Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The National Football League Players Association must pay its retired members $28 million in royalties from licensing agreements with companies including video-game maker Electronic Arts Inc., a federal jury said.

The San Francisco jury yesterday said the union breached its fiduciary duty to the retired players and violated the terms of the players' group licensing agreements. Jurors awarded $7.1 million for the first issue and said no damages were owed for the second. The jury also said the union should pay $21 million in punitive damages.

The lawsuit filed in on behalf of as many as 2,062 former National Football League players claimed the union and its Players Inc. licensing unit failed to pay millions of dollars in royalties garnered under licenses with makers of video games, trading cards and other football products.

The retired players claimed they were entitled to a share in royalties from Electronic Arts and other companies using names and images of football players, even if their own images weren't used. An image of Herb Adderley, lead plaintiff in the 2007 lawsuit and a former Green Bay Packers player, was scrambled in Electronic Arts's ``Madden NFL'' video game because the union didn't want to pay him, said Ronald Katz, the players' lawyer.

``There are 143 vintage team games from Electronic Arts. These are teams that are people's favorite,'' Katz told the jury yesterday. ``These men did nothing but trust their union.''

The players union argued that only active players were covered by the agreements.

``The decision is contrary to the law and it's an unjust verdict and we are confident it will be overturned,'' said Jeffrey Kessler, a lawyer for the union. He said the union will first ask the judge to reverse the verdict and will appeal the decision if that's unsuccessful.

Electronic Arts, the world's second-largest maker of video games and maker of the ``Madden NFL'' game, wasn't sued.

The case is Herbert Adderley v. National Football League Players Association, 07-943, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).

To contact the reporter on this story: Karen Gullo in San Francisco at kgullo@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 11, 2008 00:01 EST