Although the game was designed for a family-friendly audience in mind, the NFL never checked in on its development until a week before the scheduled launch. When representatives of the league flew out to Midway's Chicago headquarters to preview a demo, they were shocked to find out how excessively violent the game was, as it featured blood splatters, control over how long the player could dogpile and tackle opponents, and moves inspired by official NFL compilation tapes featuring some of the league's most aggressive offense plays. The representatives initially offered Midway their licensing fee back, as they wanted the NFL to have no association with the game, but the developers insisted on keeping it an NFL game. To compromise, the representatives stayed in Chicago and consulted with them on all of the game's animations to determine what could and couldn't be used, with the NFL approving this version of the game for release.