July 14^th, 2005 (3:42pm) - John Madden and EA have come to an agreement to continue branding the best-selling football franchise with his name for an undisclosed amount of years.

When the ESPN licence was picked up by EA, many people believed that John Madden’s hopes of renewing his contract were "hit by a Mack truck," and the portly commentator would no longer be kept in the titular role, but those people were wrong.

"John Madden personifies authentic football in any medium -- television or interactive," said Electronic Arts Chairman and CEO Larry Probst. "We look forward to a great future with John in EA Sports Madden NFL."

"I am proud that we started to develop Madden Football twenty years ago," said John Madden. "Each year our goal is to improve the game, and with EA, we have been able to do that."