrifice the rest of your career for 100k bucks?

Hint: whoever said it is probably in the millions is wrong.

Crono @ Apr 19th 2007 4:17PM

4thdimensiongod,

Sure, they're good at their sport, but the fact remains that half of them are dumb as hell, barely got through highschool, flunked/drafted out of college morons who make millions.

I went to highschool with a football player. He was very talented, best player we ever had. Only problem was he was a brick in the brains department, took 6 years to graduate highschool, was in and out of trouble with the law, and flunked out of college after playing 1 mediocre season for the University of SC Gamecocks.

Instead of flipping burgers somewhere to make a living, where he belongs, he plays football for the dallas cowboys, a benchwarmer, for probably 20 times what I make in tool design for an international manufacturing company. I have a mechanical engineering degree, he barely has a GED, yet I'm the one in most danger of financial hardships.

Pro atheletes do not deserve the crazy amounts of money they make. But TKOO has a point about where all the money would go instead. The problems isn't with pro sports, but society that causes the sports to be glorified beyond what they should, causing the generation of all the money.

Aaron @ Apr 19th 2007 4:30PM

@Neal

Let me know when you get an offer to be on one of the Madden covers.

By the way, just because a player doesn't want to lend his image to a video game cover, doesn't mean we should crucify him. Professional players have the right to decide who can use their image and for what purpose. So who really cares?

Neal @ Apr 19th 2007 4:31PM

1. Im pretty sure football players still get paid even if they get injured.

2. Athletes don't deserve what they make, or even close to it.

3. Medical reasons or not, little girls wear face shields.

4. People should be honored to be on the front, not asking for more money. What a selfish prick.

Arlen @ Apr 19th 2007 4:31PM

I have respect for everyone's opinion, but LT is a good guy. I grew up in Fort Worth, and have followed LT since his early days. I drove down to see a couple of his games in Waco his senior year of high school, and I watched better than half of his home games when he played for TCU. I've never met him personally, but from everything I've read and seen, and every time I've heard him speak he's been honest, humble, and generally a nice guy. Those are rare character traits for a professional football player, especially for one who is arguably the best running back of all time.
If he turned EA down, he had good reason. I trust LT a lot more than I trust EA.

quiks48 @ Apr 19th 2007 4:39PM

ok this is a lose-lose according to most people on here. so you people call him greedy cause he wanted more money, but wouldn't he have been just as greedy if he accepted the offer? maybe it wasn't worth his time for the publicity events he would have to attend. maybe he just didn't want to be on the cover. who really cares he is a lot more respectable than most athletes out there.

bgdc @ Apr 19th 2007 4:42PM

Good for Lt. That's awesome.

pangit @ Apr 19th 2007 5:06PM

those of you saying that LT is some kind of greedy prick dont know much about him or football, heck maybe not even much outside of the video game world!

the nfl makes a LOT of money, and they share that wealth because they care for their employees. its freaking hard to be a PROFESSIONAL football player. you guys complaining wouldnt last a full week.

most of those players are not dumb and have 4 year degrees in prestigious colleges, so unless you know one personally dont judge them or compare them to high school players (most of which dont even make it in the nfl, sometimes they dont even continue football after graduation)

im glad hes not on the cover, EA doesnt deserve his greatness. (common dont you remember guys...EA is eeeevil)

Anth @ Apr 19th 2007 5:07PM

TK00,
The reason people bitch about athletes being paid so much is because it comes at a cost. Why should fans have to watch commercial-ridden games which feature more ads than game? Why do fans have to pay $60+ for a ticket? Nobody needs to be getting paid that much. They could make a better product for the fans, charge less, and still allow everybody to make plenty of money.

sabe @ Apr 19th 2007 5:18PM

Nobody can talk junk about LaDainian Tomlinson. I want to see any of you go out on the gridiron and run for 1800 yards and pick up 31 Touchdowns.

But Young??? Hes "dynamic"? I mean, yeah, he will be pretty good next year, but hes just a worse version of Donovan McNabb, and McNabb is a beast when it comes to throwing, and Young cant throw at all. 8-4 in his rookie season? Well, Rex Grossman had his true rookie season this year and went 15-4, and got to the Super Bowl. You dont see him on the cover.

Devin Hester should have been the cover player. He changed the NFL with his playing.

JodyAnthony @ Apr 19th 2007 5:20PM

I mainly just posted what I did to see how long it took before someone said something along the lines of "BECAUSE U CANT DO IT LOL"

not long, like I figured.

maybe I just don't like sports? maybe I just don't like the fact that people get paid much much more to play a game than other people get paid to save peoples lives?

but no, I can't run around with a ball, thats why I don't like professional sports.

