John Madden is gone but his family is keeping his NFL gameday legacy alive
His throne is fully reclined and draped in a fleece blanket. It sits squarely before a 20-foot-tall LED wall, a study in sensory overload, showing every NFL broadcast at once.
When the Hall of Fame coach retired from the TV booth in 2009, until his death in 2021, he watched games in his own temple of boom — a family-owned production studio in a quiet business park.
He would sit in that recliner, or at a table at the back of the darkened and cavernous room, where his family now arranges a weekly place setting in his honor. There’s a cup of coffee, a glass of orange juice and a fresh-baked apple fritter, all of which go undisturbed throughout the day.
Madden is gone, but his family and various friends still gather every Sunday to watch games on the swooping, futuristic video board, one that rivals that of a state-of-the-art stadium.
In the same building is his office, filled with memorabilia from his years as a Super Bowl-winning coach of the Oakland Raiders, illustrious career as a broadcaster, and decades as namesake of a video game that has generated billions of dollars.
“This is where he did business, but every Sunday this was our home,” said his son, Joe. “This was not an office anymore.”
