A single tone-deaf ad threw the YouTube golf world into chaos. Now, in other sports communities, influencers are facing additional forms of blowback — but there are still plenty of opportunities on the table for creators who are ready for game day.
This particular chapter of the sports creator saga begins with Good Good. The YouTube golf crew was in high demand and had even gotten its own event on the PGA Tour. All that changed, however, when Good Good members starred in an insensitive Callaway ad. Now, across multiple sports, creators are facing new restrictions, even as they land new partnerships with teams, players, and leagues.
At the 2026 U.S. Open, for example, multiple incidents involving influencers have drawn criticism. To film inside of tennis stadiums, some creators have brought in ring lights, which have distracted players and led to delays. More generally, detractors have argued that some influencer attendees don’t pay attention to the U.S. Open matches and only focus on unrelated content.
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Perhaps, in the world before the Good Good controversy, those incidents would have been brushed off as growing pains associated with increased creator activity in the sports world. But in reality, some creators have had their U.S. Open passes revoked, and England’s Wimbledon event will not credential influencers for its 2027 tournament.
Limited access will change creators’ relationships with the sport of tennis, but will that policy actually cut down on the issues that players and fans have complained about? One notable influencer doesn’t think so. Morgan Riddle has attended the U.S. Open several times without needing a creator credential; for years, she dated Taylor Fritz, one of the top players on the ATP Tour.
“Obviously people love to bag on influencers for doing that, but every single person who goes to the Open is going to take photos and take content, except maybe the older, die-hard, OG tennis fans,” Riddle said. “So yes, people do want to blame influencers, but I do think a lot of people you see taking content around the grounds are just regular people.”
Riddle’s take questions whether the general public is too hard on influencers. Her activity, meanwhile, shows why the sports that eschew creator partnerships will be left behind. She is one of the creators who is part of the NFL Creator of the Week program, which will return in 2026 with a new batch of gridiron-set videos. TikTok has already announced a full slate of NFL partnerships for the upcoming season, and YouTube is also ensuring that creators like Deestroying and Zach King get access to the season’s opening game. I don’t know if any of the upcoming creator videos will top The Golden Balance‘s “feed an entire NFL stadium” concept from last year, but there will be plenty of opportunities to upstage him.
Whether tennis pros like it or not, the volume of these NFL partnerships proves that creators have already become fixtures on pro sports circuits. Tournaments like Wimbledon and the U.S. Open can try to keep the influencers out, and while that may cut down on the number of serves affected by ring lights, it won’t stem the tide of creator content related to major sporting events.
