Madden 11 Introduces The Sponsored Player Ratings Category

Earlier today a brand new rating was spotted in Madden 11. The rating category in question is to be known as “Swagger”. The image above, originally posted on the official EA Sports forum, shows that not only is it a new rating but it has been officially sponsored by Old Spice.

GoMadden noted that the NFL and Old Spice had partnered up earlier this year to identify which teams in the league had the most swagger and a relationship such as that with a sports league oftentimes leads to inclusion in their respective officially licensed games. So having Old Spice as one of the advertisers in Madden 11 would not come as a surprise but the method being used is definitely unorthodox.

Essentially the swagger number is a confidence rating, however it is being identified officially as a “swagger” rating due to the promotion with Old Spice. Making plays on the field will result in a boost to performance in subsequent plays and those individuals with high ratings in the category would receive the biggest benefits from performing well. (Update) EA has decided to lay out the meaning behind the rating and states it is tied into likelihood of a player to celebrate and not necessarily confidence.

Advertising has become more and more prominent in sports games these days but it would be a reach for this particular instance to actually bother anyone even as absurd as the idea of it would seem. The ads that popped up pre-snap in Madden 10 were certainly more intrusive. Those appear to have been removed for Madden 11 so if the trade-off is sponsorships of ratings or ads in different places most would probably be ready to accept that resolution.