Fans to select Madden Cover

Although there might not be an NFL season next fall, the Madden video game franchise will live on and fans will be more involved than ever in the next cover selection.

EA Sports announced today that similar to the NCAA Football 12 selection process, NFL fans will have the opportunity to chose the next cover athlete for the video game.

Kicking off today and continuing through April 27, fans can participate in a bracket-style voting campaign on www.ESPN.com/MaddenVote and choose among 32 candidates (one representative from every NFL team) to appear on the cover of Madden NFL 12.

Fans’ votes will determine which NFL players advance through the seeded bracket, culminating in the reveal of the Madden NFL 12 cover athlete on ESPN’s “SportsNation” on April 27.

Among the candidates are: Packers quarterback and Super Bowl XLV MVP Aaron Rodgers, former Madden NFL cover athletes Saints QB Drew Brees and Eagles QB Michael Vick along with Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew, Vikings RB Adrian Peterson and Bears DE Julius Peppers.

The full Madden NFL 12 cover athlete bracket will be unveiled today during ESPN’s “SportsNation” today at 4pm ET.