After taking over Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays, the NFL is making a bid to capture audiences on Tuesday as well. The most-watched sports league in the U.S. is bringing back NFL Tuesday Night Gaming, a competition series that features both creators and professional athletes.
Last season, in an effort to establish credibility in digital gaming communities, the NFL teamed up with Enthusiast Gaming to establish Tuesday Night Gaming. The show’s format is simple: It pairs creators with football players and pits them against one another in various video games. Titles featured in the first season of Tuesday Night Gaming included Rocket League and Fortnite.
Season two will feature more of the same — with a few added twists. The slate kicks off on September 5 with a “field day” hosted by hip-hop star Quavo. Instead of playing video games, four assembled teams will participate in a variety of outdoor activities, such as tug-of-war and flag football. Audience participation will determine which players from each team take on the challenges.
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When the 26-episode season of Tuesday Night Football begins in earnest, it will include enough star power and programming to turn the weekly event into a spectacle. Gamers like TypicalGamer, NickEh30, QTCinderella, Symfuhny, and Sykkuno will be joined by Pro Bowlers like Fred Warner and Amon-Ra St. Brown. The culmination of each episode will be a co-op style Madden NFL showdown hosted by MMG, one of the internet’s top Madden streamers.
Streamers Esfand and Will Neff will build hype for Tuesday Night with a weekly pre-show that will begin each Monday at 7 PM ET. As the season continues on, the weekly gaming sessions will tie into other NFL initiatives, including Latino Heritage Month and the military-focused Salute to Service.
Enthusiast Gaming is positioning Thursday Night Football as one of its key programming initiatives for the upcoming quarter. “NFL Tuesday Night Gaming is the perfect example of creating a space where the passion for gaming, sports and entertainment can thrive, and we expect to expand on the success of season one to create an unrivaled brand experience for the NFL, and a weekly event for fans,” said Enthusiast CEO Nick Brien in a statement. “Our partnership with the NFL adds an exciting dimension to what we do, merging the worlds of gaming and football to create an unparalleled platform for fans to connect and enjoy the thrill of competition and their favorite streamers and athletes together.”
As YouTube dials up a media blitz to promote its impending distribution of the NFL Sunday Ticket package, the top gridiron league is forging its own connections with YouTube stars. Creator groups AMP and RDCWorld faced off in a flag football match adjacent to the NFL Draft, and former college athlete Donald “Deestroying” De La Haye is bringing his 1ON1 series to NFL markets throughout the 2023 season.
