EA Renews Partnership with NFL for Madden NFL Esports
Madden NFL Championship Series 23 offers a total prize pool of $1.7M for the 22-23 season.
Electronic Arts (EA) announced Wednesday that it has renewed its long-standing partnership with the National Football League (NFL) for competitive Madden NFL esports—the EA SPORTS Madden NFL Championship Series (MCS)—in a new multi-year deal. EA also announced that registration for the MCS 23 Ultimate Kickoff officially launched on Monday (Aug. 8) and will remain open until Aug. 21.
This year’s calendar (running from Aug. 8 - Feb.10, 2023) will align with the official NFL season, beginning with an “Ultimate Kickoff” in early September, a Thanksgiving event, a “Wildcard” qualifier, a “Last Chance” qualifier, and a high-profile finale called the Ultimate Madden NFL 23 Bowl during Super Bowl LVII week in January and February of next year. All told, the total prize pool for MCS 23 will be $1.7M USD—up from the $1.65M prize pool from last season.
MCS 23 does have requirements in order to enter: Players 16-years-old or older in the U.S., UK, Mexico, Germany, and Canada (including Quebec) are eligible to play on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles, but may only compete on one platform. Competitions will be played via Battlefy, which means that players will need to register for a free account.
EA also revealed that it will work closely with the NFL to create content centered on MCS 23, with an emphasis on “building stories” around the competition’s best players and will also collaborate on creating fan activations. In addition, Campbell’s Chunky Soup returns as a partner of MCS 23 and will get the “virtual naming rights” to what the company is calling the “Campbell's Chunky Stadium.”
Finally, EA claimed in its release that last season MCS saw a viewership increase of 4X that of the previous season (“...4x broadcast increase for its average minute audience year-over-year“), but did not provide figures on viewership. Like the 2021-2022 season, MCS 23 will be broadcast on Twitch and YouTube.
Super Bowl LVII will take place at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Feb. 12, 2023.
MCS 23 Schedule and Prize Pools:
Ultimate Kickoff:
Registration: Aug. 8-21
Qualifiers: Aug. 20-28
Broadcast Dates: Sept. 7 & 9
Prize Pool: $180K
Ultimate Thanksgiving:
Registration: Sept. 5 - Oct. 2
Qualifiers: Oct. 1 – 23
Broadcast: Nov. 9-16
Prize Pool: $260K
Ultimate Wild Card:
Registration: Nov. 7 - Dec. 1
Qualifiers: Nov. 29 - Dec. 18
Broadcast: Jan. 6-11, 2023
Prize Pool: $260K
Last Chance Qualifier:
Registration: Jan. 2-14, 2023
Qualifiers: Jan. 14-15, 2023
Ultimate Madden NFL 23 Bowl:
Broadcast: Jan. 23 & 27, 2023; Feb. 2-3 & 10, 2023
Prize Pool: $1M