How the NFL Is Adopting the MrBeast Playbook
▼ Summary
– The NFL held its first international game of the season in São Paulo, featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers, with YouTube broadcasting it globally for free.
– MrBeast appeared in a pregame sketch with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, humorously depicting his takeover of the league to engage younger audiences.
– The NFL aims to expand internationally and intergenerationally, targeting Gen Z and global markets through initiatives like this game and partnerships with influencers.
– The league has been hosting regular-season games abroad since 2005, expanding to locations like Mexico, London, Germany, Brazil, and adding Berlin, Madrid, and Dublin this season.
– The Chiefs and Chargers were chosen for the Brazil game due to their marketability, with the Chiefs benefiting from players like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, who has gained fame through his relationship with Taylor Swift.
The National Football League’s first international matchup of the season, a Friday night showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers in São Paulo, arrived with all the expected fanfare. On the ground, local supporters flocked to photo booths and merchandise tents, while samba dancers in vibrant feathered costumes entertained American fans who had traveled south for the occasion. Even Patrick Mahomes found himself clarifying his use of the word “soccer” during a press conference, a nod to the host nation’s deep footballing culture. But for viewers at home, the spectacle took an unexpected turn.
During a pregame segment aired on YouTube, which for the first time ever streamed a regular-season NFL game globally and free of charge, the platform’s top creator, Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, appeared alongside Commissioner Roger Goodell. In a scripted comedy sketch, MrBeast “took over” the league, assigning popular influencers to team rosters. After the game, he awarded one dedicated fan a ticket to Super Bowl LX and launched another from a human cannon. Not all viewers embraced the crossover. One fan tweeted frustration at “MrBeast invading my beautiful sport,” while another texted mid-game calling the production “insanely gen z.”
That reaction, of course, was precisely what the league anticipated. The September 5 YouTube-exclusive broadcast from Brazil served two of the NFL’s central goals: expanding football’s international footprint and capturing younger audiences. In a statement, Donaldson acknowledged that not every fan welcomes change but expressed hope that over time, viewers would recognize the respectful intent behind blending entertainment and sport.
Should the NFL fail to win over international viewers or Generation Z, a demographic studies show engages with traditional sports less than any other, it won’t be due to a lack of effort. Since 2005, the league has staged regular-season games outside the U.S., beginning in Mexico, then expanding to London, Germany, and now Brazil. This season will see additional games in Berlin, Madrid, and Dublin. The push into South America is both bold and logical. Unlike European matches, games in Brazil avoid major time zone complications. Yet the region also boasts a deeply entrenched football culture entirely separate from the American version.
The Chiefs-Chargers matchup offered a compelling test case for the South American market. The Chargers, with their strong Latino fanbase earned during their long stint in Southern California, are affectionately known as Los Bolts. The Chiefs, despite a tough Super Bowl loss last season, remain a global brand thanks in part to the star power of players like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, the latter now one of the most recognizable people on the planet following his high-profile relationship with Taylor Swift. As one Chargers fan attending the game noted, “Kelce and Taylor Swift is the romance the world wants to see. They’re the face of the NFL right now.”
For its second game in Brazil, the league left nothing to chance. “There is no better platform than YouTube,” remarked veteran broadcaster Rich Eisen from a branded green room deep within São Paulo’s Neo Química Arena. “There is no more powerful distributor to reach people of all ages and feed an insatiable desire for content.”
Eisen speaks from experience. Though 56 and several generations removed from the world of professional content creation dominated by Gen Z, he has successfully transitioned his career as a journalist and longtime NFL Network anchor into a digital empire. His daily three-hour sports talk show, The Rich Eisen Show, streams on YouTube and has earned an Emmy nomination. “The world has changed and you’ve got to be part of it,” Eisen observed. “The commissioner of the NFL didn’t do a video about the Brazil game with me, and I’ve been his employee for 23 years. He did it with MrBeast.”
(Source: Wired)
