The NFL announced Tuesday its plans for students of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that participated in the third annual EA Sports Madden NFL 23 x HBCU Tournament. Finalists will be heading to Phoenix, Arizona, for Super Bowl LVII week to take part in the Madden NFL 23 x HBCU finals and attend Super Bowl LVII. In addition to competing in the finals while in Phoenix, each finalist will also receive a ticket to attend Super Bowl LVII, on Feb. 12, at State Farm Stadium.
During the week-long festivities, the NFL will give student finalists an opportunity to experience the “business side of football” with various events and activities. Students will receive “career advice from NFL executives and key stakeholders” and participate in job training, according to a release.
Microsoft will also participate by hosting a networking event at its Tempe offices where students will get a chance to interact with employees and EA’s Next Generation Talent team will host what it calls “enhanced career development sessions” seminar.
Madden NFL 23 x HBCU finals will take place on Feb. 11 and will be broadcast at 3:00 p.m. ET on the NFL YouTube channel. The event will be hosted by Dallas Cowboys Linebacker Micah Parsons, ESPN Commentator Tiffany Green, and XSET Chief Culture Officer and Co-Owner Erin Ashley Simon. The total overall prize pool (in cash and prizes) for the event is $70K USD.
Sponsors include Microsoft, who will donate Xbox Series X + Surface Pro products; and Visa, who are contributing Visa Prepaid products for each student to use for expenses while in Phoenix. Other sponsors include Fanatics, Fan Creations, Igloo Products Corp., New Era Cap LLC, Rico Industries, Inc., SOAR (Prime Brands Group), Sporticulture, STARTER (G-III Apparel Group), Zipchair, and Zippo.
GameSquare’s Gaming Community Network is managing marketing, qualifiers, registration, online tournament execution, talent management, and the broadcast once again this year.