Electronic Arts along with the National Football League have created a new format for the EA SPORTS Madden NFL 21 Championship Series. Along with revamped tournament offerings and weekly sports entertainment programming, the two will be adding a mix of celebrities, athletes, and elite Madden NFL players to a Tuesday night streamed lineup.
The Madden Championship Series sees a newly formatted event for players, upping the yearly prize pool to $1.4M USD–the largest prize pool ever for Madden NFL. Starting with the Madden NFL 21 Club Championship taking place from Nov. 10 – Feb. 5, players have eight weeks to compete in order to represent one of the 32 NFL teams. The online games will take place on Tuesday nights starting in October as Madden NFL continues to announce additional tournament details throughout the year.
This series is possible following the announcement of a multi-year partnership renewal that was signed between the NFL and NFLPA and Madden NFL. Madden NFL has seen success in terms of the number of players playing the title. showing a 30% year-over-year increase in unique players. Additionally, Madden NFL can lay claim to having the most-aired competitive gaming broadcasts on ESPN and ESPN 2 which occurred last May. This is helping a shift in strategy where EA Competitive Gaming Entertainment moves from simply being a tournament organizer to entertainment provider.
Everything starts Sept. 15 on the EA SPORTS Madden NFL Twitch and Madden Competitive Gaming YouTube channels. Each week in the 16-week-long series, a different celebrity, musical artist, or athlete will challenge Chargers’ Safety Derwin James in Madden NFL 21. James will then take on the winner of the season’s Madden Club Championship.
Additionally, each week will see King of The Hill competition, as players participate in two respective single-elimination tournaments; two NFL athletes will face -off in parallel with two elite Madden NFL competitive players, with the winner from each matchup advancing to the next week to meet a new challenger.
Official NFL partner Pizza Hut returns as a sponsor with more sponsors to be announced soon.
