the NFL is in it's influencer era 💅🏼

influencer 🤝 football: a girl's take

somehow, preseason is already here-  which means it’s officially time to talk about the strangest crossover of the past few years: influencer 🫱 football.

not athlete-as-influencer (that’s been happening forever). NIL only made it more official- now building a personal brand is part of the playbook.

but actual influencers- content creators, TikTokers, and lifestyle vloggers. football doesn’t need help selling tickets. it’s the most watched sport in America. fans will pack stadiums whether or not there’s a content creator in the press box. but the NFL does need help elsewhere:

  🏈 growing football culture online

  🏈 making its tentpole events (the draft, the super bowl, international games) feel bigger

  🏈 helping new fans- especially young ones, especially women- find their entry point

  🏈 and expanding the NFL’s content strategy to look more like a streaming platform than a cable network

and for that, the league is starting to tap influencers on the shoulder.

where it started: the taylor swift era.

I know some people are already rolling their eyes, but bear with me: Taylor wasn’t a hired influencer- but she did break the internet every time she showed up to a Chiefs game.

whether you believe the NFL leaned into it or not, they certainly didn’t shy away. camera cuts, social captions, content partnerships- it was all there. along with Taylor, other players' significant others started to step into the spotlight.

football WAGS started to have a following of their own- bringing a highly personal, BTS element to the players we are used to only seeing on-screen in uniform. not only did the “WAGS effect” help bring in a completely new demographic of viewers, it also created a bridge for football fans and non-football fans to have common discussion.

suddenly a new demographic of watchers with no interest in football became invested in the lives of players- the power of influencer and sports became pretty difficult to ignore, and the “WAGS effect” acted a proof case for influencer 🤝 football. 

cue: the rise of creators.

Taylor wasn’t the only proof case of the power of content creators. the NFL handed the keys to Sunday Ticket over to YouTube TV and other streaming platforms- acknowledging that people are viewing digital platforms as entertainment, not just social. in response, YouTube called in its biggest creators- think: iShowSpeed, Deestroying, and the football-core side of the internet- to help promote the NFL Sunday Ticket package.

the result? YouTube TV subscriptions jumped from 5 million to 8 million. and you would be silly to think NFL and ESPN weren’t watching.

enter: Katie Feeney in the press box

last year, we saw the NFL take content creation into their own hands. creator Katie Feeney made headlines when the NFL brought her on as a social media correspondent for the Washington Commanders.

Feeney has nearly 7 million followers on TikTok. her vlogs lean more college-campus-girl than hardcore-football-fan. and her content (quick day-in-the-life recaps, travel vlogs, stadium fit checks) looked nothing like what the NFL had posted before.

the point wasn’t to go deeper with football fans. it was to meet new ones. and give them an influencer-native way to feel like they had a seat at the table.

three days ago, ESPN signed Katie to create content across ESPN’s social and digital channels, marking a shift: football is watching the creator economy, and it’s experimenting.

as for what’s next? 

  📱 more social-first partnerships. streaming platforms like Amazon Prime and YouTube TV are competing for viewership- and need content that doesn’t look like Sunday night football. creators are already hosting pre-shows, watch parties, and branded recap series. expect more of that- especially on TikTok, YouTube and streaming services.

  🌍 international games = more influencers. if the NFL wants to sell football in new countries, it needs local voices. bringing international creators to games in germany and brazil isn’t just good PR- it’s how you spark culture from the ground up.

🏈 players will still be influencers- but not the only ones. yes, players will keep going viral for locker room dances and pregame fits. but brands and the league are no longer relying only on them to make football culturally relevant. creators with no connection to the sport are showing up and reshaping what football looks like online.

I predict more Katie Feeny’s. more TikTok creator-led Super Bowl commercials. more creator watch parties, livestreams, and TikTok coverage of the draft and major games.

this past year was just the beginning - influencer culture is coming for the NFL.

xx

-Mackenzie @ the cohort