Case Study

Gridiron Bowl: Madden NFL 21 Tournament Series

EVENT:

DATE:

June 26, 2021

GAME:

Madden NFL 21 on XBOX

CLIENT:

Co-Production between Thunder Studios and the Pro Football Retired Players Association (PFRPA)

Client Brief

The PFRPA engaged Thunder to develop, tournament organize, and produce a family-friendly gaming event for a diverse audience that would bridge the gap between traditional sports and esports.

Event

Runtime: 2 Weeks

Gridiron Bowl was conceived to provide a unique online gaming tournament experience during a global pandemic. The community portion of the
tournament series kicked off on June 12th resulting in six amateur Madden players earning the opportunity to compete on a team with a Pro Madden Influencer and a retired Professional NFL Player. For the main event on June 26th, the teams competed for a $10,000 dollar prize pool in a 3 vs 3 format. Notable gamers including Seamus Kivlen, Drini Gjoka, and Brian Armstrong competed alongside retired NFL pros including Jamaal Charles, Braylon
Edwards, and Charles James II.

Broadcast

The broadcast was aired on Thunder Gaming's Twitch.

quote The PFRPA expressed gratitude to Thunder Gaming for being a full-service
production and broadcast partner for their first gaming activation.

Creative Development

The PFRPA engaged Thunder Gaming to create, develop, tournament organize, and produce the Gridiron Bowl. All aspects of the event development and tournament organization were handled by Thunder’s experienced gaming personnel. This included the acquisition of 95% of the talent involved through our extensive esports
network. The community portion of the tournament series was successfully completed two weeks prior to the main event. Thunder then provided Xbox consoles
pre-loaded with Madden 21 to the retired NFL players, developed setup guides, and provided real-time support to ensure there would be no technical issues during the broadcast. For the main event, Thunder Gaming developed the Run of Show for the broadcast which was steamed live on the ThunderGamingLA Twitch channel
resulting in 275,418 total views and 136,484 total impressions on Twitter. Thunder was also tasked with managing and analyzing social media for the Gridiron Gaming Brand, promoting the event, and building post event content from the tournament. Thunder created a truly unique esports experience that successfully brought
together the worlds of professional sports and professional esports.