ESPN Taps Creators to Help Promote the NFL Season and its First Super Bowl Telecast
ESPN has assembled a group of five digital content creators as part of its fourth annual promotional campaign for the 2026 NFL season. The creators, selected for their established audiences and distinctive voices across social media platforms, will travel to various football events to produce content and engage fans in the lead-up to the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl, scheduled for February 14 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, marks a historic milestone as the first championship game ESPN will broadcast. ABC will share the broadcast rights, representing the return of professional football to ABC after roughly two decades. This creator partnership reflects a widening industry practice in which major media companies collaborate with digital influencers to extend their reach and connect with younger demographics who consume sports content differently than traditional television audiences.
- ESPN recruits five sports-focused content creators for its fourth annual promotion of the NFL season, culminating in the network's inaugural Super Bowl broadcast on February 14 at SoFi Stadium
- The creators—selected for their audience reach on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube—will gain access to college football games and NFL events to generate grassroots enthusiasm among younger viewers
- The initiative exemplifies how major sports media brands are turning to digital influencers as part of their strategy to expand reach beyond traditional broadcast audiences
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ESPN's coverage of the National Football League has, until now, been limited to regular-season and playoff games; it has never held the rights to broadcast the Super Bowl itself, American football's championship game and one of the most-watched television events in the United States each year. That changes with the 2026 season, when ESPN will air the Super Bowl for the first time, sharing the broadcast with ABC, another Disney-owned network that hasn't shown NFL football in around twenty years.
To build excitement ahead of the game, ESPN has brought in five social media content creators, people who already have large followings online, to produce material and engage fans in the run-up to the Super Bowl. This is the fourth year ESPN has run this kind of campaign, though this year carries extra weight given the network's first Super Bowl broadcast.
The approach reflects a broader shift in how media companies market major sporting events, increasingly working alongside online influencers rather than relying solely on traditional advertising, in order to reach younger viewers who follow sport through social platforms rather than television. The Super Bowl itself is set for 14 February at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.