Madden 27 & College Football 27 | Opening Drive Official Reveal Event

EA Sports opening drive live from the Aon Grand Ballroom at Navy Pier in Chicago.I'm your host, Nick Mazzesco, and tonight isn't just about two games.It's about football.EA Sports believes football is more than what happens on the field.It's about the communities, rivalries, and culture that connects fans every day.From the first snap under Friday night lights to the biggest moments on Sunday, it's not just about how it's played, but how it's experienced.

Because this year, more than ever, every decision you make matters.How you build, how you play, and what happens next.Only EA Sports.can bring fans the full football journey, from building your program, to creating your player, to proving yourself in the NFL, to running the entire league.And it's all connected.The modes, the moments, the decisions.

Tonight, you're going to see how it all comes together.The players, the systems, and the decisions, and the decision makers that define this year's experience.So whether you're building your program, living your career, or running the league, this is your football journey.Let's throw it over to the pride of Florida State University, Sean Grady, to take us through the future of football at EA Sports.

Hello.Welcome.Thank you so much for being everybody.We are so happy to see you guys tonight.My name is Sean Grady.I am the Vice President and Head of Production for EA Sports College Football and Madden NFL.

And it's incredible to be here tonight in the iconic Aon Ballroom at the Navy Pier in Chicago, home of this year's Madden NFL 27 cover athlete, Caleb Williams.Yes, go.And we are joined tonight online by the college football and Madden NFL communities watching with us.Thank you guys for joining us around the world.Now, we've been looking forward to this night for a long time.Those of you in the room know that for the past two years, this has been a private event back at our Orlando studio in Florida, where we hosted a few select community members.

But tonight, we're opening it up to the entire football audience.here in the room, of course, and around the world.And we're going to show you everything we've been building in College Football 27 and Madden NFL 27, and I do mean everything.So this is our opening drive.Now, we're all football fans, and we know there's nothing like that opening drive.series.

It's the first look at everything you've prepared for, months of film study, and we've studied a lot of the film from you guys in the room here.Reps, adjustments, and execution, of course, all building towards that moment when you kick off the ball.And for us, that moment's right now.Now, before we look ahead to the future of football, let's take a moment to celebrate the incredible athletes that represent this year's game.On College Football 27, our covers capture everything that makes the sport special.The programs, the colors, the pageantry, and of course, the big athletes that bring it all to life every Saturday.

So we're very excited to share that we have our cover athletes in the building tonight.Ole Miss running back Kiwon Lacy, Miami wide receiver Malachi Toney, and Oregon quarterback Dante Moore.They're somewhere here in the room.If you guys are here, say hi, wave your hands.Thanks for joining us, guys, tonight.Now, I wish Coach Signetti was here.

He's gracing the Deluxe Edition cover, you know, controlling the chaos from the front, but he could not make it tonight.Now let's turn our attention to Sundays.This year's Madden NFL 27 cover represents the next generation of the league.A player stepping into the spotlight right here in Chicago.Any Chicago fans?Okay, yeah.

We like to say he plays Madden like a Madden character brought to life.He's made the Bears team a can't -miss team week in and week out.And anybody that watched the playoffs last year knows this.Any Packer fans in the house?You guys remember this, yeah.Sorry, sorry to remind you about that.

But we're incredibly excited to have him here tonight as well, Chicago Bears quarterback and the first ever Bears cover athlete, our 27 -cover star, Caleb Williams.If you're here, Caleb, say hello.All right, over the past year, our teams have been in their own version of the off season.We're building.we're testing, we're iterating, and we're pushing every detail forward, from gameplay to presentation, from deeper authenticity to new innovations.Every part of these experiences have been shaped with a purpose, because when you all step on that virtual field, when you pick up the controller, we want you to feel confidence, control, and clarity.

We want you to feel that this is the strongest version of football we've ever delivered.That's how we feel.So tonight, we are going to go deep, and I do mean deep, so get comfortable.Sit back and relax.Drum roll, please.We're going to share gameplay, presentation, all the modes you care about, and the shared DNA across college football and Madden NFL.

You will see the unique decisions we've made in each game to capture the wide -open explosiveness of college football and the precision playmaking of the NFL.In short, in college football 27, Saturday is going to feel more like Saturday.And in Madden NFL 27, Sunday's going to feel more like Sunday.Does that sound good to you guys?Want to hear more?OK.

Before we get into the games, I do want to take a step back and share with you how we're thinking about the future of football at EA Sports.We're evolving college football and Madden NFL around three core pillars.So first, and I know all of you in the room are going to like this, gameplay above everything.That means authentic, responsive football with more control, smarter AI, and signature movement that feels true to the athletes, teams, and sport we represent.It also means we're investing in new ways to capture real -world football data through our internal partners like TrackCab, helping us unlock deeper realism, better movement, and new possibilities in the future.Stay tuned for that.

Second, connected careers with more life.Guys, we continue to invest deeply in the modes our players spend the most time in.in, building football career and franchise experiences that are more authentic, more dynamic, more social, and more connected across both college and Madden NFL.And in fact, that high school to Hall of Fame journey is something that only EA Sports can deliver.And third, fandom without limits.In the very near future, we're going to provide more ways for football fans to represent their teams, show their creativity, play their way, and win.

and connect to the sport they love with new tools, new experiences, and a new football platform connected and rewarding you and your fandom year -round.There is much more to come on that, but we are very excited for the future of football.All right, now speaking of platforms, we want every football fan to feel connected across our ecosystem.So that's why I am excited to share with you all tonight that College Football 27 will launch on PC for the first time.I've seen the comments.I know you wanted to hear that.

It's coming, so it will join Madden NFL, giving our PC community the chance to play both college football and Madden at the highest fidelity possible.I'm also excited to share that EA Sports College Football is coming to mobile this year, bringing the power and beauty of Frostbite gameplay and an all -new Dynasty experience later this year.Now, I might be biased, but I think it's the best -looking game on a mobile device from a sports perspective.So whether you play on console, PC, or mobile, football fans have more ways to play college football and Madden NFL anywhere, anytime.All right, now, without further ado, let's get to our first look at College Football 27 and Madden NFL 27.College Football 27 is built to reflect the modern, evolving college football landscape, delivering new ways to play in Dynasty, Road to Glory, Ultimate Team,

and more.Our goal is to create an experience with depth, challenge, emotion, and the current real -world college football decision -making landscape.So whether you're building your program, becoming a five -star recruit, or creating your ultimate team of current or legendary players, College Football 27 is built around one question.Are you doing it for the you or for yourself?This is College Football 27.

A century of futility is forgotten.The Indiana Hoosiers are the kings of college football.

Some players who walk through that tunnel, onto that field, grew up dreaming about putting on this uniform.They've rooted for this team their whole life and want to be a part of something bigger than themselves.Some have another dream.The money, the deals, the cars, those shiny teeth.That's college football now.I get it.

Everyone's got to make a name for themselves.The truth is, I don't care why you show up, I care what happens after you do.If you love to compete, if you want every advantage, and if it turns into one thing on Saturday, that's why I want you here.That's what you're here to do.No better place to do it.

I don't know, something about that pulls at the heartstrings.The music, college football, it's just amazing.We are honored to have Coach Cignetti representing the reigning national champions in this year's trailer.Congratulations once again to the University of Indiana.Now, don't worry, I know you want more than that.The development team is going to come out here and take you much deeper in just a few moments, including gameplay and what's new across your favorite modes in college football.

But before we do that, I do want to get you just as hyped on Madden NFL 27.Madden NFL 27 brings meaningful innovation for every type of player, whether you come for precision gameplay, superstar mode, course franchise mode, or presentation that makes every game feel connected to the night of the week, your team's traditions, or the moment in the virtual season that you're in right now.And I'm very happy to share that Madden NFL 27 represents our second consecutive year of a deep investment and a major leap forward for franchise mode players.This year, franchise mode is designed to bring the action to you in a more alive and dynamic way, putting you in control of the decision that defines a GM, a coach, or an entire league.In Madden NFL 27, it's your league.All right, let's take a look at how one of our newest GMs sees it.

Check it out.

What's there to talk about?Undefeated season, Super Bowl champions.I mean, has any other team shut out all their opponents during the regular season and through the playoffs in the Super Bowl before?Oh, no, really?

We're the first one?

Oh, well, that'll be a fun trivia question going forward.Next question.I'm a decision maker.It's what I do.It's not my fault the rest of the league can't keep up.Blame them.

Don't really blame me, because I've raised the bar super high.

My first decision?

Lock down my franchise QB.Caleb, what I'm telling you, big guys, I love you.Because I'm giving you all my money.Good use of funds.Size, athleticism, IQ, chill under pressure.Caleb Williams is permafrost.

We've done the focus groups.We've done the straw polls.They love it.It's permafrost.Look, I'm not some indecisive GM without a plan who's just going to pull a 48 -year -old quarterback out of retirement just because I can't.How many touchdowns?

The answer is yes.How do we stop this?Yes, you're my guy and you're in.All right, great seeing you.

Building something special here.

Not a chance.

Cheryl!

It all starts at the negotiation table.Yeah, I like to talk.No, no, no, no, no, no.I'll find the money, Jacob.Trade requests, extensions, holdouts.Leonard, there is an I in win, and there's also an I in vets.

A lot of pageantry.You totally did the right thing.You're fired, but you handled it well.Bye -bye.You gotta have a deft touch with this stuff.Works for me.

On the field, I like to score.Call me crazy.I'm a scheme guy, though.I don't just run the same play over and over just because it works.

JK, I do do that.

Everyone's excited about what we've been building.We're 6 -0, so I just expect to go to 7 -0 and 8 -0 and 9 -0.My favorite scheme?Get the ball to the money players.The NFC's real hungry.

LA, what's a feast without a little gravy?But defense wins championships.

So I stole an all -pro corner from an unsuspecting casualty.

He called me brother and then - This gig is all about keeping your emotions in check.

Demand a trade?You've been talking to Vince Vaughn, ain't you?

Vince has been an unbelievable GM.He's new to this, but it appears to be Vince's world and we're all just living in it.

You can never get comfortable in this league.That's why I prefer to stay six steps ahead.Since you can't predict the weather, I turn the temp way down.Everyone copied that one.I also created a whole new menu.Chicago dogs only.

Feels nice to be recognized.Last Sunday, I ran nothing but Tampa 2.Take away all those drags you guys love to run.Goodbye, drag routes.

I have no idea what's going on right now.He was the GM.Now he's the coach.What's next?Vince Vaughn at quarterback?

I think it's important to get this out of the way.

Fair call!

The rumors are true.

Hibernate!Picnic!

I'm the coach.I'm the GM.And I will be, uh... playing quarterback.

Am I in on Vince Vaughn at quarterback?He's 56.Nothing can replace just literal decades of life experience.

Decades and decades and decades.This is a joke, right?I can play until 56.

These 6 '5", your traditional pocket passer, the knees aren't what they used to be.I kind of want to see it.

