Nobody seizes attention like the NFL, and now they have found a new way to grab ahold of Gen-Z.
We have grown used to the progression: post-Super Bowl discourse takes up about a week of attention. Then, the NFL combine takes place and we get our first look at the next generation of NFL players.
After that, NFL Free Agency takes place and everyone has a reason to be excited about their team going into April’s draft, the major offseason event. The NFL’s dilemma has been what comes after the draft, and they are solving this problem by accessing Gen-Z in May.
A New Football Holiday?
On May 15, they capitalized on a relative lull in the sports world once again, by having every team in the NFL drop a 2024 schedule release video on social media.
Social media teams put together the most unique and surprising ways to let fans know where and when their teams will be playing in the 2024-25 NFL season.
Schedule releases had been a fixture in recent years for the NFL, but this year was the first concerted effort by the NFL tasking all 32 teams with coming up with such creative content.
This is really masterful work from the NFL.
They bring in a new audience without having to put on any sort of event. The opponents for each team were already determined back in February, but they found a new way to squeeze more content out of it. The schedule releases provided the ever-growing NFL social media teams to flex their creative muscles, and they did not disappoint.
The Best Videos
While the releases felt forced to some, there was some undeniably great content that came out of the NFL’s newfound holiday. Here are some of the best and most creative schedule release videos:
The Los Angeles Chargers have dominated the social media space since moving to LA from San Diego. This year’s schedule release took it to another level, as they had the consensus best in class video, releasing their schedule in Sims.
The Tennessee Titans reprised their viral hit from last year, and delivered again in making people on the street in Nashville guess their 2024 opponents:
The defending champion Kansas City Chiefs put together a preview of what they intend to do to their opponents next season:
The Dallas Cowboys predictably had a star-laden video:
The Atlanta Falcons threw it back to the NFL Street video game…
…and the Los Angeles Rams probably had the highest VFX budget.
An Appeal to Gen-Z
This is clearly another move by the NFL to move further into the short-form content game. If that kind of content is involved in a media campaign, then the target audience is almost certainly Gen-Z.
With streaming rapidly on the rise in the NFL (especially after their new Netflix deal), the league wants to maintain an online presence and connect with fans in ways outside of game broadcasts.
Nobody stays ahead of the game like the NFL. They were one of the first major leagues to adopt simulcasts. They market to every audience and seize every opportunity to be the biggest show in town at the drop of a hat.
The NFL manipulates the calendar like no other. This is just another example.
They took a relatively meaningless event that could be condensed into an email or spreadsheet, and expanded into an opportunity to reach a younger audience.
They did it harmlessly too, giving social media teams freedom to be creative, and giving media members something to talk about with the NBA being the only major sports attraction occurring right now.
Love them or hate them, you have to tip your cap to the NFL on this one.
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