ESPN will make "exclusive reveals of the player ratings in Madden NFL 21" starting Monday on "Get Up," while other ESPN "daytime programs like 'First Take,' 'SportsCenter' and 'NFL Live' will also devote segments" to the video game, according to Brian Steinberg of VARIETY. The coverage will "culminate in a 'SportsCenter' special breaking down the ratings process on Friday, July 17." ESPN has made "cultivating younger viewers a priority in recent years, launching a version of 'SportsCenter' for Snapchat and moving more readily into the world of combat sports by signing deals with UFC and boxing promoters." While the net has "certainly covered esports in the past, next week’s maneuver will thread coverage of the topic through some of its most traditional coverage." ESPN has "scrambled in recent weeks to fill hours of its schedule devoted to live game coverage and to analysis of it thanks to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic." But its alliance with EA Sports was "devised well in advance of this anomalous situation." ESPN Exec Producer Andy Tennant, who is overseeing the project, said that when ESPN producers "monitored reaction to last year’s ratings reveal," they found "lots of excitement around the event." Tennant said that they "knew they could do something on ESPN that would get viewers interested" (VARIETY.com, 7/9).