You know, Caleb's supportive.We'll have a spot for him.But I think he's just loving watching me play quarterback.I mean, we were a team.Everyone puts the team first.And that's why I'm running everything.

To all the haters out there, do me a favor.Stick around and watch it.It'll be more of the same next year.Thank you again.Go Bears.Would you look at that?

I mean, do I deserve a statue next to sweetness?I'm not saying I don't.Maybe you'll get one too.

Maybe.

Time to run it back.

All right.We love Vince Vaughn.He's a legendary Bears fan, if you didn't know.And now he's apparently a legendary Bears GM.So we can't wait for you to get your hands on the new franchise improvements and experience a league that truly reacts to you this season.You're going to hear a lot more about that in just a few moments when Clint is up here.

Are you ready to go deeper than that, though?Those are just trailers.You want to hear more?I'm guessing you do.Come on.All right.

All right, so stick around for the entire show because we're going to unveil the games and you'll find out how to get beta access and feel it for yourselves.You'll learn how to pre -order and join a brand new program that delivers the most value we've ever offered.And you'll see your favorite community members, all you lovely people in the room here tonight, and creators play the games for the first time and share their reactions.So once again, welcome to the opening drive.

We just heard about where football is going.Now, let's show you how it plays.Because this year, EA Sports isn't just building games, they're building a connected football experience.From Fridays to Saturdays to Sundays, every moment, every decision, every snap is now connected.It all starts on the gridiron.To take us through how it all comes together on the field, here's Senior Game Designer Director, the OG, Scott O 'Gallagher.

Come baby, let's get this thing cracking now all right gameplay above everything the first thing I said is you damn right, baby Who is he excited to see some game play right now over college and Madden football?We have an exciting feature set for you, and I got it.I got to admit you guys see in my face this early It's throwing me off for a little bit because Nick usually it's you me And then we're watching Bordeaux catch an L to one of our college cover athletes don't get it twisted though.You're still better than bangle And no doubt about it.All right, let's talk about how we bring all of this together.Every year after the season ends, we get in our mini camp, or we like to call it pre -production.

And then we look at themes and things that you guys say, because your feedback is essential to what we do.So let's look at how we broke this down.You first told us that you wanted more tools defensively.The AI logic needed to be better.You wanted more control on the other side of the football.And that's why we rallied behind defense wins championships.

Next is built from game day.This is our authenticity pillar.We know that every team is somebody's favorite team.And you're going to see how we deliver that this year.And then last but not least is play your way.With all the features you're going to hear tonight, the different settings, how are we giving you the tools to ultimately play your way?

And now let's get to it, defense wins championships.And it starts fundamentally.For years, one of the biggest holes that we have had to sure up that we did this year was what we call look for work.What is look for work?That's that middle linebacker seeing that drag coming right at you, and he can anticipate.In our game last year, and in previous, and any other football game made, defending in the zone, they didn't move until the ball was

their zone.That all changes here.And we're going to go right here to the film room, and we're going to see Fred Warner here.And I want you to see his ability to look for work.Love drops.He's in his hook zone.

He's going to drop properly.He's going to anticipate it.Love has to make a call.We're throwing a pick.Here we go.We're moving.

Next.From there, we said, all right, now that we've gotten look for work in the game, how do we give the users more tools to control how they want to play in zones?And now we're introducing smart zones.So now, both on an individual or team level, you can decide how aggressive that you want them to be.Do you want that Mike backer because the mesh concept is driving you crazy, and you want to get up and take that away?Just put him in ultra aggressive.

Is the quarterback killing you with that two ball or that deep over?Put him in ultra conservative, and he'll prefer routes and prioritize routes behind him.Here.We're going into aggressive.They're running that slant -flank concept.Pick six.

We're going back to the crib.We are giving you more options than you have ever had before.Come on.We got to clap that up.We're just defense we're talking about here, fellas.We're talking defense.

All right.But we know that football is not perfect.And there is a lot of, you know, you call the perfect defensive play.You're clamping them up.You got them strapped and locked up like the kids say these days.And then all of a sudden, the quarterback is going to evade the pocket.

I mean, we got the legend Michael Vick sitting over there.A shout out to the legend.Clap it up for the legend.But the thing is, is similar to Madden 2004, some of you guys are still trying to play it the same way.You get out and you're just scrambling everywhere.And so we had to introduce what is real and real football is plaster logic.

No guys, no longer are guys just standing around and just covering grass like your favorite City League flag football team.player.They are out here moving, attaching, locking, and ultimately clamping and hopefully giving you a better chance not to give up those big plays.Shout out to Mike Vick, the greatest Madden player that we've ever had.And now here, we meet with hundreds of coaches, defensive coordinators all around the NFL and college football.And this thing here, we are now providing 25 new coverage checks How do you want to play bunch?

How do you want to play trips?How do you want to play stack?The options are endless.You can set them in the front end to then you be like your favorite coordinator.And now we get into our wide receiver press.I saw Ocho Cinco earlier in here, but I mean, no one did it better than him.

One of my favorite NFL films, he's like, you, I need you right here.That's everything I said to our dev team.It felt like every time we were going over this feature.Now, with our wide receiver defensive press improvements, receivers actually have logic around the route they are trying to run.If they're running a deep out, they're going to try to win on the outside.They're running a deep in, they're trying to get to the inside.

On the other side of that coin, corners.And now leverage is going to mean more than it even did last year and ever before, because we have boosted chances when they are in the appropriate leverage.And then we go to Jostle.Some of my favorite cornerbacks of all time, guys like Aeneas Williams, Darrell Rivas.These guys were clamp corners.And our game has always been hard to replicate them, because they were not known as the fastest, even though they certainly could run.

They were great with technique, really physical.And so how are we going to do that?That is with our brand new wide receiver DB Jostle system.And now you, as a user, you can attach on the move.You can get them at the stem of the route and really play with the timing of them.Or you can attach when the ball is in flight.

And keep in mind, when you are attached, you are slowing the wide receiver down, thus putting yourself in the best position to make a play.And here we go, built from game day, baby.Every player is somebody's favorite player.I want you guys to take a look at Colin Simmons.You see him.He's one of the best defensive ends that there is out there.

You see all of his physicals and the different tiers.Over the past couple of years, you guys have been very vocal that you prefer the tiered ability system.And we listen, because this is your game.So with that, the tiered ability system is going to debut in Madden NFL 27.Clap that up, because you asked for it.And being a lifelong Rams fan, and I haven't missed a single game in 30 years, I am going to formally welcome Miles Garrett to the Rams house.

Miles Garrett, thank you, brother.Can't wait to have you.All right, those two guys dominated in the trenches.When you looked at our game and you looked at real life, where it really broke down was when it's goal line on goal line, big on big, 13 personnel.It just didn't look like what you see on Saturdays and Sundays until now.We've got brand new two -player, three -player, four -player animations.

We've got cut blocking.submarine techniques to really make it so you have to earn every yard inside those situations.My boy Kurt over here just says, yeah, it feels a lot heavier now.It's a different experience to really get those fourths and twos, fourths and ones.And when you talk about inside the trenches, there's nothing like the quarterback center.And you say, what the hell am I looking at here?

Yep, you got a QB sneak meter.And you see the green.Let's talk about the green.The green all comes in.The first thing that we look at is your center, your two guards, and then your quarterback.And then we'd say, all right, we're going to take those ratings, and we're going to compare them.

Do you have anybody in a zero technique?Are both A gaps filled?And then when it goes side to side, that is all dependent on the situation.Is it a long fourth and one?Is home field advantage rocking?What type of scenario is really at play here?

But the point being, quarterback sneaks are no longer automatic.Clap that up.I know you're excited.Everybody at home is excited.We've got to love the trenches.And you know the motto, if it's in the game, it's in the game, baby.

The tush push.It's made its way to Madden NFL 27.Maybe only Philly fans are happy about that.Come on, man.All right, Simheads, rejoice.What you've been asking for.

Home field advantage is back, and it's back in the way that you asked.You're going to see a decimal meter that represents the crowd volume.It was imperative that we made Kansas City or Arrowhead really feel like Arrowhead.And Arrowhead should feel different in November.than it does in January, and that is exactly what's going to come when you play your game in here in a few.And nothing screams home field advantage like dynamic weather.

I know you guys are excited about dynamic weather, but that situation that changed the game in the AFC Championship game where it was clear and then it was nothing but snow flurries in the second half, that can happen in your game as well.But keep in mind, as the weather gets worse, the gameplay only gets tougher.So good luck with that.All right, let's get into play your way.And nothing screams play your way like timing -based catching.Timing -based catching for years, whether it's the toe -drag swag, the catch in traffic, trying to moss somebody, that has all been subject to ratings until now.

And let's talk about what you're dealing with here.Red, you're too late.You dropped it.All right, take your ass back to the huddle.Let's get to a new play.Next, we're slightly early.

When he goes into early, we're back into ratings.And the size of your yellow depends on how good your receiver is.And then there's green.You know my background.You know the kids love greens, right?But here's the thing with the greens.

The greens are dynamic.This all depends on the situation.How good is your receiver?Who's covering him?How covered is he?What type of catch are you going for?

Point being, is that now for the first time ever?The choice is yours.And then what else?I love it.Oh, gee, I can't catch the ball, man.Your game's broke.

Fix your game, man.OK, well, go turn the setting on, pal.Here you go.Go have at it.All right?And then two, it works on both sides of the ball.

So you want to clamp up and then hit your TBC?Go have at it.Go have some fun.We're locking up on the defensive end this year, fellas.All right, now we're moving on to custom adjustments.Some of you out here tried to leak it.

You tried.Winners win out here.There's only so much you're going to be able to do.There's a lot more meat on this bones.Custom adjustments are about giving players their own unique football language.You see it every Saturday and Sunday.

There's a call.They're going to a combo call.There's a big macro that has multiple adjustments on one call.And now you can do that here.You're going to go into your custom adjustments.You're going to create your custom adjustments.

Everything that we've ever had at Presnap or a coaching adjustment is available to you.From there, you name it and you can make up to 20 on offense and then make 20 on defense.The catch, Nick you like this, the catch is you can only go into game with 10.10 on offense and 10 on defense.Okay, now I've made a custom adjustment.How do I call it?

Well, look at your favorite play, figure out which one you're going to call.We're looking at Cover 3 Sky here, fellas.We just hold down that button right next to your stunts and twists.There's your macro.That's your custom adjustment right there.You can go and get busy.

All right, then let's say you come out and pre -play.And someone's running some type of cheese.You go, OK, well, I got something for this.I'm going to tap L1.L1 is our custom adjustment button.You go there, you hit L1, and call whatever one you got.

You got 10 of them to choose.You got all the options you want.We're starting to cook here.So now, typically, now I'm going to press my DBs up.I'm going to pinch my line show blitz.I would have went through multiple different stages just to get to this.

