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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Read about the latest sports tech news, innovations, ideas and products that impact players, fans and the sports industry overall at SportTechie.com.&lt;/i&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Recently at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the annual gaming conference in Los Angeles, EA finally unveiled their strategy on eSports. Not surprisingly, it will focus on &lt;em&gt;Madden&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;FIFA&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Battlefield 1&lt;/em&gt; (BF1)\u200A\u2014\u200Aand shockingly not&lt;em&gt; Titanfall 2&lt;/em&gt;\u200A, \u200Abut that\u2019s probably as the game was just revealed and EA is focusing on BF1 as the lead first-person shooter title.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The overall details were not announced but focused on the&amp;nbsp;launch&amp;nbsp;of the &lt;em&gt;Madden 17&lt;/em&gt; championship spanning four majors with a $1 million prize pool. That\u2019s pretty significant for the first major foray into eSports, although these types of Madden events on smaller scale have happened for a while.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What\u2019s interesting is the three-tier structure of EA eSports. Here\u2019s how it\u2019s made up:\r\n\r\n\r\n\tChallenger: Community-focused competitions. EA will work with gamers to start their own tournaments.\r\n\tPremier: Large-scale events that EA will host in partnership with other companies.\r\n\tEA Majors: Highest level with regional and world champions\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\nSubscribe to the\r\nSportTechie Newsletter\r\n\r\nSubscribe \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\tHow USAB revealed its roster\r\n\tTour de France upgrades infrastructure\r\n\tMLB partners with Blast Motion\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here\u2019s how to read this:\r\n\r\n\r\n\tChallenger:&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;All those companies that have been running Madden online tournaments to date?&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;Don\u2019t be surprised if that goes to one exclusive company\u200A\u2014\u200Auntil EA is ready to handle it all themselves.\r\n\tPremier: EA didn\u2019t define \u201Ccompanies,\u201D but I\u2019m guessing event and production companies like ESL. Awesome for EA. Events are not a scalable long-term business.\r\n\tEA Majors: Not many details, but imagine something similar to Call of Duty World League.\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;EA also announced that the &lt;em&gt;Madden 16&lt;/em&gt; championship during E3 would be broadcast on ESPN2.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I\u2019ve covered a few of these areas already:\r\n\r\n\r\n\tThe challenges of sports games as eSports\r\n\teSports ratings on TV\r\n\tI tweeted it would be the worst performing eSport TV show&amp;nbsp;for the year\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don\u2019t see a lot of inside perspective on the space, so I\u2019m going to offer it. When you take a point of view, you hope that you\u2019re more right than wrong. Wow, was I wrong. Let\u2019s see how it did.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Considering the overall minimal marketing and announcement the day before the airing, that\u2019s a pretty strong start. Not only did it beat E League significantly in Week 3, it almost equaled E League\u2019s premiere viewers. (Viewers not specified will always be 18\u201349 as it\u2019s the key demo for advertisers.)\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I looked at the previous month\u2019s data as to what aired at the same time on ESPN on Tuesday\u2019s at 6 p.m.\u2014\u200Aa repeat of &lt;em&gt;Around The Horn&lt;/em&gt;\u200A\u2014\u200Aso no good comparison. Just for fun, here\u2019s how Madden performed head-to-head with &lt;em&gt;SportsCenter&lt;/em&gt;:\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Granted&lt;em&gt; SportsCenter&lt;/em&gt; is live four hours a day, but that\u2019s half the viewership. Then the biggest point: An average ESPN 30-second advertising spot was $55,000 in 2013. Even assuming no increase in three years and the premium for &lt;em&gt;SportsCenter&lt;/em&gt;, the return on investment for eSports is higher.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What I\u2019m still puzzled by is why the viewership was that high.&amp;nbsp;Was it the off-season and reflects the passion of the NFL fan for content? Did the entire Madden Nation show up with little fanfare?&amp;nbsp;I don\u2019t have the answers.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Although EA made several eSports announcements, I expected most of those. What I\u2019m most interested is what\u2019s coming up next:\r\n\r\n\r\n\t&lt;em&gt;With Challenger and Xbox Arena, where do tournament platform companies go on Console?&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;Everyone\u2019s working together now but it makes sense to handle all of this at either the game and/or platform level.\r\n\t&lt;em&gt;What\u2019s coming to TV next?&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;You\u2019ll definitely see more Madden, probably tied with the upcoming NFL season. The 2016 World Cup in Japan is a prime opportunity to start FIFA now.\r\n\t&lt;em&gt;New titles?&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;Maybe because I\u2019m one of the few that actually liked the first &lt;em&gt;i&lt;/em&gt;that I hope EA gives &lt;em&gt;Titanfall 2&lt;/em&gt; a chance. It\u2019s perfect for eSports. Unfortunately the game has no groundwork built yet to blossom.\r\n\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;EA has a monstrous gap to close with Activision-Blizzard. &lt;em&gt;Call of Duty &lt;/em&gt;is doing fine and Blizzard\u2019s war chest of &lt;em&gt;Starcraft&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Heroes of the Storm&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Hearthstone&lt;/em&gt; is rich, even without factoring in the massive potential of &lt;em&gt;Overwatch.&lt;/em&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Let the games begin.\r\n.timeline {\r\n        float: left;\r\n        margin: 0px 15px 5px 0px;\r\n        border: 1px dashed #000;\r\n        width: 40%;\r\n        max-width: 500px;\r\n        font-size: 1.5 rem;\r\n        font-weight: 800;\r\n        font-family: 'Slabo 27px', serif;\r\n        background: #fff;\r\n        color: #000;\r\n        line-height: 1;\r\n    }\r\n    \r\n    .timeline a {\r\n        color: #000;\r\n        text-decoration: none;\r\n    }\r\n    \r\n    .timeline a:hover {\r\n        text-decoration: underline;\r\n    }\r\n    \r\n    .title {\r\n        font-size: 0.9rem;\r\n        font-weight: 900;\r\n        text-align: center!important;\r\n    }\r\n    \r\n    .nl-container {\r\n        border-radius: 4px;\r\n        font-weight: 700;\r\n        font-size: 1.2rem\r\n    }\r\n    \r\n    .button {\r\n        width: 150px;\r\n        background-color: #b22024;\r\n        border: 1px solid #b22024;\r\n        border-radius: 4px;\r\n        padding: 5px;\r\n        margin: 6px 3px\r\n    }\r\n    \r\n    .button:hover {\r\n        width: 150px;\r\n        background-color: #fff;\r\n        border: 1px solid #b22024;\r\n        border-radius: 4px;\r\n        padding: 5px;\r\n        margin: 6px 3px\r\n    }\r\n    \r\n    .btn-txt {\r\n        font-size: 12px;\r\n        font-family: Arial;\r\n        font-weight: bold;\r\n        color: #fff;\r\n        white-space: nowrap;\r\n        display: block;\r\n        text-align: center\r\n    }\r\n    \r\n    .btn-txt:hover {\r\n        font-size: 12px;\r\n        font-family: Arial;\r\n        font-weight: bold;\r\n        color: #b22024;\r\n        white-space: nowrap;\r\n        display: block;\r\n        text-align: center\r\n    }\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/tech-media/2016/06/30/ea-sports-esports-madden-fifa-espn>