John Madden is gone but his way of observing NFL Sunday lives on [Video]

PLEASANTON, Calif. — 

The best seat in the house is still reserved for John Madden.

His throne is fully reclined and draped in a fleece Raiders 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 …