EA Sports Releases Madden Football IQ Study by Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center

EA Sports, a label of Electronic Arts Inc., announced the results of the Madden Football IQ study, conducted by the University of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center.

The groups determined in the study, which examined how fans of Madden NFL also interact with the sport of football, that fans who play the Madden NFL video game series are not only more knowledgeable about the game of football, but are also more avid, devoted fans.

"For the second year, we delved into the relationship that the Madden NFL game forges with real football, and the study proved that it runs deep. Madden NFL fans are not only extremely knowledgable about the game of football, they are equally as passionate," said Paul Swangard, Managing Director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. "Twenty-one years of the Madden NFL franchise has created a smarter and more devoted football fan."

The study surveyed more than 9,000 EA Sports Madden NFL players and football fans on both knowledge of the sport and fan avidity. Building on a previous study, respondents' football knowledge was tested through five categories of football knowledge: Game Situations, General Knowledge, History, Rules and Business of Sport.

In addition to testing respondents' football knowledge and game-playing habits, consumption of NFL football was also measured through questions on viewing, attending games and purchasing habits as it relates to the sport of football. Based on the results of the consumption and knowledge portions of the study, the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center developed a football "fan avidity" score to examine the correlation of time spent playing Madden NFL and being a passionate football fan.

According to the fan avidity score, the more hours playing the Madden NFL game correlates to a more devoted and involved NFL fan. The most passionate of these fans are less likely to miss a football game on Sunday than most non-Madden players and are likely to attend at least one NFL game per season.

Madden NFL players also watch a lot of football. During the regular NFL season, 43 percent of Madden NFL players watched 16 or more hours of NFL programming per week - two-thirds of a day per week or more - compared to only 15 percent of non- Madden NFL players. And it doesn't slow down much in the off-season, as 41 percent of Madden NFL players watch six or more hours of football-related television per week compared to only 14 percent of non-Madden NFL players.

Madden NFL players also bring their passion to their teams. Madden NFL players more regularly attend NFL games: 58 percent of Madden NFL players attend at least one game a year, compared to only 39 percent of non-Madden NFL players.

Questions where Madden NFL players scored particularly higher indicated intricate knowledge of not only football mechanics, but also nuanced knowledge of football terminology. Examples included:

- 67 percent of Madden NFL players correctly identified specific passing routes versus 48 percent of non-Madden NFL players.

- Madden NFL players also know their defensive schemes, with 81 percent correctly identifying formations compared to 67 percent of non-Madden respondents.

- Madden NFL players get inside the game of football as well, demonstrated as they correctly defined injury classification terms more often than non-Madden NFL players. For example, 63 percent of Madden NFL players correctly defined "Injured Reserve" versus 48 percent of non-Madden NFL players.

The Madden NFL Football IQ survey was conducted by University of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center in conjunction with Electronic Arts Inc. in July 2009. The study included more than 9,000 surveys that were conducted online.

The James H. Warsaw Sports Marketing Center is a sports education and research program. Housed within the University of Oregon's Charles H. Lundquist College of Business, it has become a model for sports-business programs across the country. The program offers degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate level and is active in industry outreach through its consulting, research and annual events including the Women in Sports Business Symposium.

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