SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It’s not every day that the NFL commissioner grabs a YouTube star into a bear hug, but Roger Goodell and the biggest sports league in the world want to literally and figuratively embrace creators.
A loose, laughing Goodell hugged Adam W, a YouTube creator with over 20 million subscribers, in a luxury suite at Levi’s Stadium set up by YouTube to host their own and NFL executives, partners and other creators. It was one small gesture among many that make clear the NFL’s greater intent: The league wants its relationship with the nearly ubiquitous video-sharing platform to keep growing.
“I do believe our partnership is going to change the future,” said Goodell in his opening comments before Sunday’s 49ers-Cardinals game while standing next to Neal Mohan, YouTube’s CEO. “And I can’t say enough about the creators. You guys, it adds so much to the experience for our fans, particularly the young fans. … It’s a new audience, and a bigger audience, and that’s what we’re all about.”
The suite, which happened to be at the site of this year’s Super Bowl, was packed with YouTube’s Sunday Ticket-themed decorations, food and San Francisco 49ers gear (Mohan is a self-described diehard 49ers fan who at one point politely re-positioned our interview so that he wasn’t distracted by the game action in the background).
It was filled with creators: Adam W, Dhar Mann, Jesser, Pierson and Kay Adams, who is also the host of the “Up and Adams” show, were all in attendance. Between them, they have over 80 million YouTube subscribers.
The vibes: excited, and friendly. YouTube, which has 2.5 billion monthly global users, doesn’t necessarily need the NFL to grow its own brand. Still, the two giants seem to very much enjoy each others’ company. The creators mingled and traded ideas after filming some on-field content for their channels and for the NFL and YouTube before the game.
Goodell and Mohan’s clear friendship was striking. They palled around throughout the game and shared opening comments and jokes (Goodell complimented Mohan on his neutral shirt; the commissioner famously cannot show any team rooting interest via his attire) and at one point Goodell, his wife, Jane, and members of his support staff stopped Mohan’s son to ask how college applications were going.
“Just as a sports fan, for me it has been super fun,” Mohan said of working with the NFL. “But it (has) also been really rewarding. … They are a willing partner to try innovative and new things. This game, what you are experiencing this afternoon, is the perfect example of it, right? It’s not an obligation for the NFL. They really want to lean into it.”
The dynamics of the event further emphasized the NFL’s interest in YouTube, and vice versa. YouTube and YouTube TV have hosted NFL’s Sunday Ticket programming since 2023 as part of a seven-year, $14 billion deal. This season, the streaming platform globally broadcast the Los Angeles Chargers’ season-opening win over the Kansas City Chiefs from São Paulo, Brazil. YouTube and Nielsen say 19.7 million people were watching during a typical minute of that stream globally, although only 1.2 million of those viewers were international; for comparison, “Sunday Night Football” on NBC averaged 21.6 million domestic weekly viewers during the 2024 season. “Average minute audience” is the standard way NFL games are measured by Nielsen for traditional broadcast and cable partners; Nielsen used a custom measurement for the YouTube game.
YouTube creators pose with CEO Neal Mohan on the field before a 49ers-Cardinals game. (Courtesy YouTube)
“I like to call that game the most accessible game in NFL history because it was free, it was global and it was on a platform that anybody could reach,” said Goodell. “… (It was) probably the widest platform we’ve ever (played on). And that’s what we’re all about, is reaching the largest number of people on the biggest platform.”
During the Brazil broadcast, popular creators joined familiar top NFL analysts and reporters in the booth and on the sideline. Adams was a host and pregame/postgame analyst with former MVP quarterback Cam Newton; creator Deestroying joined NFL Network sideline reporter Stacey Dales, and Emmy-nominated commentator Rich Eisen and Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner called the game.
The NFL and YouTube also tested an altcast (alternative broadcast, also nicknamed “watch with”) featuring creator IShowSpeed, who has 43 million subscribers. “Watch with” programming is popular among YouTube users for video games, listening to music and more.
“(It is) basically the same NFL stream, but you’re watching alongside your favorite creator,” Mohan said. “It was innovative, and it was great for fans. …
“What is going to be the best thing for the viewer on YouTube? To the extent that the NFL wants to lean in and actually take advantage of the capabilities we have to reinvent the experience for their fans, I’m gonna be all in on that. To the NFL’s credit, they have. That’s a creative risk that they took.”
Traditional channels have also tested co-broadcasts or altcasts. ESPN has the “ManningCast” featuring former Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks and brothers Eli and Peyton Manning. Nickelodeon features an annual SpongeBob altcast, complete with animations intended to appeal to young children or families watching together.
YouTube’s “watch with” experiences are naturally built into its ecosystem via its creator network, and the platform itself is creator-driven. The hope of the NFL and YouTube is that fans of creators, especially young people, might stream their favorite creator watching (and commenting on) an NFL game even without interest in or knowledge of the sport and thus interact with the brand.
“You’re still experiencing and getting what you’re following that person for, but now you’re getting football, NFL, weaved in there. I think they’re very tactical about that and they understand that,” said Adam W, the creator. “It’s not like, ‘Hey, this person does art and now out of nowhere they’re just showing us football.’ … I think they’re very strategic with that.”
Roger Goodell spent time with YouTube CEO Neal Mohan at a recent San Francisco 49ers game. (Courtesy YouTube)
Altcasts will take eyes off of a main broadcast. Where YouTube is concerned, though, Goodell sees additional value available to the NFL brand beyond eyes on screens — including the ability to reach a younger audience and the integration of YouTube creators with tens of millions of subscribers into the NFL’s broader marketing efforts. He noted Sunday that global creators promoted the Brazil game before kickoff and after the final whistle.
By integrating creators into the YouTube broadcast and the marketing of the game in multiple ways plus utilizing altcasts, the NFL might have been showing its commitment to trying things YouTube’s way.
Other large and small gestures indicate the same: Sunday, the creators were on the field before the game. During the game, the Fox broadcast cut to a shot of Goodell, Mohan and Adams all sitting in the front row of the suite, with Jesser seated right behind the three. Adam W is a former SMU cornerback who has collaborated with players around the league on his own for several years, but he also noted that the NFL has encouraged more content and increased creator access to players — and that in his experience, more players want to make YouTube content.
Within its diverse broadcasting portfolio, the NFL has leaned into streamers in general. Amazon Prime Video hosts “Thursday Night Football.” Netflix will again air two Christmas Day games after the historic success of its broadcasts in 2024. Major networks like NBC continue to build out streamers of their own (such as Peacock, which will exclusively broadcast a Week 17 game this season).
Goodell said he doesn’t know whether a streamer will get a Super Bowl in the 2030s, but he allowed that “anything is possible.”
“With a changing media landscape, the way it changes as fast as it changes,” he said, “it’s certainly possible.”
The NFL has opt-outs with all of its current broadcasting partners by the end of the decade. Deepening its partnership with YouTube could intensify the negotiations between the NFL and its existing rights holders when they open. This, of course, ultimately benefits the NFL.
“If you look at our history, our history has always been (to) be on the biggest platforms,” Goodell said. “Network television was after many years. Eventually we moved into cable with ESPN as ESPN continued to grow. … Then satellite. Obviously now streaming.
“And the NFL has been a part of every one of those periods where I think our content has actually helped accelerate successfully those platforms. That’s what we want to continue to do, and streaming is clearly that.”
The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand contributed to this report.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; David Becker / Getty Images)