It’s the middle of the NFL offseason, but in the creator world, it’s time to play some football. One week after the YouTube community flocked to Kansas City to rub shoulders at the NFL’s annual draft, House of Highlights announced a gridiron version of its Creator League. The Bleacher Report-owned hub will pit athletic influencers against one another in one-on-one football battles.
The Creator League began as a basketball competition contested by hoopers like Cam Wilder and YPKRaye. The football version of the showdown will offer the same prize as its hardcourt counterpart: $50,000 for the grand prize winner.
Some of the one-on-one football battles will feature veterans of the basketball Creator League, including Wilder and YPKRaye. Those familiar faces will be joined by Creator League newcomers to create a distinct list of participants. The league’s first football matchup will pit Zay Wilson (from Netflix’s The Ultimatum) against gamer Eli Mack.
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Wilson and Mack are meeting at Silver Lake Park in Los Angeles at 7 PM ET on May 3. Each participant gets to bring their own designated quarterback. The streaming home of the event is the Creator League YouTube channel, which has emerged as one of House of Highlights’ top properties thanks to its creator-driven collabs. According to a release, the last season of the Creator League 1v1 Mixed Basketball tournament earned 139 million cross-platform views.
It’s the right time for House of Highlights to take some snaps.
The brand’s growth in the basketball world has been assisted by the NBA. The association has long supported digital creators through a permissive licensing policy and numerous content partnerships.
Now, it’s the NFL’s turn to make a digital push. The top football league is building its presence on YouTube as it prepares for that platform to take over the lucrative Sunday Ticket package next season. To signal its increasing interest in creator partnerships, it brought YouTube groups AMP and RDCWorld to Kansas City for a draft-day flag football game.
House of Highlights may be best known for basketball, but it’s in a good position to take advantage of the creator community’s football fever. Other sports featured in House of Highlights programming have included dodgeball, go-kart racing, and golf, so there are plenty more options if the Creator League expands again.
