The esports landscape is increasingly populated with leagues, teams, and professional players. The NBA2K League, eMLS, Overwatch, League of Legends all draw on that format. Standing in contrast, however, is the NFL’s endeavor with the Madden Championship Series. This remains an open format with only three listed requirements for eligibility: be at least 16 years old, reside in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the U.K., or Germany, and be “willing to prove themselves on the sticks.”
Speaking at this week’s XLive Esports Summit in New York City, the NFL’s David Highhill and EA’s Matt Marcou articulated the vision of the EA Major Series, which consists of four large tournaments: the Madden Classic, Madden Challenge, Madden NFL Club Championship, and Madden Bowl.
“We’ve listened really deeply to the gamers,” Marcou said, before adding: “We really wanted to embrace the open culture of Madden.”
Marcou is the Madden Competitive Gaming Commissioner—“which means I get booed a lot,” he said with a smile. He added that one of the most frequent comments he hears is the appreciation for the opportunity to compete.
Highhill is the director of strategy and business development for the NFL’s consumer products team. He pointed to the Club Championship as one that has particularly resonated with gamers because contestants vie to represent their favorite NFL team in the tournament. New York-area players, for instance, could practice as the Jets in a digital rendering of MetLife Stadium, and then compete in the final rounds at an event hosted by the real Jets at actual MetLife Stadium.
“They’re a unique bridge, as opposed to some other esports, where the core IP that’s in the game is representing something real,” Highhill said.
While the structure of the NBA’s esports venture is radically different—scouting combine, live draft, full season schedule—that league has taken a similar tack to the NFL in choosing a video game version of its own sport. That helps build the connection between the new esport and existing players and fans.
In a previous job at Riot Games, Marcou helped organize League of Legends’ competitive slate. Madden has an inherent advantage because, as he said, “The benefit of basing an esport off a sport is really the familiarity. I don’t have to teach anyone the rules. I literally wrote the rules to League of Legends, and they’re still confusing, right?”
Madden gamers generally tend to be NFL fans already, but this initiative still offers opportunities to attract new fans and increase the interest of existing ones. Three million players entered MCS events last year, and Marcou said the competitive gamers average five times the engagement as the non-competitive players. Madden programming has been streamed on Twitch and Mixer and broadcast on the CW, a primetime show that was the top-rated esports program of 2017. Marcou said Madden content has bolstered younger demographics even on linear channels. ESPN has a multi-year deal to broadcast Madden competitions.
That’s what the NFL is after. Highhill said the league has “two really likely audiences that live in very different places,” referring to the linear TV-watching football fans and the streaming viewers of Madden. The hope is to continue “cross-pollinating” to entice more core football fans into esports and more Madden lovers into traditional football.
The advantage for the NFL is that Madden has been a flagship title for decades. The first release came in 1988, and the game was popularized by the 1990 version on Sega Genesis. Highhill said he started playing Madden on a Nintendo Gameboy as a child, “burning through so many double-A batteries in the process.” Since the game’s release, all consoles that support two-player games have fostered competition. That has only formalized with the NFL’s esports push.
“It’s unique to our game that we have a 30-year history,” Highhill said, “and it’s now multi-generational.”