Now I've got it all in two.All in two.Yeah, shout out.You know what time it is.Winners win.We don't play around here.

We're making it.This is the best right here.And let's get to this.When you talk about custom adjustments, one of my favorite parts of this feature, and there's a ton of you in here, there's a lot of what I call 1 %ers that are the best of the best.But there are a lot who love the game, who play the game, who play it, and they're sitting next to their buddy.Dude, I know you're scrambling.

I know you're running.I know you are.How do I stop it right and you don't want to deal with the sweat fest rob jones does not want to deal with?The set fast at the line of scrimmage so therefore he just hits l1 Presses a and now he's got both ends and contained he's got a qb spy and we are clearup that quarterback scramble Ben Kurt.We're loving that aren't you buddy?

Yep shout it out to it all right This is everything you got all these types of defaults on offense and defense You've never had control at this level before all right now.You've heard a bunch of different features right and now What should you expect?When it comes to on the sticks between Madden and college football, college is still all about wide -open gameplay, being loose in control, making those big plays, those side -to -side plays like one of my favorites, Reggie Bush.And then you look at Madden, it's all about everybody's fast in the NFL.It's tight, it's pro -level precision.Playbooks.

It's the wide splits in Tennessee and Oklahoma.It's about spread, being more variety.Tempo is everything.Here it's about the deeper schemes, more compressed, chess level strategy.The smarter game, the more, the smarter game is over at Madden Football.And then you look at coverage, base shells, bigger win differentiation, more zone windows.

In the NFL, you're talking simulated pressures, disguised looks, and just overall smarter adjustments.In the trenches, the difference between the best player in college football and worst is much bigger than it is in the NFL.So you've got bigger run lanes, where you've got elite gap integrity, pocket battles every snap.It's the best of the best.AI play, we got base progressions.These are student athletes, even though we got our guy Dante Moore here, who is one hell of a player.

And then you look at here, my guy Matt Stafford.At that level, these guys are surgeons.This is what you're going to see when you pick up the sticks on Madden 27.And then abilities.In college, you get a max of five.What you know and love is still there.

Madden takes the tiered system and says, you know what?They're unlimited.A player can have an unlimited numberof abilities.Again, stars feeling like stars.And then there's home field advantage, where you're in Death Valley, and it's an actual weapon, or you're going into Arrowhead, and you've got to execute under pressure.

There is a lot of things coming, and I cannot wait.This is the smartest football game we have ever made.It is the most authentic football game we have ever made, and it's the most control you have ever had.Trust me on that.It is one game of football, but these are two totally different experiences, and I cannot wait for you guys to get your hands on this thing.I need you guys just to lock in, and I'll see you guys in a few weeks.

Winners win, and I'm out.Much love to everybody.Back to you, Nick.

We just saw how much more control strategy and football intelligence is being built into gameplay this year.So let's bring in someone who can speak to that from both sides, a former NFL quarterback and a serious player of these games, none other than Mr. Kurt Banker.Kurt, appreciate you spending some time with us.It's an exciting day here.I know you just watched OG.That was a lot to digest.

But as a former NFL quarterback, the control that you have offensively and defensively, the sheer number of adjustments they're giving to players.How is that going to change how people play the game at home?

You know, I think people are going to need to develop their own game plans and answers for problems that they come up with and I that's something OG and I talked about a lot getting through last Madden into this one is at the line of scrimmage I wanted more control and I think everybody wanted more control and that's what we're seeing and you even have to build your game plans with the adjustments to bunches and stacks This thing is so deep, and it feels more like the real game that they play on Sundays, and I'm loving it so far.

They're bringing that authenticity.Are you excited to get your hands on the game?

Oh man, I need it.I need it.

I know this man is going to be out in the streets.Appreciate you hanging out with us, man.Always good to see you.What a day we're having out here in Chicago.That's what makes these innovations so exciting.It's not just about more features.

It's about giving players more ways to play.more ways to think, more ways to adjust and play football the way they want to play it.So that's how the game plays.Now let's talk a little bit about those guys at home.Maybe we've got Dynasty heads at home.I think we probably have some Dynasty heads home.

To take us through Dynasty, we've got none other than Christian McLeod, a former Michigan State Spartan like myself and production director for College Football 27.

It is so exciting to be here in Chicago, a great hub of the Big Ten.And how about a big round of applause, all the mascots out there today, great Big Ten representation.Saw a little Albert the Gator, Raider Red, you guys are cool too.Sparty and I were originally going to do this as a team, thought better, but I got you out there, Sparty, we appreciate you.So something we've been working on for years is a way to create the unsolvable puzzle in Dynasty mode.It started in college football 25 and 26 with the introduction and refinement of coach archetypes and skill trees, balancing that with coordinators to create an RPG -like system where your decisions matter in crafting your program.

For the last three years, we've had a vision for Dynasty to create the unsolvable puzzle for you, the fans, where every Dynasty, every season, every school feels different and evolves over time, truly giving you 138 ways to play.Now for college football 27 were introduced the single biggest change the dynasty mode since we first introduced recruiting in dynasty blueprint.Dynasty blueprint is a full program management system that allows you to use a dynasty points budget you're able to hire staff upgrade your facilities and utilize.the points on the recruiting trail in the form of NIL.But before we dive too deep in the dynasty blueprint, we need to talk about the ultimate wild card in the system, and it's the personality and expectations of each school's athletic director.Each school is unique.

Each school will have a different demeanor, with each demeanor impacting how difficult passing or failing an expectation will be.There's hundreds of expectations ranging from winning on the field and the recruiting trail to developing and maintaining facilities and even some school specific goals that are ingrained in the very identity of those schools.So if you are Ohio State, you better beat Michigan every single year to stay off the hot seat.Ensuring you're meeting your goals and your AD expectations is going to be key to sticking around.Because you might have to think twice about jobs in the coaching carousel.So do you have the right coaching archetype to get the job done?

Are the expectations too high based on your career level?Does the school's AD have a different vision for the program that you want to build?This is what's going to set your dynasty blueprint in motion.And what makes it even cooler, these are dynamic.They're going to change season to season based on success and failure.You've selected your team.

You've managed your AD expectations.You're going to be asked to allocate some of your budget to your team support staff.Coordinators will already be on your staff in year one.They can be hired once you get to the carousel in the off -season.We'll get to that in a little bit.But this is where you're going to add a variety of staff that can assist with crewing more dynasty points, helping with recruiting, increasing player progression, or potentially reducing NILS.

Keep in mind though, these skills all work as a multiplier or a potential counterbalance to your coaching archetype.So choosing the proper balance.of staff based on your skill tree and your coordinators is going to be key.And based on overwhelming community feedback, once you get to the off season, you are now able to offer any coach or coordinator a job.It's good.It's exciting.

This is what Mills, Mills, you wanted this, right?Expected Dynasty Point values are gonna be based on the coach and your school, so you don't, you know, don't just expect to go in there, throw a giant bag of Dynasty Points at somebody, and expect them to sign with your team.But more on that later, we're gonna talk about the coaching carousel in a little bit.Next up, Facilities.Facilities control how much XP your players are going to accrue, with each level also unlocking equipment slots.These slots are gonna allow you to reduce injuries, reduce wear and tear, increase season health, and extend the life of your facilities.

That's right.Facilities degrade over time.So not just important that you increase your facilities if you want to ensure your players are performing at the best, but you're also going to want to make sure that you budget enough to maintain those facilities or risk potentially losing players to injury or on the recruiting trail as your facility grade drops.The final place where you're going to spend your budget is around NIL.For recruits, players already on your team, and in the transfer portal.You're going to be able to use NIL to help bring in high school recruits, but not all recruits will require NIL.

These are going to be dependent on your school's prestige, proximity to the recruit, and also the school grades.All of these will determine the desired NIL of the player at your school.Important, NIL is not an instant win mechanic on the recruiting trail.It's a scholarship bonus that can be increased or decreased dependingon how you're trending with that recruit.It's still important that you hit on your recruit's perfect pitch, visits, deal breakers, if you want to lock that player into a committed state.

You can also adjust your offers as recruiting boards begin to take shape, but be careful.You may upset your recruit and cause them to flip on you.Even more important than ever, because we have a brand new recruiting mechanic in College Football 27, verbal commits.Big time.We're excited about this one.Verbal commits are going to add a risk -reward mechanic to recruiting and also change how you allocate your NIL bonuses.

Don't think that once you've got a verbal, you can reallocate NIL or stop recruiting, because that player could potentially decommit, flip on you, go somewhere else.NIL also needs to be managed at the end of the season on your current roster.Players' NILs will fluctuate based on star ratings, overall performance, if they won awards.You need to ensure you're correctly budgeting for NIL roster fluctuations, and that can be the difference between retaining players in the offseason or potentially losing emerging stars based on their dynamic deal breakers.Building your program and budgeting your dynasty points wisely all culminates in the new coaching carousel for College Football 27.We're very excited about this one.

New this year, you're going to be able to express interest in schools, even if they're not on the top candidates list.No more six schools only.You can throw your hat into the ring.But be careful.Expressing interest in too many schools is going to impact your coach stability grade if you stay at your current school.And as mentioned earlier, you now have the ability to make offers to coaches across the country at various different coach levels, not just

preset of interested coaches.And dynasty points can be used to sweeten that pot and increase that interest, making up to six offers per coordinator, allowing you to lock in that program changing hire.So we are excited and incredibly excited, actually, to see all of the battles that break out in online dynasties, who's going to be battling for those coordinators, and, you know, just super pumped about that whole situation.But that is not all.Outside of Dynasty Blueprint, we have added much more to Dynasty.We've added wear and tear management.

Super exciting here.We have added, based on community feedback, expanded league history.You can go back to the 1800s now and take a look at league history.Expanded team historical stats.Coach mode is now in Dynasty mode.Exciting.

User selectable crowd themes before you go into your Dynasty games.Very exciting.And stadium builder.inside of TeamBuilder.And one quick note on this as well, you will be able to edit your teams in TeamBuilder at the start of every single Dynasty year.So no more one -and -dones.

This was an absolutely huge year for Dynasty, and our team in Orlando could not be more excited to give you this program management sandbox to see all the different ways you're going to build your programs on the quest for a national championship.

Dynasty is one of those modes where everybody has a story.Maybe you're taking over a powerhouse.Maybe you're building up a small school.Maybe you're chasing that perfect recruiting class.And this year, it looks like there are even more layers to what it means to actually run a program.So let's bring in someone who can.

and breathes this mode Bordeaux joining us at the desk to break down what stood out first of all, are you happy?You're not playing a cover athlete.

I am so thankful.I figured if I still lose to the computer It is what it is.

Let me ask you.Have you picked out the school you're going with next year?

Can you give us a small idea?Yeah started counting down yet.

So we got a long way to go as somebody who lives and breathes this mode What are you most excited about from what you saw in that presentation?

