Videogames offer cash rewards to sports fans

By John Gaudiosi

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands (Reuters) - While professional athletes can earn millions of dollars, videogamers now have a chance to also take home tens of thousands of dollars in sports winnings without breaking a sweat.

Sports video game competitions, like the EA Sports Madden Challenge which held its finals in virtual American football in Turks and Caicos Islands this week, are becoming global events.

Over 180,000 gamers took part in the Madden Challenge online through Xbox Live and another 10,000 football fanatics attended one of 18 events held around the United States over two months.

Electronic Arts expanded the virtual gridiron competition to include Toronto, Mexico City and London this year as the NFL tries to expand the sport into new territories.

But this week it was Lee Green, 20, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who walked away with a $25,000 check and a $25,000 gift card from consumer electronic store Best Buy as the seventh Madden Challenge champion.

For the second year running Walt Disney Co''s ESPN2 TV network is airing a one-hour special on the Madden Challenge Finals during Super Bowl Sunday on February 1 while ESPN continues its popular "Madden Nation" reality series for a fifth season this fall where elite football gamers battle for $100,000.

"I play Madden five days a week, 10 hours a day, and it''s paid off," said Green, who made it to the finals of last season''s "Madden Nation" show.

It has also paid off for Eric Wright from West Covina, California who earned $180,000 in cash and prizes playing Madden last year and made it to the finals again for the fourth year.

CASHING IN ON SPORTS GAMING

This devoted "Madden" community has helped the game annually find a place at the top of the U.S. sales charts. EA Sports sold over 6.5 million copies of "Madden NFL 09" in 2008 in the United States, which brings the 20-year total sales for the franchise to over 75 million.

The NFL and NFLPA has helped EA grow this competition.

NFL players Matt Cassel of the New England Patriots, Kirk Morrison of the Oakland Raiders, Brad Smith of the New York Jets, Marshawn Lynch of the Buffalo Bills and Bernard Berrian of the Minnesota Vikings were on hand for this year''s challenge finals.

"I got to see these gamers in their element playing Madden amongst their peers, talking smack to each other and the competitiveness these guys have is amazing," said Cassel.

Smith said the Madden Challenge shows how popular the sport of American football is not only in North America, but globally.

Glenn Chin, vice president of brand marketing at EA Sports, said the Madden Challenge has grown from an informal tournament launched 17 years ago into the official challenge that began seven years ago with 10 cities in the United States.  Continued...