As sports leagues move forward, trying to find new and engaging ways to entertain viewers is one of the biggest tasks at hand. Ratings are down for most broadcasts, and people are consuming their live sports through different means. To help bring more viewers in and give them a different experience, the NFL, NBC and EA Sports are partnering up for the first ever Madden NFL Cast on December 21.
Airing exclusively on Peacock on Saturday, the Madden NFL Cast features the Houston Texans against the Kansas City Chiefs. While it’ll be the actual game, the broadcast will feature Madden-like graphics to give it that video game feel.
For Vice President of Gaming at the NFL Ed Kiang, this broadcast has been a long-time coming for the league.
“This is something that us and EA have really been interested in trying to pursue for a really long time,” Kiang told Insider Gaming. “For a variety of reasons, there were challenges getting it all to come together the way we would have wanted.
“The time finally felt right with NBC looking to create their first sports altcast and new developments from Genius Sports on the underlying tech which helped bring the vision to reality in a way that we couldn’t before.”
The Madden NFL Cast won’t be the first foray into alternative broadcasts for the NFL. The league has done broadcasts featuring characters from Toy Story and The Simpsons in the past. The big difference with this, however, is that instead of using generated characters, it’ll be the actual players and game on the field.
Kiang says by using the actual game for the broadcast, it allows for better breakdowns of the strategies and intricacies that go into an NFL game on the field.
“It gives that really interesting and immersive viewing experience that speaks to different ends of the spectrum of our fanbase that I think everyone can kind of enjoy and get something out of,” Kiang said.
Despite using the real game, the goal of the broadcast is to make it feel like a game of Madden is happening. To do that, the Madden NFL Cast will feature route trails, player and X-Factor icons, play selection screens, player ratings, and more.
Even the broadcast camera will have a Madden feel as it will use the All-22 camera angle that is default in Madden games as the primary angle viewers see. Pair that with the analysis of former players Chad Ochocinco and Kury Benkert, and it starts to bring what the NFL envisioned to life.
“That all creates this great immersive Madden experience, which I think avid Madden players are going appreciate,” Kiang explained. “On the other end of the spectrum, we knew we also wanted the broadcast to be accessible to casual viewers but I don’t think I had anticipated how much the Madden overlays combined with the commentator analysis could help connect the dots for casual viewers in such a fun and visual way.”
To lead up to the broadcast on December 21, the team held two rehearsals with live games to build the chemistry, test the technology, and make sure everything can go smoothly. Seeing how everything worked during the test run left Kiang excited about what fans will see during the live show.
“I was blown away,” he said. “I’m not as close to how normal broadcast production comes together, but I was pretty blown away at how quickly everyone kind of came together and how smoothly everything’s gone so far. It’s a massive undertaking.”
While there’s nothing set in stone just yet, the hope for the league is that there will be more Madden-style NFL broadcasts in the future as the technology and abilities improve.
“As a league, we love the alternative broadcasts, and it just makes a ton of sense to continue to enhance them for the future,” Kiang said.
The Madden NFL Cast airs at 1pm ET on Peacock.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Quotes edited for clarity
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