Yeah Definitely just having to manage the budget and be able to really struggle with the small school.I want to struggle and the difference maker between like Kent State versus Ohio State got like a 25x different in budget.It's going to be very hard might take 20 years.I don't know yet, but scary.

By the way, as a content guy, once that five star recruit decommits, you're going to have a video.You're going to have to do a press conference for that one.

I might have to just lose my mind.And also, when they come back and they're asking for twice as much money, that is also really frustrating.

Hey, I can't wait to see.I know we're going to get the tweets coming out about what team you're choosing, so I can't wait to see who you choose.I appreciate you hanging out with us.So let's shift from building a program to building a player.

This is Road to Glory.

To Glory has always been a mode that's been rooted in meaningful decisions and managing your potential.Every player enters a Road to Glory with talent and opportunity, but talent alone does not define a career.This year, Road to Glory is all about how you can maximize that talent and your journey through high school to the Hall of Fame.And it begins with an all -new way of building your player.We're excited to announce that three new positions will be coming to Road to Glory this year.Edge Rusher, Tight End, and Free Safety.

Also new this year, right, is how you're going to build your player.You've got a decision point to make.Do you try to become a one -of -one or do you use a legend template?If you choose to go the one -of -one route, you're going to be tasked with allocating your skill points to create your rating caps.Once you get to college, you will be able to upgrade individual attributes.There will also be opportunities to earn cap breakers that you can truly make you one of one and one of the best players in college football of all time.

You can also choose a legend template.This is going to allow you to set a base archetype based on college football greats.Cap breakers are also in play here.So if you're looking to take a legend's ratings to the next level, you can.So we talked about rooting the mode in meaningful decisions.So new this year, we're going to be tracking those decisions throughout your career through what we're calling legacy score.

Legacy score is a collection of meaningful moments in your career, and it starts with your star rating in high school.And it's gonna ladder all the way through another new addition, which is your NFL draft score.Every game you play, every play you make, every award you win, adds up on your legacy score, and it's gonna move you up the draft boards.The journey still begins in high school this year.Players loved high school.They said it was fast fun.

We heard the feedback, but we also heard the feedback that you did not feel you were being rewarded enough for base mechanics and objectives.We've rooted those objectives and situations in teaching the mechanics of the positions, while also adding hundreds of new team impacts to make you feel way more rewarded on positive plays.Also new to College Football 27 is the ability to import Team Builder teams intohigh school for all of your opponents and for your college teams.In college, practice has been completely reworked.We have over 100 new football fundamentals and drills available to teach the game, earn your player XP, and reward your stick skills.

Off the field, a new fitness meter has been added, impacting your players' XP, multipliers, weight, ratings increases and decreases.You're going to have to balance that fitness, because off the field, we have over 100 new scenarios.Audrey may be coming back.Spoiler alert.Many are going to throw curveballs that your players are going to have to manage on their quest for the Heisman, the National Championship, or the number one overall pick in the upcoming draft.But you cannot forget about the classroom.

New to College Football 27 are tests and quizzes, actual tests and quizzes.So depending on how prepared you are, your academic meter is going to impact how hard the test is going to be.So feel free to spend time on the practice field and wing your test.But if you have a big geology test coming up, you may need to spend some time hitting the books to ensure you're academically eligible.These are actually very hard and very fun.The Transfer Portal, also completely overhauled.

We have brand new coach interactions.We have deeper context around schools providing you offers, or your coach may potentially ask you to leave the school.It could happen as well.And if you manage your time and energy successfully on and off the field, you may just have the chance to be invited to New York for the penultimate award in college football, the Heisman Trophy Celebration.Road to Glory in College Football 27 is the culmination of a three -year vision where we wanted to give users the ability to craft their ownlegacy through meaningful decisions.

We cannot wait to see the archetypes created by the community and watch the content created by you, the fans.But the journey doesn't stop in college.There's much more waiting for you and your player when they make it to the NFL.

Dynasty is about building the program.Road to Glory is about building you.This is where the college football journey gets personal.From who you are as a player, to the position you play, to the identity you create on and off the field.And we've got the perfect group here to talk about that, because they're living the real version of this journey right now.Here now with college cover stars, Dante Moore, Malakai Tony, and Keewan Lacey.

Gentlemen, appreciate you guys coming up and chatting with us.What an exciting time for you guys to be on the cover of College Football 27.Dante, I want to ask you, As somebody who, we've got these legacy scores, we've got these legend builds.You can build your player based on somebody.Was there somebody that you, when you were growing up, you were modeling your game after?

Yeah, that's why we're number five.I kind of wanted to be like Braxton Miller growing up in Ohio State.

The Ohio State University.I want to make sure they heard that Braxton.All right, carry on.

But yeah, I feel like this Braxton, he's just the way he played the game, the way he was competitive, the way he moved the ball down the field.I feel like I want to model my game after him.

Absolutely.Absolutely.Now, Malachi, those big moments, they play so well in the game.Do you feel like those big moments are something that adds to your legacy as a player when you're able to make a moment that makes it on SportsCenter Top 10?

Yeah, I feel like Big moments shape you as a player because pressure is a privilege.Pressure is a privilege.And some players rise up to the occasion and some don't.But one moment or play don't define you as a player.

All right, Q1, I got to ask you the hard question.You can pick a lot.We've got new players, new positions you can choose in Road to Glory this year.If you weren't a running back, what position are you playing?

I'd probably play like nickel, safety, something like that.

You'd be lurking that center field out there.You'd be ready to lace it up.out there.Our cover athletes up here, gentlemen, congratulations on making the cover, and good luck this year.That's exactly what we're capturing in Road to Glory, those same decisions, those same trade -offs, playing out every step of your journey.And that's what makes the experience so powerful, because everything you do here carries forward, from high school to college to the NFL.

Let's take a look at what happens when that journey continues at the next level.This is Superstar.

My name is Clint Oldenburg.I'm a production director for Madden NFL.It is great to be here in Chicago, home of the Bears.We get to talk some football tonight.What could be better than that?But before I dive into Superstar, I do want to give a shout out to the development teams from Tiburon.

Around the world watching tonight, they are still putting the finishing touches on these games.They're working from Victoria, Austin, Madrid, and Orlando.Please join me in giving the team a round of applause.All right.Let's dive into Superstar.OK.

Like Christian said, you're coming in to the NFL from college.You've made it to the league.What you build in college acts as the foundation for the next level.And at Superstar, that starts with your skill set and your draft grade.But any NFL player will tell you, getting drafted is just the beginning.It's not about just getting here.

It's about what you do once you arrive.In addition to our existing five positions, Superstar has more ways to play this year.Just like in Road to Glory, you can continue your path across three new positions, including tight end, free safety, and edge rusher.So now you're here.In Superstar, the journey is just as important as the destination.And this journey is about becoming the GOAT, the greatest of all time.

Every decision and every performance will shape your legacy, testing whether you have what it takes to get to Canton.For us this year, everything starts with progression.How your career develops is based on the decisions you make both on and off the field.We've brought more depth and authenticity while giving you more control over how you build your player.And the better you play, the more you'll earn influence within your league.To deepen progression, we've added new skill trees.

You'll customize your development across your core skills, physicals, mentals, and abilities.And as Christian said on college, eventually cap breakers, becoming the exact player that you want to be.But those skills and abilities only matter if they have a meaningful impact on the field.So this year we've added another way to upgrade with specialties.As you level up, you'll start to unlock new in -game mechanics.These are specific to the gameplay inside of Superstar.

One example shown here is for quarterbacks called Pressure Radar.When unlocked, it gives you a visual cue that shows you that pressure is near and where it's coming from.A sixth sense that separates the elite quarterbacks from everybody else.These are emergent mechanics unlocking more power the deeper you play, and they make your career more rewarding.Along the way, you'll hit several career -defining moments called Boss Battles, a new addition to Game Day Beats.These are spotlight matchups against the most elite players in the league, where the pressure is high, but the reward is high.

as great and victory will have a major impact on your legacy.These moments aren't scripted it's all about how you perform on the sticks against the best of the best.Both on and off the field your career is shaped by the relationships you build.The improved sphere of influence tracks your relationships within your league from coaches and teammates to local beat writers and even NFL legends.These relationships can unlock performance boosts, new gear, more play calling control, and for the media, have a real impact on if and when you get voted into the Hall of Fame.And that's not all.

You can also unlock superstar powers, where you gain career -changing perks that influence how your team is built around you, from signing free agents to demanding a trade.Relationships matter, and managing them brings unprecedented control over your career and the league at large.With so many ways to develop your superstar, how do you keep focused on game day?To stay on track, you'll have the Superstar HUD, a one -stop shop where you can easily see your progress against weekly objectives, milestones, and wear and tear management, along with improved player grading.The HUD keeps you connected to your goals and makes sure that everything important is visible.As you experience the ups and downs of pro football, you'll find out that the league always keeps receipts.

We're introducing a new system called the Goat Tracker.which measures progress on your path to greatness over the course of your entire career.It tracks your skills, legacy, and popularity.It shows you exactly how you measure up to the best to ever do it at your position.The true goats of the NFL.But your status is dynamic.

It can fall just as fast as it rises.So stay focused.You're not just trying to fill the stat sheet.You're chasing NFL immortality.So to close, relationships matter.Every decision shapes your career.

Every performance shapes your legacy.The question is, do you have what it takes to earn your gold jacket?

Now we're getting into Superstar, and this is where the career really starts.Draft night is the first big moment, but after that, it's about how you grow, how you perform, and how you become the kind of player the league has to pay attention to.And to talk about that, we had to bring in someone who knows all about becoming must -watch, the legend none other than Chad Johnson being here with us.Och, great to see you, my friend.

Hey, thank you for having me. I really appreciate that.As a matter of fact, Thank you for having me here to be a part of all of this.Dude, of course.You know why?Why?Because I'm the greatest Madden player of all time.

He said it.He said it.Out in the online streets, you can challenge him.Let me ask you a question.Yes.We've got these new boss battles in Superstar mode.

Who was a corner that maybe brought the best out of you?Who made you rethink how you played the game?

You know what?Matter of fact, not only made me rethink how I played the game, he made me want to retire.And that's Durell Rivas.Obviously one of the few battles that I've had that I lost.And I had two times.And I lost both times.

So Rivas, if you happen to see this, I want my rematch.

He wants his rematch right here.

Right here.At some park.Any park.I just want to put my cleats on and try again.

We've got this new goat tracker in the Superstar mode.And we talked about the goats in the game.Guys like the Tom Brady's of the world.What separates the goats from the really goods?You know, the funny thing about it is..

.The NFL is the one percenters.Everybody's fast.You know, everybody's quick.Everybody can run.Everybody can catch.

Everybody can throw.But what separates Tom Brady and the Peyton Mannings from the rest is upstairs.All the mentals.It's all mental.The game is 90 percent.physical, and that 10 % is what separates everybody else.

Last question.Do you want the smoke in Madden NFL 27 and college football 27?Are you ready?Who wants to lose?I love that.I love that.

