UPDATE: EA has indeed confirmed the news. "Madden NFL Football and Brett Favre are sports icons who have set the standard and revolutionalized their positions within their respective genres," said Madden NFL Executive Producer Dale Jackson. "Brett Favre is a perfect fit for the Madden NFL 09 cover, as he epitomizes everything the franchise has stood for the past 20 years - longevity, excellence, and a love of football."

EA Sports head Peter Moore commented on his official blog: "It is with great pride that we take the bold step of featuring a retired player on the front of packaging, an honor normally reserved for a player at the peak of his game. I say with great pride, because some may question the marketing strategy behind this (and many at EA did just that, quite frankly). I don't for one minute.

"In this, the 20th year of this storied game franchise, as far as I was concerned there was only one choice. As we look back over the past couple of decades in the NFL, Brett stands out to me personally as a beacon for everything that made me a huge fan of this great game from almost the moment I arrived from the UK in the early eighties..."

Photo credit: Jim Biever/Packers.com

Original story:

GameDaily BIZ has discovered that Electronic Arts is preparing to announce recently retired Green Bay Packers quarterback and three-time AP MVP Brett Favre as the cover athlete for the upcoming Madden NFL 09, which is slated to hit store shelves on August 12.

According to the Facebook page for Madden NFL 09, the cover athlete is expected to be announced on April 25. Moreover, a quick check of the CBS schedule for Late Show with David Letterman shows that Favre is going to appear as one of Dave's guests tonight (April 24). For the past few years, EA has used late-night shows to announce the Madden cover. Last year Jimmy Kimmel's show was used to announce Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young for Madden 08.

Related: History of the Madden Cover Curse

Choosing a retired player to cover the game is certainly an interesting choice, but this year's Madden represents the 20th anniversary of the popular football franchise, so perhaps EA wanted to do something unique. And Favre is unquestionably one of the best to ever play the game, leading the Packers to two Super Bowls, in addition to compiling records for most career NFL touchdown passes, most career NFL passing yards, most career pass completions, and most career victories as a starting quarterback, so it's hard to argue with EA's choice.

At least Favre can't be affected by the dreaded Madden cover curse, unless of course his retirement package suddenly falls apart...

We've pinged EA for confirmation and are still waiting to hear back.