Whistler, BC; Apr. 20, 2017: EA Sports FIFA17 ultimate team regional championships at the Whistler Conference.
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EA is getting spectators to watch Madden NFL and FIFA esports matches

This weekend, a lot of gamers are going to sit around and watch cyberathletes play video games in the FIFA 17 world championships, just a week after the Madden NFL 17 finals.

In the physical world, pro football and soccer events are among the biggest spectator sports in the world. But Electronic Arts is making progress in getting fans to watch digital versions of those sports in the form of video game esports tournaments.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.