We've seen what it takes to build a player, but at the NFL level, it's all about something bigger.Running a team and ultimately the entire league.This is my mode.This is franchise.

Let's talk about the most played mode in Madden.Franchise.So we're gonna set the stage first.We're gonna put you on the hot seat.Day one, running the Chicago Bears, just like our friend Vince here that you saw earlier.You've locked up your franchise quarterback.

Now everything else is on you.Building your roster, that's easy.Managing people, that's hard.What decisions will you make?The first thing you immediately realize, when you make those decisions, you must be ready to handle the impact.This year in franchise, you're not managing a spreadsheet.

You're managing people.Franchise is now built on the all new Persona engine.This is the second year in a multi -year mission to fundamentally change how franchise plays.It gives every player motivations, emotions, and behaviors that evolve dynamically over time.Just like real humans, these players think for themselves.Powered by Persona DNA, which are new traits that impact the culture of your team, from players' attitudes, to contract negotiations, to roster demands.

And every reaction is based on your performance and the choices you make each week.So now you're gearing up for week one versus the Panthers.Kickoff is finally here.But don't get comfortable.NFL 365 does not wait for you.All the events coming from the Persona engine are delivered through the new Weekly Hub and Emergent Actions, where you can see your franchise reacting in real time through an experience built to feel like modern sports media.

Fast, reactive, and always moving.This is the front door to your franchise.Storylines, personnel, and breaking news are emerging based on the choices you and the other teams are making each week for both human and AI -controlled teams.There's no scripts here.No two leagues play out the same.So you start the year hot, and Caleb's playing at an MVP level.

How quickly expectations can change?The question becomes, do you have what it takes to win a Super Bowl now?Do you stay patient and trust the roster you have?Or do you go all in?You hear an emergent rumor that there's a generational talent on the trade block, a player that can turn a contender into the favorite overnight.Rams fans, stop me if you've heard this one recently.

You decide to go all -in.You trade multiple first -round picks for all -world pass rusher Max Crosby.That one decision doesn't just change your roster.It changes the entire league.Your locker room reacts.Your former starting edge is probably unhappy.

Your salary cap tightens for the future.And the league responds.You now have that target on your back.what moves will happen as a result.Your decision -making and people management go beyond making big trades.One of the most fun new mini -games within the Persona engine is our all -new interactive negotiation mechanic.

To negotiate like a pro, you must know the player you're working with and balance his needs with what's best for the team.Players can push back, hold out, demand more, or totally buy in based on their unique mixture of persona DNA.Let's walk through one of these negotiations.I gotta go off script for this one, okay?So Joe Thune, you're all pro left guard.Kurt, where you at?

How important's a good left guard?Very important, yes.I also chose a left guard.I don't know if you guys can tell or not, but I used to be a lineman.So Thuny, great player, all pro, he's got a year or two left on his contract and he's coming to the table.He wants to extend his contract one more year.

Probably his last opportunity to get a payday.So this is the negotiation screen.This is where you're gonna land.If you direct your eyes up to the top, you can see those are the deal breakers that match his persona DNA.He initially, he's coming to you, he wants a little bit more contract value up front.So we're gonna give him that first 5 % increase on his bonus.

Here's where you see the negotiations.This is you as the coach talking to your player.This is the conversations that are happening in this minigame.And this is the really important part.You've got to balance.This is a time -based minigame.

You've got to balance how quickly his patience runs out versus how interested he is in the contract offer that you're giving him.And these are the decision options.These are the ways you as the coach or the GM are going to push the conversation forward.And these are going to be dynamic every round of the negotiation based on what he's asking for and what's best for the team.If you take your eyes up to the upper right corner again, this is the persona DNA that I talked about.If you look at the top one, the mindset, that's the dynamic one.

Right now, he wants a contract extension.That's what it's telling you.And then you've got to look at his persona DNA to figure out what it is.to him as a player to match the deal breakers.So I'm gonna preview.I'm not gonna lock in.

I'm gonna preview.What if I hold firm?What if I don't give Thuny his deal?We believe that number works for both sides.It respects you and keeps us where we need to be as a team.Like Kurt said, like I said, linemen are people.

Linemen are important.We're not gonna do that.We're gonna give him that 15 % bonus, because I want this guy on my team to go win a Super Bowl with the Chicago Bears.We're going to give him more guaranteed money to extend his contract.He's in.He's bought in, signs the contract.

And if you notice, his mindset has changed.He's now comfortable with the situation.So that's an example of a negotiation.There's many of these that you'll come across within your league.And to make negotiations feel even more real, we've added tools fans have demanded.Holdouts.

incentives, no trade clauses, trade demands.Come on Mills, come on Mills.Tools that allow you ultimate agency in your decision making.And one additional detail, you can delegate any emergent action or negotiation to your staff at any time, but know that every decision you make will have consequences.And speaking of staff, we've also begun adding real life coordinators into franchise.You'll see them come up on the sideline and the booth, along with more depth to our coach DNA systems.

so your staff will play just as big a role in your success as your players and add more longevity and authenticity to your league.Real Life Coordinators only scratches the surface of how we're delivering for our community's wishlist.I gotta take a deep breath for this next slide.In addition to the negotiation tools I've already mentioned, the Persona engine brings so much more.Holdouts, restricted free agents, free agent frenzy, franchise tags, transition tags, all of them, undrafted free agent negotiations, super sim playbooks, plus coach mode, more segments and weekly recap and halftime show, and an all new exclusive archetype for players who continue their career from College Dynasty to Madden Franchise.Built on the back of our innovative new Persona engine, Franchise is now a living, breathing ecosystem.

Every decision you make can create a ripple effect of dynamic reactions, from building your roster, to managing your players, to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.It's your league, except now the league plays back.

Now, let's bring in the guy you've just built a team around, Chicago Bears quarterback and the Madden NFL 27 cover athlete, Caleb Williams.Caleb, great to have you with us.How's today been for you?This had to be exciting.

Yeah, it's a childhood dream and can't wait to play it myself.

What does it mean to you to be a Madden cover athlete?

Yeah, like I said, it was a childhood dream.Super grateful.A lot of hard work to be put into this game, but also a lot of hard work that I put in to be in this position.To combine those two things, I'm really excited to be on the cover and excited for a historic moment.for myself and Chicago Bears.

Let me ask you, let me put you in the minds of a GM.I know you're busy playing quarterback, but if you're building a team, where are you starting?Are you getting weapons?Are you building offensive line?Are you starting defense first?What's the first thing you're building?

Yeah, just because if I'm playing the game, I'm probably going offensive line, defense, And then I'm gone.I love that.Yeah.

I love that.I'll tell you this, though.As a guy who lives in Detroit, you're causing a lot of pain for Lions fans out there.So you're going to chill out a little bit, or?

No, that's not the plan.

OK.All right.

I'm sorry, guys.I tried.

I tried.Caleb, thank you so much for hanging out with us.Congratulations on the cover, my friend.Thank you.Let's bring back our very own Sean Gray to talk about a brand new membership program.

All right, everybody.We are in the homestretch.Thank you so much for sticking around with us tonight.I do have one more thing for you, and that is today we are introducing a new way to access the full football experience.We know many of you play our games almost every day and buy our game every year, and until now, we haven't had a consistent way to recognize you as our most valued players.So this season, we're introducing a new EA Sports MVP Plus membership.

This is a new membership program that gives our most dedicated players more value, more access, and more football for the same price as the MVP bundle.Now here are just a few highlights.Members will be the first to play earlier than ever before with seven days early access.Members will receive guaranteed access to our beta programs.By the way, that starts tonight for college football after the show, moments away.And members will receive exclusive progression content in some of your favorite modes, like Franchise, like Dynasty, in Madden and College Football.

And members will also receive exclusive launch content and content throughout each month and ultimate team to help you build and progress and compete with your fantasy team.All together, this is the most value we've ever offered at launch.And importantly, we're going to continue adding valuethe MVP Plus membership over time, so our most loyal fans feel rewarded and recognized playing college football and Madden NFL year after year.You can sign up for eSports MVP membership starting right now, as I said.And again, thank you all for joining us here tonight.

We do have our creative starting right after this, so don't go anywhere.I hope you had a great night.This was our opening drive.Thank you to everybody that joined us.Have a great night.Thank you.

Tonight, you've seen what football looks like when everything is connected.From building a program on Saturdays, to creating your path as a player, to proving yourself in the NFL, to controlling the entire league.Everything you do carries forward.Every decision matters.This is one connected football experience, where every mode, every moment, and every decision builds on the last.This is the future of football at EA Sports, where millions of fans don't just watch the game, they build it, live it, and shape where it goes next.

This is College Football 27.and Madden NFL 27.Build it, live it, control it.This is your football journey.And now the moment you've all been waiting for, your favorite creators and athletes playing the games earlier than we've ever seen them before, live here in Chicago.Let's look at who we have here, a full array of creators.

And I'm going to have some guests up here on the desk as we go.I got Kurt Bankert.Standing next to me right now, my friend, is this not one of the more exciting days to be a part of the Madden and college football family?

Man, I love this.I love getting all these guys in a room.We get really cool content out of it, cool conversations.And this game is really spectacular.I'm excited about all these reactions we're going to get over here in a few minutes and see what these guys think about it.But I think they're going to enjoy it.

We've got an unbelievable array of games out here today, from creators, to athletes, to coaches.Some people you might see on the cover of these games.

The cover, Caleb Williams, man.What an incredible player.

Unbelievable.And some of your favorite creators at home.So appreciate everybody who's been hanging out with us and watching the show.

We couldn't do it without you guys, and I'll tell you this I think the community's gonna love a lot about what they heard tonight I think they are too man I think the the full control of the game is at your disposal and you got to develop your game plan your bag and figure out how you're gonna play this game and I think a lot of people are gonna enjoy that Customization of this new game.

How about the legend Mike Vic in the building the man who broke Madden Madden?

Oh for oh for man Probably one of my favorite ones because it was so dominant to play with him in the game He is I think he is like he epitomizes that he is mad when you think mad you think Michael especially for us like our age like Michael Vick was mad in football for me growing up and it's incredible to see him in the same room with a player that plays real similar Caleb Williams created player runs around slings it It's cool to see those two guys sitting side by side.

And next to Mike Vick is Fendler.He epitomizes creative.

So that's pretty cool.Love him, man.We got to play last year at the reveal of the game, and he definitely took it.

He brags way too much about how much he beat you by.I'm just throwing it out there.Dude, I'm not going to lie to you.He got lucky.OK.Everybody gets thirds.

I know.Oh, I know.Everybody gets thirds.Yeah, I know.I know.I don't listen to any of that one.

Look at the legend Cam Newton out there.Man.Auburn's finest, Carolina Panther, New England Patriot.Cam's getting involved.I think Cam might be going to be Kind of nasty on the stacks.

He's really good.I've seen his videos.I've seen how he plays.He looks at it, obviously, from a quarterback's perspective.But he's got a little defense, too.He knows the adjustments.

