The cover athlete for EA Sports' "Madden NFL 12" video game will be announced today on ESPN2's "SportsNation," and EA Sports President Peter Moore yesterday in a chat with fans ahead of the announcement said having fans vote for the cover athlete this year was "certainly a great experiment and we're delighted that the community got involved." When asked if the fan vote will be "just a special one year thing," Moore said, "I'll leave it to our very capable marketing team in Florida, I don't see why we couldn't do this again next year." Moore added EA "couldn't be more delighted" with Eagles QB Michael Vick and Browns RB Peyton Hillis as the finalists. Moore: "We have Vick, the comeback player of the year. He gave Brady a run for the money at MVP. And for Hillis, we couldn't be more delighted for Cleveland and they couldn't be more happy to have one of their own fighting for the cover. We've been fascinated to see the fan reaction. We'll be very comfortable with whatever decision they make." Moore added that Hillis being on the cover would not hurt game sales. Moore: "I think the reason Peyton is in the final is that fans love the underdog. Our research has told us that whoever is on the cover does not hurt sales." Meanwhile, Moore noted EA has "announced that if there is no season that we expect Madden sales to go down." But he added, "That's not to say that other sales of other games will go up. That is the one place that fans could get their NFL fix, is by playing Madden" (ESPN.com, 4/26).
