EA Sports has signed a three year deal with Tottenham Hotspur to become the official video game partner of the Barclays Premier League club.  The company has a base in Galway where it employs 200 staff.  In the last year it has generated over €4 billion in revenue from popular games such as FIFA 12.
EA Sports has an existing relationship with Irish soccer through its sponsorship of the EA Sports Cup played between teams from the Irish League and the Airtricity Premier League.
‘We are extremely excited to join a world class football club like Tottenham Hotspur as an Official Club Partner,’
‘This is an opportunity for us to create a deeper connection with Tottenham’s passionate, global fan base,” said Matt Bilbey, senior vice president and general manager of football at EA Sports. “We can use our and use our game as a platform to engage supporters all season long.”
The team will visit the United States for a three match pre-season tour that will see them play LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls on 24th and 31st July, respectively, as well as taking on Premier League opponents Liverpool in Baltimore on 28th July.
While in New York, EA Sports will be conducting 3D head scans of Tottenham Hotspur players at Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Station. This will enable the FIFA development team to capture high-quality and authentic 3D digital player models for future versions of the FIFA videogame.
This is the eighth partnership the company has with Premier League clubs.  Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Newcastle, and Manchester City are already on board.
The activation measures with clubs includes exclusive video content featuring players; competitions where fans predict match outcomes using the EA Sports game engine; special club focused game packaging sleeves for FIFA 13, which fans will be able to download from club websites prior to launch;  and the EA Sports Dugout, a mobile gaming trailer, appearing at home games so fans can play EA Sports games.
Gaming is becoming an ever more important partner with sport, in much the same way as mobile telephone companies did at the outset of that particular technology.  It coincided with greater restriction on tobacco advertising and perhaps gaming will go some way to replace alcohol sponsorship as that comes under greater pressure in Ireland and other markets.
Microsoft has expanded its sports involvement through the X-box while the logo for Angry Birds has featured this year in Formula 1 for the first time.