What up, Cam?We see him over there.He's happy to be here.He's always a good time and a lot of good energy.

You know what's fun?I don't think anybody's not happy to be here.I think everybody's having a great time here.

I mean, this is cool, man.Like, what a cool venue.A lot of cool different activations here, different videos.And I think when you get a bunch of different creative people in the same room, you never know what's going to happen.We had some one -on -ones and mascots strapping people up.I mean, it was crazy earlier.

Do you think anybody's excited to watch Caleb Williams, Cam Newton, and Mike Vick play?I got more phones.I thought they were all here to see me, but apparently.

It's pretty iconic, man.

Yeah, I get it.

Look at these guys.These guys are crazy.

Iconic nice little line up here and family We're gonna get some gameplay as we start off with the number one and number two Madden players in the world in Henry and John beast Henry, he's done okay in competitive event.Over a million dollars won.I mean, not too bad.Joining us at the desk now, we're bringing the OG out here.

I just want to say thank you, man. I just want to say thank you to you and the team for all the hard work you guys have put in from this past year to this year.I got to play like five or six games already, and I can feel it come to life from all the things we talked about last offseason.Yeah.And you help play a part in that.

And this guy is always one phone call away.You know, I was going to reference the China calls.He could get into that in his channel, man.There's there's no one that does it better, man.So, yeah, super excited, man.We're on a run right now.

And I'm not going to I'm not going to apologize.

Oh, my balls out.Let me let me ask a question.Was it as fun doing this as it looked like up there?You exude excitement for this game.You love this game.Yes.

How exciting is it to get to show the people at home, not just the ones here, but the ones watching at home, all the things you guys have been hard at work on?

I mean, it's a lot of fun, man.It's... the amount of detail.And I told you, man, I haven't missed a Rams game in 30 years.

You had to bring up Miles Garrett as a Browns fan.You had to bring that up.

I know.Welcome.

Thanks, man.Appreciate it.

So it's there.There's a level of attention to detail that you're always trying to get.You know, I look at this guy here as an example.Like I've always wanted to build something in our team to build something that he could go ahead and play and play no different than when he was in his NFL locker room.We want that type of a deep, deep hill.It's always going to be as accessible for the, you know, the young kids coming in, but we want it as deep for guys like him, NFL coaches.

And eventually, you know, these guys are going to go in, say, scouting reports are in there.Everything is in there.Guys are running their, you know, their concepts against these specific defenses.That's where, you know, ultimately we got to go.

We got none other, by the way, than Ocho taking on Malakai Tony.I mean, that's a battle.I just want to hear them mic'd up.Or maybe we don't.I haven't been told from production.

I got my money on Malakai.I've seen Ocho play.He's all talk.

Dang.Well, I mean, Kurt, you know, one thing that I have learned being a part of this community for so long is how much this game can teach people football.not just we're talking about the adjustments that are in it as we're going to get a kickoff return going straight out to Corvallis, Oregon as the Beavs and Ocho to the Krabowski.

Oh, you got 50 new celebration inputs this year, too.How about Malachi, Tony?

You can swag out however you want.Ocho's already taking the headset off.Malachi's yapping at him.He's letting him know, hey, you know, I took it, taking it out.Ocho's now like, it was the headset that didn't let me stop that.

I think Ocho's looking for an excuse.

He's looking to see if the buttons were on the actual headset.He's like, hold on.

He's hilarious.

But you add in not just the new adjustments teaching that, but talk about the franchise stuff, adding contract things like RFAs.How good is this game at teaching somebody the ins and outs of both college and the NFL?

You know, it's really cool because my transition out of the NFL came from trying to teach the game through Madden.I had one video that I decided to go live on and I was just answering questions in chat.And it was like, man, like people really want the next level of football and have all the tools built in the game right now to be able to go at like deep depth.Deep.I have probably three years worth of content from this game alone, where in past years, it felt like by the end of that Madden cycle, I was running out of ideas.

I've taught them the game.

Yeah, exactly.But now, man, we're going to have this thing stretched out for the entire year.a building block but you look at how you adjust the bunches and how you play stacks all these like really intricate pieces of the game the fact that kids at a young age are going to be exposed to this just lets them be you know at an earlier age exposed to really complex things i think it's going to help them be whoever they can be in the sport whether it be a coacha player or a fan at a deeper level.

Plus you guys have done a great job I feel like in if you don't want to get into the nuts and bolts and really get into that you just want to play some football there's a lot that's gonna You can really push to the side and use some of those quick adjustments and not have to get too much into the weeds.You can just look at the boot up and, you know, play your kid in a game of football.You don't need to be out there adjusting them zone drops on your nine -year -old.

I'm playing five -yard home curls.Yeah, you couldn't have said it better.I mean, that was the whole thing.

It's your guy Bengal, by the way, playing.How good is he at the game?He's not better than Bordeaux.

That's what the streets are saying.But that was the thing is like, and we have all new pre -play controls as well, right?You're not entering all these different states.And then it was like, ah, you can call it skill gap and all that.Like, whatever.It's just like, dude, Kurt doesn't need to go through that.

His mentally, I want to be like, hey, man, who's the Andy Reid of Madden in college football?It shouldn't have to do this.It's about playmaking.It's about play sequencing.It's about setting things up.And that's, again, where we want to get to.

And we're getting closer and closer every single year.

I would love to know what it's like.because I'm never going to experience it.For Dante Moore to load up the game and play as Dante Moore, that's got to be a wild experience.

It is.It's really incredible.And I think, you know, being here in person, seeing all these events, all the people in the same room, sometimes you have to take a step back and just realize how cool this is, because there was once a day where Dante was seven years old.Yeah.And he was dreaming of this.He was dreaming of this opportunity.

Exactly.And once you get into the game, the game that you grew up playing, enjoying, and then you get to, you know, go do it as yourself.It's really special.Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.Breaking hearts.Oh, this man looking like Seabiscuit.Off to the races, to the house.

And now he gets to celebrate as his teammate.

Still better than Bangle, baby.

Check it in.

Clip it.

Still.Yeah.Bangles questioning the tackling ability out there and palms up, you know, oh gee that palms down over here.

Yeah, one thing I will say about this Fendler is playing Vic wearing a Vic jersey, by the way.

That's some shill move right there.

Yeah, he's selling right now.

That's crazy.He's got Jameis Winston out there.By the way, why we got Jameis Winston out for the G -Men?Where's Jackson Dart?Can we talk to Fendler about why they're subbing out their man?

It's Tyrone Tracy fighting towards the end zone down to the one yard line.My son, Junior, is somewhere just yelling at the screen.That guy is the biggest Jackson Dart fan.We love Jackson Dart around here.

OK, all right.Yeah, I'm a big fan.

That's right, yes.Yeah, you think Cam Newton's playing He's good.He's good.

He's a fun watch.I'm curious, OG, from the EA perspective.This is the earliest we've seen gameplay.Yes.Was that a big sticking point for you guys, is getting the people at home to get to see full gameplay this early?Did that feel like a goal for you guys?

Absolutely.

I mean, the more feedback, the better.That's what I was saying.I'm not sugarcoating anything.I'm not selling.There's this new tech.Dude, we're talking football.

That's why I was calling my guy out here.We're just talking football.And that was it.The more feedback that we can get, the better.This guy will send me a text or whatever and go like, hey, dude, this isn't very good.You guys need to fix this.

and it's real, and it's no different than when we were both playing sports.You go in there, it's like, dude, get in here, let's fix this thing, go right back after it.

I feel like this is a power play, by the way, from Cam.Plank standing up.That's a power move.

He's hype right now.You know, I think that's one thing that I really appreciate you guys, OG.You guys have, since I started working with you guys in bunches of capacities, you have emphasized what can we do better.And every time I've brought something to the table, you have turned around and pushed towards whatever that is.And it's not just me, you guys read the chat, you read the DMs, you read the tweets, all that good stuff.All of it, man, just wearing me out.

But it's all worth it.It's all fun.They're good people, man.It's passion, right?It's passion, and everyone loves football, and people really love Madden.

Camp's calling out us.He's kill, kill, kill, kill.He's out here.He's out here doing something.

I think, Nick, too, there's something else, too.Maybe I'm dating myself, but when you're someone that was you know, waiting at GameStop and things like that.In line, pre -release, yeah.It meant something, right?And so you always go back and reflect on those when you're making this game.Those things never leave.

I was talking with Sean Grady about... you know, for Malakai and for Dante and for Kiwan to be on the cover of college football.After 2014, 2015, you didn't know if you were ever going to have the opportunity to be on a college football game.So to have it taken away, then to have it brought back and now to be on the cover of it, that's got to be a wild thing to look back on.

I can only imagine.Oh, Tommy Tremble.

Look at the wheel.Making the defense tremble to the end zone.

Keep pounding.

I really do like Caleb's full demeanor, man.He's a silent killer.Ice man.Ice man, dude.He's so fun to watch.

All right, so Ocho down 7 -0.He's blaming possibly the headset for the reason why he gave up a kickoff return.I'm sure that'll play well in the film room afterwards.4th and 11.He's going for it.Ocho does not know there's a punter on his team.

I'll let you know that.He does not know that there is any special teams out there.As they're playing Corvallis, Oregon.Are we going to get a...We're gonna get a false start.

It's gonna be fourth and 16 now a couple too many adjustments at the line a little too much Now you're just hitting your custom adjustment button, and then you're gonna help no deep passes.

I cannot wait everything underneath I cannot wait for that well the custom adjustments fight through crowd noise Great call wow I didn't say that that is an absolute

great point.So we're home field advantage It's rocking in Ohio Stadium on a Saturday and at November.

They're immune to home field advantage.

Give it to me because you Those adjustments are not a call at the line.

This is a more of a play design When he comes in and Kirk can speak from personal experience, he's in a hostile environment going like this he knows he's going right to a smash he already knows he's going to that macro adjustment he may have a slide protection maybe he's got a half slide off of that and he can go right ahead that's a great call I forgot to mention And he is silent and profiling into the end zone.

Will he use one of the new 50 inputs that we have to swag out?That's my question.So that's a great call out for the chat at home.If you're using those custom adjustment packages, they're immune to the crowd noise.But then if I try to hot route out of that one, change it, that's where the crowd noise is going to come into play.

That's realistic because when you're going into a game plan in a real game, You have your normal play, like you have your play sheet that's on a wristband, or you have, you know, your one -word calls or your two -minute drill, and then you have your, for that week, your one -word plays.Or your signal plays, where you're giving everybody the same thing, you're walking up the line of scrimmage, you're talking in their ear when it's loud, but outside of that, you can't just go off the reservation and make up a bunch of things in a loud environment.So those 10 plays you bring into a game, I truly believe you're going to have to build out your 10 stack for a variety of things because you don't know what you're going to go into.We're checking in with Bordo against the CPU.

We're checking in.