JodyAnthony @ Apr 19th 2007 5:29PM

and for the record, I play baseball every summer. Just because I don't like the fact that these people get paid what they do (really, crono and Anth put it better than I possibly every could) doesn't mean I don't like PLAYING sports, and doesn't mean I'm some worthless POS.

bgdc @ Apr 19th 2007 5:32PM

Remember this always about pro athletes - someone else is paying them. Their employer has made the determination that the player earns X dollars for his organization and thus is worth Y salary. The owner of the franchise is making money, rest assured, they're profiting.

If your boss came to you and said, "We believe you're worth $1 million dollars per year in your current position" would you argue with him? The company values you at that amount and they believe they will turn a profit paying you that amount. Why would you say no? you wouldn't. So why are you holding salaries against players? They're employees too...

bgdc @ Apr 19th 2007 5:33PM

Jodyanthony, so really, you're issue isn't with the players. It's with the organizations that pay the athletes. You would take $10 million a year to play baseball. Nobody is offering it to you because you're not that good - you won't make more than $10 M a year for an organization and thus you aren't paid that handsomely.

bgdc @ Apr 19th 2007 5:34PM

Jodyanthony, so really, your issue isn't with the players. It's with the organizations that pay the athletes. You would take $10 million a year to play baseball. Nobody is offering it to you because you're not that good - you won't make more than $10 M a year for an organization and thus you aren't paid that handsomely.

Anonymous @ Apr 19th 2007 5:34PM

Tomlinson proved he was a douche when the Chargers lost during last years playoffs, and now he has reaffirmed it. Not happy with the financial offer? It was probably a few million dollars. In other words, instead of taking the money and having the honor of being on the cover, this lowlife retard basically decided he was too good for gamers.

I don't understand how EA picks it's cover players anyway. Peyton Manning would have been the obvious choice, and it doesn't seem like he was even considered. Meh, I won't be buying Madden anyway, it's the same damn game as last year but with new rosters. Screw EA

bgdc @ Apr 19th 2007 5:45PM

Anonymous - EA pays freaking peanuts the Madden cover:

"The deal usually pays the cover athlete $100,000 to $200,000 and requires multiple appearances to pump up the game."

http://deadspin.com/sports/nfl/

For 200k they want him to make appearances and push the game? The man signed a 60 million longterm contract with the Chargers. He's making $7.5 million a year in just salary. I'm not sure how much Nike is paying him but it's safe to assume at least $1 million a year. Beyond that he's always at charity events in San Diego; for instance on Easter Sunday he spent the day at The Rock Church (former Charger WR Miles McPherson's giant church) promoting his faith.

Do you really think LT needs 200k and a requirement to do some promotional appearances? If he's making 8.5 M (Nike, salary), 200k represents only 2% more of his income. And remember once you're making $7-8 MILLION a year, what's the use of another 200k? It's peanuts.

ill trooper @ Apr 19th 2007 5:57PM

The mistake I see here is a common one for the internet: people confusing their own situation with a famous/rich person's situation.

Just because YOU would do a cover for a video game for whatever they offer does not mean someone like LT should.

Anonymous wrote "In other words, instead of taking the money and having the honor of being on the cover, this lowlife retard basically decided he was too good for gamers."

...Again, you are projecting your own values on to someone else. He's certainly not a 'lowlife retard' and HE didn't say anything about being "too good for gamers..." YOU said that. Who knows, maybe it was too embaraassing to have all that focus on HIM and he felt people would be hating on him. Or maybe he was offered too little. We don't know. He's an amazing running back and ignites the field. We're not talking about T.O. here.

Moving on to positve Chargers thoughts:

"(Seriously...all they need to do was have the guy who intecepted Tom Brady take a freaking knee!!! ARRGH!)

Posted at 3:22PM on Apr 19th 2007 by OhJustSomeRandomGuy"

Amen to that, just bat the pass down. Trying to run that back when you're past the line of scrimage was one of the biggest heartbreaks I've had as a Chargers fan (take if from a life-long Chargers fan who sat on the edge of my seat as a wee young lad watching Winslow block Miami's field goal attempts in play-off double overtime many years ago...).

Fa1kor @ Apr 19th 2007 5:59PM

Good for you LT, showed a company who's boss and stayed away from the Madden curse. I was hoping that he would not end up on the next Madden after his performance last year.

