Alternate ‘EA Sports Madden NFL Cast’ planned for Kansas City Chiefs game Saturday
Alternate broadcasts of NFL games have become commonplace, giving fans having a chance to watch the action with Nickelodeon characters, “The Simpsons” or the Manning brothers.
Something new is coming for the Chiefs’ game Saturday against the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium. The game, which starts at noon, will air on NBC (KSHB, Ch. 41 in Kansas City), but a special EA Sports Madden NFL Cast will be streaming on Peacock.
In a news release, NBC Sports shared what fans can expect to see if they stream the game on Peacock.
“(The broadcast) will be an immersive, data-powered live football experience that injects Madden NFL’s unique brand elements as animated overlays,” NBC Sports said. “Featuring live EA SPORTS Madden NFL 25 graphics, route trees, play cards and player ratings, the Madden NFL Cast will transform football strategy, information and IQ for viewers, enabled by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats and GeniusIQ. ...
“GeniusIQ combines real-time data insights with fully branded animations, delivering an immersive viewing experience.”
Paul Burmeister will be the play-by-play broadcaster and former Packers quarterback Kurt Benkert will be the game analyst. Ex-Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco will be adjusting players ratings during the game, NBC said.
In a conference call, NBC Sports Executive Producer of NFL Fred Gaudelli said there were two rehearsals for the broadcast during the Seahawks-Packers and Chiefs-Chargers “Sunday Night Football” games.
Here’s how things should look during the broadcast.
The broadcasters won’t be at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday. Burmeister said the broadcasters also won’t be beside one another as they call the game.
“It’s a much different setup than what I’m used to in the booth on Saturdays, if I’m calling a Big Ten game, in the sense I would normally have my analysts right next to me,” Burmeister said in the conference call.” And we can kind of look at each other and we’re very used to kind of how that feels throughout the game.
“In our studio setup ... it’s quite a bit different. I’m kind of off to the corner by myself and I’ll have in front of me some of the assets I’ll have in the booth. I’ll have a program monitor, a stats monitor, a stats person and my spotter next to me helping me that way. So in that way, it’s all very similar.
“But Chad and Kurt and Henry (Leverette, a Madden expert) will be kind of in front of me, to the right. We’ll have the giant projector screen in front of me to the left. So, I’ll be keeping an eye on my analysts and the screen in a different way than I would during, I guess, a normal broadcast on a Saturday from a traditional booth. But I will have some of the things right in front of me with my spotter and stat person and the screens I’m used to looking at. That part of it will be very similar.”
This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 11:24 AM.
