How YouTube & NFL Are Using Creators to Supercharge the Pro Bowl Marketing
The NFL Pro Bowl is always a week before the Super Bowl as it is usually the best of the NFC Division vs. the best of the AFC division in a traditional football game. A few years ago, the format changed to a flag football game.
While the change was questionable among hardcore NFL fans, it eventually proved to work as it is something different and fresh. This is the fourth year in this format and the first time it will be integrated with the Super Bowl weekend rather than a standalone event. The Pro Bowl will be streamed on YouTube the day before the Super Bowl and this year, it has a ton of creator and influencer involvement.
Among the names who YouTube and NFL tapped are Deestroying (Who also played for the United Football League), Jay Cinco, Jesser, Marlon Garcia, Pierson Wodzynski, Ross Smith and more. It will be a creator-centric exhibition game and is part of the NFL’s Super Bowl Experience and brings together creators, athletes, and celebrities for fun and football content.
In addition, comedy creators like Druski and Adam W who also bring a massive reach through their media empires, are there to create moments, memes, and shareable chaos to amplify the event far beyond traditional sports fans through their media platforms and social followings.
The financial agreement between the parties was not disclosed.
A YouTube spokesperson said the goal is to show that YouTube is the place where sports and culture really come together. By partnering with the NFL and putting creators directly into the flag football game, YouTube is blending competition with entertainment as bringing sports creators, comedians, and personalities onto the field to create moments built for the internet. The idea is to use the creators’ reach and creativity to turn the game, and events like the Super Bowl, into cultural moments that don’t end when the final whistle blows.
“When we look at this lineup of creators, we are seeing a new era of entertainment,” said a spokesperson from YouTube. “These creators are essentially their own studios, writers, and producers who have built massive audiences through YouTube.”
YouTube also views the flag football game as part of a broader strategy tied to NFL Sunday Ticket as it is leveraging the game and the creators involved, as a natural extension of its ongoing Sunday Ticket efforts.
By building activations and campaigns around creators promoting Sunday Ticket signups, featuring them in the game itself, and exclusively livestreaming the event on YouTube, the platform aims to boost discovery, reach new audiences, and ultimately pull more fans into the Sunday Ticket ecosystem.
“It’s going to be a massive moment to see our top creators face off on the field,” said a YouTube Spokesperson. “This lineup is a great mix of passionate sports fans and creators who truly shape culture, and seeing them bring that energy to the Super Bowl experience is what makes this exciting.”
Old Spice is stepping in as the presenting sponsor of the livestream, and YouTube sees it as a smart way for the brand to cut through the noise during one of the most crowded ad moments of the year.
The partnership lets Old Spice tap into the larger Super Bowl buzz while teaming up with creators that younger, online-first sports fans already care about. By backing the flag football game, the brand gets a more natural, culture-driven way to connect with fans without feeling like just another Super Bowl ad.
Old Spice did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
