I guess inside EA headquarters, the big wigs running the company just couldn’t agree which athlete would grace the cover of this year’s Madden. Today, the publisher announced that both Super Bowl Champion and Steelers safety Troy Polamalu will share the cover with wide receiver and runner-up Larry Fitzgerald, from the Cardinals. You can see the box art up top.

”Larry Fitzgerald and Troy Polamalu are exemplary examples of the epic battle between offense and defense in the NFL,” said Product Manger Anthony Stevenson. “Madden NFL 10 showcases the Fight For Every Yard, and nobody fights harder than Troy and Larry, making them the perfect athletes to grace the cover.”

This isn’t the first time EA has used two athletes to be on the cover of one of their sport games. In 2003, EA Sports decided to use both Randy Johnson and Miguel Tejada for MVP Baseball 2004’s box.

Overall, I think the cover could easily be the best looking box-art for the Madden series, thus far. I not only dig having a defense and offense players on the case, but really find the art surrounding the football players magnificent and not generic like the previous installments.

Madden 2010 will be released on August 14th and it will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2 and PSP.

[thanks to Luke & Edgar]