• by Danielle Oster , Yesterday

Electronic Arts’ EA Sports is throwing a big “Madden” party during Super Bowl weekend.

With the Bay Area’s Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, hosting the upcoming Super Bowl LX, EA Sports is hyping its long-running “Madden NFL” gaming franchise with a series of events kicking off Feb. 6 at San Francisco’s Chase Center sports arena. At the center of the festivities is the return of EA Sports’ Madden Bowl, presented in partnership with Visa.

Madden Bowl is named after the late legendary coach and broadcaster John Madden, who worked closely with EA Sports to develop its e-sports football games.

EA Sports’ activations at the Chase Center celebrating “music, gaming, culture and football” will include a “genre-mixing” concert lineup, a “blue carpet” event featuring celebrity appearances, and “exclusive behind-the-scenes content,” only available through EA Sports channels. As part of its partnership with EA Sports on the event, Visa is providing “exclusive access and elevated benefits” to Visa Infinite cardholders.

At the center of events is the Madden Championship Series e-sports competition pitting competitive players of EA Sports’ flagship NFL football franchise game against each other to determine a champion the same weekend the NFL crowns its Super Bowl champion team. 

During Super Bowl weekend, EA Sports also has a series of activations across the Bay Area planned, including a “Madden NFL Gaming Lounge” during the opening night of Super Bowl weekend, an “EA Sports Madden NFL” media center, hosting a “Bay Area Host Committee x EA Sports” media welcome party, and a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) event for NFL Inspire, the league’s social justice initiative.

Continuing a practice started in 2004, the brand will share the results of a simulation run in the most-recent version of the game (“Madden NFL 26”) to predict which team will win the Super Bowl. The “Madden NFL” franchise will also be a presenting sponsor for awards during the official NFL Honors ceremony.

In a blog post about the upcoming event, EA Sports said it would share further details about the 2026 Madden Bowl festivities, and other marketing activations around the Super Bowl, next month, encouraging audiences to check the brand’s social media pages for updates.