The NFL Pro Bowl 2021 will be virtual, with players competing in Madden


EA Sports M21 Madden 21 Video Game

Source: EA Sports

It was supposed to be a star studded event in Las Vegas. Instead, the 2021 Pro Bowl will take place virtually, with players going together in the electronic arts’ Madden NFL ’21 video game, the league announced Tuesday.

As a sign of the times, EA Sports and the National Football League have teamed up to create a week-long series of virtual match-ups featuring celebrities, football legends and current players, leading to the main event – a maiden among the league’s best players. . The exact date of the game is yet to be determined.

“We’re excited to bring this to life virtually and will be the first to do so,” Peter O’Reilly, executive vice president of club business and league events for the NFL, told CNBC. “There’s a chance to connect with young fans in a way that’s really accessible.”

The Pro Bowl specifically claims the best players from the two NFL conferences – the American Football Conference Conference and the National Football Conference – against each other in a game that took place a week before the Super Bowl. But last month, the NFL announced it would cancel the 2021 Pro Bowl game due to the Covid-19 epidemic. The game, which is usually about .5. Draws millions of spectators, was to play in Las Vegas on January 31 at the Elegant Stadium.

Instead, a group of elite players will call their game console and roar garbage when the head goes into the game Madden. The league says the format of the AFC vs. the NFC will remain the same.

“You can imagine Patrick Mahoms playing himself as an AFC quarterback against NFC side Aaron Donald. So bring that kind of player into the game and allow celebrities and others to be part of that virtual game and clearly let fans see it and be a part of it,” O’Reilly said.

The NFL is working with Disney-owned ABC and ESPN on the details of the broadcast arrangement, but the event will be broadcast on all major social media channels.

“We’re not going to pursue all of this focus and energy on a large scale without ensuring that it has real distribution on popular streaming platforms, and we hope there will be some meaningful coordination with ESPN and ABC,” O’Reilly said.

EA Sports M21 Madden 21 Video Game

Source: EA Sports

O’Reilly said EA Sports is the most natural fit to pull off this virtual event, as it reaches the key demographic-thousands targeted by the NFL. For EA Sports, Madden has the opportunity to evolve from being a video game to a more interactive way of using games.

“As the game continues to change, we’re in the game with partners like the NFL to find out what fans want next in casual sports experiences and entertainment. Marketing executive.

Bruzzo said the experience would be similar to a virtual version of Elegant Stadium and a real-world pro bowl game with leading placements for sponsors such as Verizon. (Elegant Stadium will host the 2022 Pro Bowl as a make-up for this year’s Pro Bowl loss.)

The voting process will be the same as the previous Pro Bowls. Starting Tuesday, fans can vote for players they deem worthy of the Pro Bowl honor through NFL.com, their maiden console and Twitter. NFL players and coaches will vote on December 18. The choice of Pro Bowl is decided by the unanimous vote of the fans, players and coaches.

Selected players will still receive an incentive bonus based on their contract, as well as a gift package including a custom personalized Pro Bowl jersey.

The epidemic has given an unexpected boost to the video game industry. As people get stuck at home, they turn to video games to beat cabin fever. U.P. Overall consumer spending on video gaming reached .2 11.2 billion in the third quarter of 2020, up 24% from the same period last year, according to the NPD Group.

EA says 20 million players joined its network between April and August Gust.

Bruzzo said last year was Madden’s single highest year in terms of the number of players playing this year. He added, “We see people playing on weekdays and at noon and all week, as opposed to the usual heavy spikes, which we’ll get over the weekend.”

EA’s Madden was the second best performing title in the NFL 21 quarter P Top 20 games of NPD in October 2020. The only title ahead of it was FIFA 21, also the title of Electronic Arts.

Explanation: The NFL says the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players outlines no compensation or incentive to play in the Pro Bowl, contrary to what was suggested in previous interviews for this story.

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