05:56 PM - March 27, 2013 by Steve_OS
FAVORITES BEGIN TO EMERGE IN MADDEN NFL 25 COVER VOTE AS OVERALL TOTALS NEAR 30 MILLION
Barry Sanders, Jerry Rice and Adrian Peterson Dominate Second Round,
Third Round Voting Now Open at ESPN.com/MaddenVote
Third Round Voting Now Open at ESPN.com/MaddenVote
Today ESPN SportsNation revealed second-round results and third-round matchups for the Madden NFL 25 Cover Vote. Voting totals are nearing the 30 million mark as fans come out in droves to support their favorite Old School and New School players, and a handful of dominant performers have emerged. Barry Sanders, Jerry Rice and Adrian Peterson continue to roll through the competition, with each again carrying over 90 percent of the vote in their respective matchups.
Other key matchups saw Ray Lewis defeat LaDainian Tomlinson, Russell Wilson blow by Von Miller and Rob Gronkowski successfully escaping Revis Island. Also, in a nail-biting finish, Michael Strahan managed to squeak by Kurt Warner. Round two saw over 7.8 million votes, and total votes for the campaign have now reached 29.1 million overall, almost ten million more than last year’s vote total for the entire campaign.
These most recent results set the stage for some incredible contests in Round 3, with Joe Montana taking on Dan Marino in a battle pitting Super Bowl rings against all-time records, while former Cowboys teammates Troy Aikman and Deion Sanders will attempt to put the offense vs. defense debate to rest. In the New School bracket, rookie sensations Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson will face-off, with the winner taking on either Colin Kaepernick or Arian Foster in the semi-finals.
Voting for the next round is now open and will continue through Wednesday, April 3. Fans are invited to cast their votes at ESPN.com/MaddenVote through their PC or mobile devices. For the chance to “Maximize” votes, ESPN and Madden NFL 25 have collaborated with Pepsi MAX to promote Twitter live voting every Tuesday throughout the Madden Cover Vote campaign, where tweets with each player’s respective Cover Vote hashtag will count as two votes. Double votes ends at midnight ET each Tuesday.
Embraced by fans and honored by critics for 25 years, Madden NFL is known as the NFL’s “33rd Franchise” due to its authentic gameplay, the development team’s unparalleled access to NFL resources and its prominent place in NFL culture.