And he's on defense.Oh my lord, we've got some royalty up here on stage.

Can you tell who it is I know that voice from a mile awayan hour away.or a century away, that voice is iconic, and I miss and love you, brother.

Hey, hey, Sketch, what about the Oklahoma draw that you were doing before the show?

You good?I'll tell you what, that Badgers nose is a lot harder than I thought, so I told them to run it back, and then they hip -tossed me.That was scary.

Oh, man.

But I'll tell you what.

So the Badgers got some game, is what you're saying.

They had some game, but when it translates to IRL, or in real life, I don't know.The Mascot might need to play.Okay.Hey, put Bucky on the field.I'll tell you what, we've been playing out here and you know, EA's always been just a great host.Madden's been a great game, and I'll tell you what, the Dime Lab footballs.

Oh, man.They've been thrown around.The Dime Lab footballs have been thrown around.I'll tell you what, best football on the market.I appreciate you so much for saying that.And this is my guy.

I love you, Kirk.I love you too, man.

Maybe we'll get a sketch football one day.Who knows?

One day.Can we get that?I'd buy one.What's up, brother?What's up, brother?I love EA.

I love Madden.I don't know about the Bears, but I love Caleb Williams.And I know Cam Newton's got belt ass one time.And if he wants a running back, he can meet me on the sticks.He's over there.He's got a headset on.

I don't care.

Listen, he can see in the clip.He'll see you in the clip.Listen, I love you all.Thank you so much.Appreciate you.Enjoy the night.

The amount of Dime Lab footballs that we have purchased, They've done one hell of a job.I appreciate you guys so much, man.I'd have to ask my wife over.We got the white, we've got pink, we've got...I mean, was there anything that we didn't get?Is this Mrs. O .

G.?Yes, Mrs. O .G.Hi, Mrs. O .G.

, nice to meet you.We got Caleb on the drive.He is all the way down to the three -yard line.Third and three.Hand off.D 'Andre Swift bringing the lumber like Home Depot.

It's fourth and short.Here we go.No huddle.No huddle.Hurry, hurry, hurry.Checking a little goal line in here.

Here he goes.He's back to pass.

Caleb later.One throw.Now listen though, this is coaching.Give me a go for it from the inches 20 out of 20 times because those three points are not worth it.

Flipping the field.Let me bring out the QB sneak though.

Oh, that's what yeah Yeah, he was excited I wanted to see the drama that's another thing that the meter actually brings out dude the drama Watching kicking.

Yeah, like can you can you tell us OG so I played a couple days ago was making this YouTube video That'll be going out soon.Yeah, and I grabbed the Vikings and I Kyler Murray and when I tell you this QB sneak meter was rolling I got stuffed.Does the size of the quarterback play into all of this?

Yes, absolutely.So it's size, rating, situation, how the defense is set up.Block, shed, weight, strength.

It's one big formula that is working into that equation.Here's all I'm saying.If you're out there looking to play defense, and you got a fourth and short, and I see you come out in dollar, I'm QB sneaking all day and I'm getting it all the time.

No more dollar run here.But here's the thing, right?It's like it's defense.It's defense.Offense wins.You know, I'm not.

The offense doesn't want to get offense themselves.Tickets.It's exciting.And they assume fun.Well, fun is relative, but fun has a lot of balance.And to your point, you know, I want to I want to be able to scheme things up.

Oh, I'm going to play this.I'm going to zone it when they come in.And they're in that trips bunch.And I'm going to be able to have those options.Yeah, that's awesome.

I don't I don't know about you.Look at this.I'm loving and seeing the dynamic weather out here.Look at it start to pile up.Kayla back to pass.

So that was a big big thing.

So trying to throw balls into tight windows The three forming and like how you use the left stick and the left trigger Yeah, left trigger left stick is gonna matter a lot when you're throwing this year.

How do those dime lap balls perform in the snow?

Oh, man, honestly, we had some some Wisconsin natives use it for their their flag football games and they loved it.

Pretty cool to see I need Cam Newton live mic ready to go at all times at all times Cam Newton an absolute Legend out here taking on Caleb Williams your Madden NFL 27 cover athlete coming to you live from the Aeon grand ballroom in Chicago Navy Pier the site of tonight's EA Sports Open Drive.Appreciate everybody hanging out with us To be alive and be a Madden and college football man this feels I haven't been on the color side of the commentary I have that sign on my door, actually.

It's actually fun.Romo's great, man.Yeah, timing -based catching hits red.

Hey, so you're probably feeling pretty good about the Rams this year, huh?You took my guy miles garage.I'm gonna get Aaron Donald to come out of retirement play.I could have talked to Aaron Donald I might have shouted him out too because he's part of the 99 club at one point We got s fan and key one Lacey s fan out there rocking the Pony Express SMU We got Fendler and Vic still tied up at 7.How about by the way Vic coming out la charters?

Yeah, I like that.He goes.He goes.I got Jay Herbo.I'm going to work.Well Jay Herbo man That guy is it was

One of the best in the league, man.Oh, Larian Hampton in the backfield.

They're tough.

I'm a big hardball guy, too, man. I know you, I know.Loves football.We love football.We love football.I guess he loves it.He just loves everything about it, right?

I'll tell you this.Listen, I'm an Ohio State guy.I'm not a Jim Harbaugh fan, but I will tell you this.I am big on the Chargers this year.I think watching that run game go to work is going to be crazy.

Yeah, absolutely.Yeah, he wants his ground and pound, babe.You know, you're going to go in there and just establish the run game and boot off of it.

I feel like, OG, looking at everything that came out, I feel like there's a little something for everybody.He's got circle if he wants it.Oh, feet down.Yeah, he got it.I feel like there's something for everyone in this game.Whether you're the core, whether you're just casual who wants to boot up and play with friends, whether you're a franchise, a dynasty, a college, there's something for everybody.

100%, no doubt about it.That's well put.And I look at everything, even now, even on the football field, too, right?Because, I mean, football is a complex game.And now it's like oh, okay.Well, how do we not you know, I don't say dumb anything down because we're not gonna do that But we need to make things, you know accessible fun easy to pick up hard to master CPU all the adaptive stuff that we got going on here, too I mean I saw a lot of people one thing like the timing base catching really cool mechanic Yes, but I saw a lot of people concerned like dude.

I'm not gonna be able to play this game turn off timing -based catching.

You don't need to have it.

Absolutely, man.You got the options to play your way.To play your way.Like me, I'm going to put timing -based catching, probably 20 plus.

Oh!Oh!It was the red timing base.That's why you drop it.Yep.Now that the you know, you've got obviously everybody knows red yellow and green But there's a lot of situations gonna change how wide your green window is that how covered they are It's ratings.

It's all that so it's not quite as like black and whiteas it's gonna be this much green for this player It depends on what the situation absolutely and some of those are so hard to pull off It's a choice is cam hard counting right now.He's hard counting live and just I mean Caleb didn't jump, but I like that Play action, Bryce Young, right side on the in route, well covered, but makes the catch in coverage.

Did he get yellow there?

Looked like yellow with red on the defensive side.I'm still my favorite Cam.My favorite Cam moment of all time is when the defense called out his play.Hey, you've been watching film, watch this.And he changes it.

And he goes and hands the ball.

How did Cam go into the run game here, under 50 seconds to go?So Sketch definitely came out in the middle of his game to talk to us and I love that dedication.Sketch is awesome.

There's no other way to explain it.He's great.Energy's always there.

By the way, I know it might have been, you might have seen it on the camera, but having all the mascots out here really brought Brought that pageantry of college football to the building.

Absolutely, man.Do you see mcleod?Yeah Oh mcleod was because sparty was here loving it man. I love that because there's one word, you know sparty showed up He goes, ah, man.Let's just take another one I hear there's a rumor going around that mcleod kisses a picture of sparty before he goes to sleep every night mcleod loves sparty, man I know he does.

Hey, listen, that's michigan state grad.I get it.

I get it michigan state the home of the great Magic Johnson.

Look at sketch in the face of Nick right now.This is crazy Let it go How about getting some coordinators into the game?

That's a little elemental realism that I think people are really I love it, man This has been such a fun year to work.You know, obviously we got an outstanding team guys who enjoy it got the right guys on the bus I don't know that stuff in then I say that because Just like you said all the details that matter coordinators other assistants What kind of poses do we have for the head coaches on the sideline man?

All that stuff is courtesy and it just arms crossed at all times Oh, man, never smile with this signature facial expressions.

I'll tell you is that the best coaching job in sports history?

I mean, this is a first take but it might be Okay I don't think so.I mean, let's be clear.This is coming from an Ohio State guy who went to Michigan State I have to give flowers to an Indiana guy.That's crazy.He did an unbelievable job.Yeah, I mean just where they were Who would have thought four years ago if Curt Cignetti would be on the cover of College Football 27?

What would the odds on that guy be?Astronomical.You're not even getting odds on that one.And then he turns it around, gets him an NSL title.And plus, by the way, don't count out the fact, I know my franchise head's out there, gonna get to play Fernando Mendoza in Las Vegas?

That's a great one.Another note that I saw here on the Bryce Young drop back is that You are slower after you get out of your initial drop as a quarterback and you keep holding the left stick the back You are slower going back than you are going forward So we wanted you to step up in the pocket.You're going to be quicker going up like you would in real life, right?

I'm not punting.

So I refuse little note there.

I refuse to punt.I will not punt.

Okay, uh, that word has been said by every madden accountfootball player since the beginning.Oh, here we go, here we go.

Oh look, it's pumping, it's pumping.Is he gonna get it?

Oh, there he goes!

That was an easy that wasn't easy I read the discourse I heard everybody out there saying listen This is either going to be the easiest thing ever or completely useless you saw right there, and then what not easy He's not a kicker.

Okay.We made those a little bit difficult.

That's why I had a little bit of an interest you saw how it is Situation how they're lined up Nothing automatic.Nothing's going to be given in this game.

You couldn't be more right.I just love to, and I say it confidently because our guys work incredibly hard.But these last three years, man, we're on a run.And we're going to continue that run, and I'm not going to apologize for that.You know, I'm having a lot of fun.And this is, you know, something special going on.

And here's the thing.I'm excited for all these guys.Listen, we know that there are a lot of doubters out there.We know there are a lot of people who watch this going, I don't I don't believe in this.I can't wait for them to get their hands on the game to really get this experience.It's one thing to watch these presentations.

It's another thing to feel how the game plays.Absolutely.Absolutely.Just go out there and get on the sticks.I'd rather just not even say anything.Feel it.

Go feel it.You know, absolutely.

Speak with your work.We got Caleb down 12 -0.That's a score that's normal.That's a bad, that's a bad, that's a really good Dodgers game, let's be honest.That's a 4 -4 -4 Shohei day.The GOAT.

The GOAT.Unbelievable.

The GOAT.Got like a .71 ERA right now.Unbelievable.Just dealing.dealing for the fans out there.This is a sports show.

