Madden 23 Golden Ticket Drawing and Player Releases 1-3 explained

Updated on June 1, 2023 by Olivier Dumont

Posted in News

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The heart of the NFL offseason is officially upon us. But despite the inactivity from the NFL, Madden 23 Ultimate Team has remained active with new program drops. And the month of April was no ordinary one for Madden 23. In fact, it marked the return of the highly anticipated, fan-favourite, Golden Ticket Program.

That’s right! The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory inspired program made its return to Madden 23, granting fans the opportunity to draw 99 overall Golden Ticket player items they can customize. As you can imagine, drawing these Golden Tickets requires sheer luck, and largely because they’re only available through packs during specific store hour windows in Ultimate Team.

But how does this whole Golden Ticket drawing work and what do the new Madden 23 Golden Ticket Player Releases consist of, many of you might be wondering? Should that be on the forefront of your mind, you’ve come just to the right place. Here, we cover how to receive these Golden Tickets as well as what the requirements are for customising them.

So without another moment to spare, let’s jump right in and check out all the important Golden Ticket Program details in Madden 23 Ultimate Team.

Madden 23 – Golden Ticket Program

For those of you who have watched any of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movies or read the book, you will understand quite naturally how this program works in Madden 23.

When the Golden Ticket Program launched in April, there were Golden Ticket Packs available during specific limited time slots in the Madden 23 Ultimate Team Pack Market. Each of these Golden Ticket Packs went for 5,000 MUT Coin, and granted you the chance to either secure a Golden Ticket or a 5,000 quick sell item to compensate for the missed opportunity. Down below, are the previous time periods you could have purchased these Golden Ticket Packs in Madden 23 Ultimate Team:

Golden Ticket Packs Slot 1 – April 6 (7PM EST to 9PM EST)

Golden Ticket Packs Slot 2 – April 8 (9PM EST to 11PM EST)

Golden Ticket Packs Slot 3 – April 11 (9PM EST)

As you might have noticed, the third window did not have a closing time. This was due to the fact that Madden 23 didn’t expect to have two remaining Golden Tickets from April 8. Because of such, they added not only ten more Golden Tickets for that slot, but they also gave themselves the benefit of the doubt with more time so that fans could secure them all.

Along with the limited time frames, players could only purchase up to three Golden Ticket Packs per slot. Once the windows closed, the packs were no longer available in the market.

Madden 23 – When is the next Golden Ticket Drop?

Another Golden Ticket window has arrived in Ultimate Team? That’s correct! The latest Golden Ticket player drop (Release 3), went live today, presenting a handful of new 99 overall rated stars fans can now acquire in random packs they purchase.

Madden 23 announced on May 3 that a new Golden Ticket drop would go live on May 18, which was Release 1. And not only did that come to fruition, but Madden 23 has also followed that up with its second and third releases over these last two weeks as well, with more likely set to come considering only 15 of the 35+ Golden Ticket players have been released so far. As a result, Release 4 of the Golden Ticket Program will likely take place next Thursday, June 8.

The new Golden Ticket drops, however, are not like the previous. In fact, these new Golden Ticket Release players were made in collaboration with NFL athletes and the Madden Community. On May 17, Madden 23 revealed its first set of new pre-customized, Golden Ticket players at 7PM EST on their Twitch channel.

To learn more about the Golden Ticket Release 1 trough 3 players, visit the next section down below.

Madden 23 – Golden Ticket Release Players

On May 17 at 7PM EST, Madden 23 Ultimate Team hosted a Golden Ticket Release 1 live stream, revealing the first five of the new 99 overall rated Golden Ticket players set to arrive in the game.

Following their first drop, Madden 23 posted a list of 35+ Golden Ticket Release players that they plan on releasing into Ultimate Team over the next few weeks. After Release 1 took place, Madden 23 returned with Release 2 last Thursday (May 25), and went live with their third drop (Release 3) today.

One thing that’s important to keep in mind is that the first 48-hours of each release are boosted with increased odds of landing one of these new Golden Ticket players in the packs you purchased. Though these Golden Tickets are available in Training Variety Packs (TVPs) as well, they don’t come with any boosts such as the others.

Before we jump into the list of new Golden Ticket players, Madden 23 did add in an exchange set fans can complete for Golden Ticket Ability Tokens. Just by exchanging one random 92-93 overall player, fans can now acquire one of the Golden Ticket Ability tokens, which will allow them to unlock the second 0 AP ability for the player of their choosing. Down below are the first five Golden Ticket Release 1 players in Madden 23.

Golden Ticket Release 1 Players

Following the reveals of McCoy, Haskins, Moss, and Kearse from the Release 1 livestream, Madden 23 also allowed the winner of their MCS Golden Ticket Showdown between MCS analysts BoogzTuff and OneGreatUser to create the fifth Golden Ticket that was revealed that Thursday night. Since BoogzTuff won, he created the final Golden Ticket Release 1 player, which bares an asterisk down below:

Matthew Stafford (QB) – Rams*
LeSean McCoy (HB) – Eagles
Hassan Haskins (HB) – Titans
Randy Moss (CB) – Vikings
Jayron Kearse (SS) – Cowboys

Golden Ticket Release 2 Players

As highlighted briefly in the previous section, Madden 23 Ultimate Team returned last week with their Release 2 of Golden Ticket players, introducing the second wave of 99 overall items fans can unlock in random packs in the store:

Zach Wilson (QB) – Jets
Reggie Gilliam (HB) – Bills
Collin Johnson (WR) – Giants
Jon Runyan (RE) – Eagles
Julius Peppers (FS) – Panthers

Golden Ticket Release 3 Players

Down below we list the third and latest set of Golden Ticket Release players that arrived today, June 1, in Madden 23 Ultimate Team:

Lamar Jackson (QB) – Ravens
Sauce Gardner (WR) – Jets
Greg Olsen (TE) – Panthers
Micah Parsons (ROLB) – Cowboys
Israel Mukuamu (SS) – Cowboys

The entire list of Madden 23 Ultimate Team Golden Ticket players is available here, courtesy of MUT’s Twitter page. As you can see, there are over 35 Golden Ticket players, and only 15 of them went live in-game so far. In other words, Releases 1, 2, and 3 are by no means the final Golden Ticket Release drops to take place in Madden 23 – more are surely to come with each passing week until every player is available in-game.

Madden 23 – Golden Ticket Player Customisation

If you by any chance ended up being the lucky recipient of a Golden Ticket from the first three slots in April, not only were you be able to pick which player you wanted the Golden Ticket to be, but you also were able to customise the ability buckets of that player.

Keep in mind though, that the player you choose when you received a Golden Ticket, had to consist of one that is already in Madden 23 Ultimate Team (MUT). So anyone who isn’t in MUT, couldn’t be selected for your Golden Ticket item. So for example, none of the Manning brothers made it in MUT this year, surprisingly. As a result, you weren’t allowed to choose either of them when selecting which player you wanted as your 99 overall Golden Ticket as a result.

Whether you have a theme team going or not, this program is a special one that grants you a free, lucky opportunity to land a guaranteed 99 overall rated card of your choosing.

With that now covered, feel free to check out Madden 23 Ultimate Team’s new Backyard Ballers Program here, coming with over 40 new Out Of Position players. If you’re after more 99 rated player items, look no further than the Ring Of Honor Program that made its debut in Madden 23, coming with easily some of the best players in the game.

Image Credit: EA Sports Madden 23

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