Every summer, just as Hollywood is ushering in its last wave of big budget blockbusters, EA Sports gets fans ready for college football and the new NFL season by releasing NCAA Football in July and Madden NFL in August. Much earlier in the year, the leading sports game publisher announces the latest cover athletes for these two franchises, which consistently rank one (Madden) and two (NCAA Football) in annual U.S. game sales each year. This year, Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky, who pulled off an amazing comeback in the Fiesta Bowl last season, graces the cover of NCAA Football 08 for PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2. Another ex-college player who knows about comebacks, Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young, who brought the University of Texas a national championship two years ago, is on the cover of Madden NFL 08.
At an NFL Draft 2007 party to celebrate NCAA Football 08, some of the men behind the cover athlete decisions were on hand to talk about the decision-making process. Zabransky was also on hand, posing in front of giant cover posters that feature him in action, to check out the latest build of the game.
“I never really envisioned being on the cover because I didn’t really think it was plausible, but when I got the call saying that I’m the front runner, that was extremely exciting,” said Zabransky. “And it’s definitely an honor to be in the mix of some of the guys who have been on the cover in the past. It was definitely a dream come true.”
Kendall Boyd, product manager for NCAA Football at EA Sports, said that this year’s game is all about leadership.
“When Jared through that pick at the end of the game against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, you thought the game was over,” said Boyd. “His ability to compose himself and execute the hook-and-ladder on a fourth and 18, then to go in at the end of the game and sell a fake against Oklahoma’s defense and run the statue of liberty, that’s composure. That’s a guy that’s been there.”
It also helps that trick plays like the statue of liberty and the hook and ladder are in NCAA Football 08 for the first time. Boyd said the process for picking the new cover athlete for NCAA Football begins during the summer, when universities start doing two-a-days. He said at the start of the season the development team has their favorites... guys that they hope will do well. Boyd added that it’s no different then trying to pick an All-American or a Heisman Trophy winner.
“There’s a lot of thought that goes into it,” said Boyd. “At the end of the day, with a guy like Jared Zabransky, it’s not just about the big guy. It’s not about the million dollar athlete. It’s about college football. Boise State was such a special story last year. They really came out of nowhere. The way they performed throughout the year and the way they performed at the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma was phenomenal. You have to take those things into consideration.”
Boyd and his team do different things from year to year. NCAA Football 07 featured Reggie Bush as the cover athlete, despite the fact that his USC lost to Vince Young’s Texas in the national championship game.
“We would have loved to have had Vince Young on the cover as well, and this year he gets the Madden cover,” said Boyd. “Each year we sit down and analyze, focus test and decide by committee with marketing, production and PR guys together who will be the best athlete for the cover.”
“I think it's great the fact that after his first year in the NFL they put Vince Young on the cover,” said Bush. “It opens up the door for other rookies in the NFL and if they play well, they could be on the cover.”
When asked if he feels like he could become the second player in history to grace both the cover of NCAA Football and Madden NFL (last year’s Madden cover athlete Shawn Alexander was the first), Bush replied, “I think I have a good chance of getting on the cover.”
“Reggie Bush would have been a great guy for Madden this year if he had fit the feature set,” said Chris Erb, product manager for Madden at EA Sports. “But just because he was on the cover of NCAA Football 07 doesn’t eliminate him from the cover of Madden in the future.”
According to Erb, the process for choosing who will be on the next cover of Madden, the best-selling sports game in the U.S., begins before pre-season.
“We want our cover athlete to match up with our main feature from the game for that year,” said Erb. “We want someone who will represent EA well and we want someone who’s a real gamer. Not someone who says he plays games. We keep our eye on guys who are playing during the season. We boil it down to a core group of guys as we start to see what the stories are for that year. For us this year, Vince fit with our feature set and he’s an enormous gamer.”
Erb said that football fans have seen a huge youth movement in the NFL with with players like Young, Bush, Matt Leinart, Marcus Colson and Joseph Addai are having breakout season.
“They’re the stars of the NFL right now and Vince Young was the face of this enormous youth movement we see,” said Erb. “He was Rookie of the Year last year and the first rookie quarterback to ever play in the Pro Bowl. It was a perfect fit for us.
Erb said that every player has the potential to become the next Madden cover athlete and that for 2009, the field is completely opened. He said that if someone told him at last year’s NFL Draft that Vince Young would be on the cover, he’d have thought they were crazy.
“We’ve never had a guy turn us down before,” said Erb. “Being on the cover of Madden is a pretty big deal for a lot of guys. There’s a business aspect that comes into it, but we never have issues with that. It’s not about the dollars or cents. It’s about the exposure. It’s about bragging rights.”
Last year, Shawn Alexander was so excited about being on the cover not just because his picture was going to be on every game box, but because he was able to get the game before anyone else. Erb said he wanted consoles for his linemen and games for the guys on the team.
Free games, free PLAYSTATION®3 systems (EA sent one to Zabransky as well) and bragging rights among your teammates are all some of the perks that come along with being the new cover athlete for the most popular football games out there.