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Alaina Getzenberg, ESPN
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jeffery Shamberger’s son, Jason, had to take a couple of looks at the new cover for the “Madden NFL 24” video game.
When he realized exactly whose face was smiling to the left of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen with his arm holding Allen’s right elbow, he sent his dad a text immediately with the picture.
“He says, ‘Man, look at this here. I recognize this picture, this face right next to Josh Allen,'” Jeffery Shamberger recalled. “‘… That’s my dad.'”
Getting that text was how Shamberger found out that an answered casting call and the photoshoot that followed with Buffalo’s signal caller was for much more than a website or a magazine. The true use of the photoshoot was kept under wraps until the cover was revealed in June and it marked not only the first Bills player on the cover, but the first time in Madden’s history that the cover featured fans alongside the cover athlete. All the fans included on the cover were real Bills fans from the Los Angeles area, creating a one-of-a-kind experience for those supporters.
“I think the fact that there is Bills Mafia on the cover, it’s validation for a long time of football here that maybe hasn’t gone the right way, but Bills Mafia is so overly energetic and every year it’s our year and I love that about them,” Allen said. “They love football almost as much as I love football, and I’ve said that quite a few times, but it’s the God’s honest truth that when people play here, when guys play here, they feel that love, they feel that excitement.”
The casting call was something Shamberger, who is now retired, heard about from his wife, Regina, who is involved in the entertainment business. He became a Bills fan after moving to Buffalo in the 1980’s for his first job out of college after growing up in Philadelphia.
He passed on the Bills fan tradition to his son and his grandson, Jackson.
Rio Kamimura became a Bills fan growing up in San Diego thanks to one of his good friends from elementary school being from Buffalo. Over time, the Bills became a big part of his life too. Now living in Los Angeles, one of his side hustles is taking acting jobs or casting calls like this one for Bills fans.
Both Kamimura and Shamberger filmed videos of themselves to submit for consideration.
Both fans noted how it stood out that they were asked to do background checks before being accepted for the job, and that it was atypical. However, the actual goal of the shoot remained under wraps, and both showed up March 23 with their Bills gear. Another tip-off that something more was going on came when their phones were taken away for the day.
Makeup artists were present to put on all the proper Bills colors and the group of fans had plenty of time to talk and discuss their fandom.
“To see all the people there, and then again, these were really Bills fans,” Shamberger said. “They knew everything about the team and everything, so I was just really glad just to talk to certain people and just enjoy Bills stories.”
The fans present practiced with stand-ins dressed in Bills uniforms, celebrating pretend touchdowns, and cheering as they jumped into the crowd. Kamimura said that there were rumors that Allen was going to show up.
Eventually, seemingly out of nowhere, the speculation came true.
“They start recording, and as soon as they start recording, Josh Allen shows up and then he just goes into the center where he’s supposed to begin,” Kamimura said. “Everyone just like, starts cheering extraordinarily. Everyone’s shocked that he’s actually there.”
During the shoot, they got a couple takes in with Allen before he encouraged the group to cheer even louder.
“I was like, ‘Guys, like I scored a touchdown, like, let’s grab onto me, like we’re winning the game right now, like, let’s make it realistic,'” Allen recalled. “So, they had so much fun, I had so much fun shooting it with them and props to those fans for being on the cover too. …I think that’s pretty special, especially with Bills Mafia. I think that the representation there is very valid and it’s long overdue.”
Shamberger also recalled Allen encouraging him to grab his arm and celebrate appropriately. The impression both got was just how special the experience was, getting to interact with Allen from brief conversations to handshakes. They shot the jump around three or four times and did it from a couple of different angles.
It wasn’t until months later, when the cover came out June 7, that they found out they were on a piece of Bills history. Shamberger has the prime spot as the most visible face to the left of Allen and Kamimura is behind Allen near the Madden logo.
“I’m just so proud of the fact that I had a chance to, not only participate, but it was something that I really love, in terms of the Buffalo Bills,” Shamberger said. “I mean, this is part of the family, so it couldn’t be, as I say, that’s the next thing to a Super Bowl as far as I’m concerned.”