Let's get the podcast.Come on.Let's get the podcast going.

Let's go play action.Pass for Kayla back to pass throwing it left side incomplete.Cam's got a little defense.

If I was Caleb right now, I think I'm adjusting my TBC probably put it further back.Just hit a couple reds here.

Because it's on you one of the biggest players in foot in Madden history.

He is the best Mike He is the best man and he's playing against one of the men with the biggest head in content creation But the thing is do you think I was wrong when I said he is the most dominant of all time, right?

He broke he broke Madden forever.

It is it's him and Bo Jackson.Yep.

You know, oh Jr.Just scramble.Oh, I'm begging you just scramble, dude.Pick up the first down.You're embarrassing me We're going to go to the quad box.I feel real Scott Hanson -y right now.

We're going to the quad box.Top left, Fendler and Vick.Top right, Henry and John Beast.

Bottom left.We got Bangle in action.

Is Bangle?Oh, Bangle.Oh, Bangle.Look at the plaster logic.Oh, this is going to be a pick.We got to do a pick for the plaster.

There it is.Picks for the plaster.

And the ball's out.

That's a fumble.

That's a fumble off the pick.It's a fumble off the pick.

It's a fumble off the pick.Chaos is in college.Don't point at the camera.The ups and downs.You get a pick and you get a fumble.

Dude, can we just leave?Like, just let Cam do the rest of this?Like, I'm good.Henry and John.Henry, uh, still good at the game.I don't know if you knew that.

Look at the Drake, Meg, QB, Snake.There you go.

14 -0 here, huh?I'm trying to see two with the new pre -play controls.Most of the change is being defensively, right?Uh, just seems like a lot of

adjust, you know, cuz it's gonna be setups and different fun to watch speaking of fun I think we got Kurt Benkert standing by with a man who's putting on some entertainment in Cam Newton Kurt standing by Kurt What's going on down here guys?

What's up, guys?We're here.We're live.I'm here with Cam and Caleb.What's up?New cover athlete.

And look, first half was a little bit tough.Caleb got down to the one -yard line, almost scored.They added in the new QB sneak.What do you think about next time maybe pulling that one out?We're going to help you out this second half.But also, they just added in the timing -based passing.

I think that's where some of the drops came from.

Yeah, that's new.That's new for me. I'm used to just being able to tap or hold triangle for picks, because he's almost thrown three of them.

He's probably had three or four that he's given out, Cam.What's your game plan for the second half?

You're distracting me from coaching my team up at halftime.My guys are locked in right now.OK, our coaches are making the necessary adjustments.We knew that quarterback was going to come in here, and he was going to be slippery, very agile.We wanted to make the pocket very murky and muddy.OK, we know that he wants the late game heroics.

We can't give him that.Anything else?Thank you.I got to tend to my team.

Well, you know what?We've seen Caleb down in games before, have massive fourth quarter comebacks.I'm going to keep my eyes on this one and I'm pulling for you.Congratulations.Back to you, Nick.

That was cam's ready for a coaching job.I'm putting out there that that was a cignetti -like interview.I'm trying to focus on my team right now.

My thing growing up in the in the mean streets of Gresham, Oregon.Sure.You know, how did I not get him as my seven on seven coach?I know right?Do these kids know how well they have it?

Yeah, they don't.

Like I'm dead serious.Like this dude's out here coaching seven on seven, giving back to the youth, putting in his time and money.It's unbelievable what I see him in his 20s.on IG and social.I know it's really cool.

I know W is a big Eagles fan.It's really happy to wrapping up a win starting off the year with a win here in Chicago.Got to feel good.That's a mojo going around.Oh, yeah.

No matter how you get that W. It doesn't matter.There it is.

Ethically or non -ethically, get the win.

Shout out to my guy Dougie out here fighting too.

All right.I think we got Kurt Benkert.He's roaming around.They gave him a microphone for some reason.standing by with another cover athlete.Is this legal, Curt?

What you got over there?

We've got another, here we go.We've got another cover athlete.We got Kiwan over here playing S -band and is 15 -7 at half.You've been balling, huh?

Been balling, man.

So you really do play the game?

Yeah, man.We do this in real life.

Now, can you tell me a little bit about what it felt like to be on the cover and what that first moment when you found out what it was going to be like was all about?

It's a blessing.It's really a dream come true.You know, you dream about things like this growing up and to see it come to life is just amazing.

That's awesome.Well, congratulations to you.Now we do have to kick it over to S -Fan.You're down 7 to 15.Tell us about this comeback.What's your game plan?

I'm going to whoop my player's ass in the locker room.That's what I'm about to do.

So you need me to stop talking to you so you can get to halftime, make your game plan, and get back in the game.

The game plan is don't suck.I mean, it's as simple as that.We go through the offseason.I remember we spent hours.running gassers, or conditioning, sledgehammer to tires.I'll never forget the kind of work that they put in while I sat there and watched, watching them running them bleachers, okay?

I know how hard they work, and they're not playing the way that we coach them.They're just not, and I'm pissed.

So they're better than this.We're gonna see how the second half plays out, but we're gonna kick it back to Nick and OG back in the booth.Thank you, guys.

Was that a Mike Leach?That felt like Mike Leach, the legend.

Oh, that might have been the greatest.interview I've ever heard.

We talked about Cam Newton leading your youth team.How about S -Fan?

Do you think he's going to use the new coach chat feature?I think you have to.Just open up dynamic subs, go to a player who's cold, hit triangle, we can settle him down.By the way, however, you want to talk to your players now?

Talk to me a little bit.Coach mode being in these games.I feel like a guy like S -Fan who loves this type of mode, a guy like Bodo.There's a lot of people that want to just coach the game.They want to leave it to the players in the field.It's a really big add for me, guys.

Yeah, absolutely.Again, play your way.It's a different type of way to play.Cool thing is, I don't know if you already mentioned it, all all your hot routes select in primary receiver all that stuff goes away in coach mode 15 seconds so when the headset clicks we're done so it's just like you have the headset in your ear That's right, then we added all new cameras to support that as well, so that was the greatest interview That was a coach.We need more like that.

I need more.I do we need more I do In my veins yeah in my veins heard me coach in East River High School It might be that something that you might not very enjoy you.I'll let you have I'll also point out I have heard from multiple people that those two trailers are their favorite trailers.They've ever seen I need We dialed s -fan lock that in he was ready to go.He's not like Mike Leach.He's what I was the first thing that character I got a little nervous like I felt like Now how about this we're fighting a little bit we're close it helps with 12 seconds you see too much palms up palms up We got to be palms down bangle Can I get a check in on Bordeaux has he lost the CPA but I think the comment I made it's probably still living rent -free so I See Bordeaux in the menus and that concerns me. I wonder is Bordeaux.

We still need the Kentucky's the only one with

Kentucky.Menu merchant, huh?You know what I will say, spending some time over there with Caleb and Cam.Caleb's demeanor and calmness while Cam is chirping.Is that why he's great at football?I think it is, dude.

He's just, he's zoned in, locked in, and he got close.And I realized he wasn't using the catching mechanic.The timing base yes, yeah, we're tapping it early like before and you know you just sometimes you got to get the little Sometimes for some people you mean to turn it off.Maybe that's not the way that he's I'm gonna be honest I turned mine to 20 less Because you know when you have more flight time and more time to adjust you can you know bump into the guys change the route a little bit But underneath it happens so fast right now.

I'm looking to pitch arse Well and and the word that gets floated out there a lot on the end the SG word skill gap this is something that If you can get good at this, it feels like that something's gonna be able to separate you in some of those sweaty games.

100%.You're gonna see people now, they're getting their hands on it for the first time, and then by the time they're, you know, a couple weeks in, a month in...Yeah, you're absolutely gonna.I want to see the pro.I want to see the pro guys get I was he how good they get that's what we were tuning things around We have you know a lot of competitive guys in their former players that are in there.We put this thing through the works So you know we could go in there people.

Oh my gosh now.You're gonna green everything.It's all no no it's still not like that I actually I think I played five or six games leading up to this and by game four I was like okay the competitive catches across the middle if I time it right bump and lean and All those little things matter now, which is pretty incredible.

Oh, in the stick is up in the snow.Oh, we got it.How about that kick there?Let's go.How deep was that?It was a line drive.

Must have been pretty deep.We call that Brandon Aubrey length is what we call it.Seabass up into the end zone.

Look at the clap.Look at the clap.

I think I can hear Mills through my headset too.

Where is Mills?Where is our guy Mills?Mills has got to be in there.

Hey Mills.Hey buddy.

Where is my guy?

He's on the other side of the second screen.He's behind Bordeaux.Alright.I'm curious.He got fed to Sivvle.I feel bad for him.

That wasn't fair to him.Siv's a good player, dude.I played against him last year for, I think it was Reveal, one of the games.It took everything in my bag to keep it within one score.

He's a good player.

I cannot wait to watch your channel.

I appreciate this stuff though, man Just I just think about when you're in that custom adjustment on you Like that's gonna be a lot of fun just to see all the different setups that you're going through throughout the year I feel like it's gonna be one of those things that each game I'm going back after the games over like man I needed that or man. I need to make this adjustment and a two nothing score Oh, and then how many people are going to copy?Oh, yeah, we're a justice.Yeah, gotta be great.Like you said I'm in this man.We're in China.

We're going China both sides That's what we're gonna do or I just want this one.This is you know, I can't I can't wait to see that You know, I think the way that I'm gonna build this this year is gonna be based on protection first Okay, what type of game am I getting because you have to have a protection plan and then outside of that I'm gonna base it solely on leverage and If it's certain leverage with China's, I really like progressing from a crosser to a China on the same side That's something that um, you know Shanahan did a lot of kind of open my eyes to the timing of those routes where early in my career, you know Bordeaux no mean and then like under where I want like a delayed Because by the time I get there So that's how I'm gonna build my scheme Bordeaux is losing his game

by the way.He is now 0 -3 against Cobra.What quarter are we in, Bordeaux?He's in his second game.I believe he lost the first one.Now he's losing the second one.

Yeah, let the streak continue, baby.Next year, we're running it back.We got it.We run it back.

Part for the course.

Oh, yeah unbelievable.I mean that was it we'd be sitting there like man's Bordeaux gonna cuz Donovan Donovan, you know got him twice.I got him.Oh, he's got him.Oh good.Oh, he dropped it.

Oh my oh Did you see that Caleb though?

He protected it up He got the right protection and cam fought through contact, but it was nice ladies and gentlemen What a night we have had here tonight from the Aon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois.The crowd here has been fantastic.We've been having a blast out here seeing these creators get to work.And you know what?We're going to be here gaming all night.So make sure to go to all of these creators' channels to see all the action.

You've seen them here.Make sure you follow them.You can also head over to Twitch for more in -depth highlights of College Football 27 and Madden 27.For OG, for Kurt Baker, for everybody here at EA, I'm Nick Mozesko saying goodnight.from Chicago.