I was a bit surprised that Vince Young was on the cover for the next one, I had just told a buddy that I bet Manning and LT probably shot EA down and EA had to go with young.

traaw @ Apr 19th 2007 6:00PM

he was offered 200k

bgdc @ Apr 19th 2007 6:00PM

Good point about Peyton - Mr. $10 million a year in endorsements - Manning. Why isn't he on Madden's Cover?

Anonymous @ Apr 19th 2007 6:05PM

Positive Chargers thoughts? The Chargers suck. Shot themselves square in the foot by going for it on 4th down in the early stages of last years hilarious defeat. Marty Shottenheimer won't allow the Chargers to go to the Super Bowl, just like he always managed to keep the Chiefs away, even though they had arguably the best defense in football throughout the 90's. LT is a whiner, an egotistical maniac, and now a greedy snob that forgets where he came from (his ancestors would surely slap him if they found out he had turned down 200 thousand dollars)

Way to project YOUR personal situation and bias on other people. You aren't as much of a "Classy Guy" as Tomlinson I guess.

wyrdtoo @ Apr 19th 2007 6:10PM

Actually, other Madden cover deals have only been in the 100K-200K range, so it's nothing compared to other endorsement deals athletes do.

Anyway, I think EA should put Madden on the cover each year. Then if there is a curse, what happens? His bus breaks down and he misses a couple broadcasts.

It's win-win for everyone! :D

Wyrdtoo

bgdc @ Apr 19th 2007 6:23PM

Anonymous, Did you bother to read the posts up or are you just obsessing over 200k?

I broke it down for you already:

$8.5 million per year v. $200k. Do the math. 200k isn't much in the scheme of things.

EA moved 2.8 million copies of Madden 2007 on PS2. Yeah, just one console. Xbox 360 copies: 1.1 million. Subtract all the costs and you're telling me EA doesn't turn an insane profit on Madden?

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6164113.html

Pete C @ Apr 19th 2007 7:23PM

Yeah, this is BS. He just doesn't want to admit to being afraid of a curse and be laughed at. What athlete would turn down ANY endorsements from a popular product? It's free money!

bgdc @ Apr 19th 2007 7:36PM

Pete C - 200k is peanuts. Why bother when you're making over $8 million a year?

ill trooper @ Apr 19th 2007 7:38PM

"LT is a whiner, an egotistical maniac, and now a greedy snob that forgets where he came from (his ancestors would surely slap him if they found out he had turned down 200 thousand dollars).

Way to project YOUR personal situation and bias on other people. You aren't as much of a "Classy Guy" as Tomlinson I guess. - Anonymous"

wow...

Again, are projecting your own opinion of the guy on to his situation: I'm understanding you to be saying he's forgotten "where he came from" and his "ancestors would disapprove." Are you trying to say slave trade and Africa? Maybe his lineage can be traced back to slaves, I don't know, but a pro NFL player in 2007 is far different from whoever you're talking about. OF COURSE anyone's ancestors (a term which I will take to mean "Family lineage of 3-4 generations ago") would think that declining $200k is "slap-worthy," but not in the context of the 2007 numbers that bgdc's post details - It's really a very small percentage of what he makes in a year, and he may not have the time or interest in EA and an NFL video game to spend time promoting it for that amount.

LT is not his "ancestors" that you talk about; he's a man living in 2007 making millions, yet you seem to want to tie him to generations past in his family tree and assume that he should be happy to take $200k like they would have wanted to do if that would have even been possible many generations ago.

Perhaps he remembers EXACTLY where you're implying he's from, and he won't work for less than he feels he'e worth, in the context of what's required of him, and how much of a percentage $200k is of the total money the 'Madden' franchise generates.

And why exactly does his turning EA down get you so heated? All you've talked about is how YOU think he's a greedy snob, YOU think he's declared he's better than gamers by passing on this, and how he should remember "where he came from."

Get your head around it: He doesn't want the money as much as YOU want him to.

Anonymous @ Apr 19th 2007 9:20PM

Lol, way to dig for racial meaning behind a statement. I don't believe that this anon mentioned his "Roots" and that this anon (this anon being this anon, as in me myself and anon) used the word ancestors. My ancestors are English and Catholic, and they'd slap him for giving up 200 thousand dollars aswell. Anyone's ancestors would. And this anon agrees with Pete C in that he is a sissy-girl and doesn't want to feel the wrath of the Madden curse. Or rather, doesn't want anyone to know that he fears it (thus the "They didn't offer enough money!" excuse)

Wow you are an idiot. Welcome to 2007.