How the NFL Schedule Release Videos Became Must-See Content

Unless you live under a rock, you may have seen the recent onslaught of cool schedule-release videos by NFL teams. They have gone above and beyond in producing the viral videos that the whole campaign has quickly become the Super Bowl for creative marketing teams. 

What used to be a simple announcement of a team's schedule became a yearly pop culture moment that transcends the sport.  

While nobody knows how or when this started, we can point to the LA Chargers' 2022 Japanese animé-themed announcement entitled "The Chargers 2022 Schedule, But It's Animé." This seminal work of creative genius sparked a revolution that incorporated Japanese animé art, mechas (robots), characters, and even music with Japanese lyrics just like a real animé show open. It was fresh and groundbreaking on so many levels that it has become the benchmark for schedule announcement videos. 

Watch The LA Chargers 2022 Schedule Announcement 

The following year, the Tennessee Titans did a "Man on the Street" treatment in their schedule announcement and got everyone ROFL. This viral video proved that teams can still score without breaking the budget. 

Watch the Tennessee Titan's 2023 Schedule Announcement 

2024 was no different. A lot of teams raised the bar even higher. The Philadelphia Eagles produced a hilarious video showing a psychiatrist giving Eagles fans psychiatric evaluations via Rorschach tests and word associations to measure their readiness for the new season while revealing the schedule. 

Watch the Philadelphia Eagles 2024 Schedule Announcement 

The New England Patriots spoofed one of New England's greatest Hollywood achievements with their schedule announcement entitled "Good Jules Hunting" starring Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, Jerod Mayo, and more. 

Watch The New England Patriots 2024 Schedule Announcement 

The Indianapolis Colts took the cute route with a charming video showing head coach Shane Steichen helping elementary school students in their playground game in exchange for the students helping Anthony Richardson, DeForest Buckner, and Grover Stewart create the Colts' schedule. Cuteness will never fail to take you places. 

Watch The Indianapolis Colts' 2024 Schedule Announcement 

For the team that helped popularize this phenomenon–the LA Chargers–there is constant pressure on their marketing teams to deliver the goods–and this year–they delivered big time. The moment the team posted their "Sims Edition" schedule announcement, it went completely viral. Even people who don't know anything about football knew about the Chargers' schedule because of the video. 

Watch the LA Chargers' 2024 Schedule Announcement 

The Cleveland Browns opted to go to their local bowling alley to reveal their schedule. The video features Deshaun Watson, Jerry Jeudy, David Njoku and more. 

Watch the Cleveland Browns’ 2024 Schedule Announcement 

Music is a critical part of this content, and for most of these teams, their partnership with APM Music comes in handy because of its vast library of high-quality music. 

"The tentpole content five years ago were in-stadium home game opening videos. Now, the marquee piece of content is the schedule announcement," said Matthew Gutknecht, Vice President of Sports Entertainment for APM Music. "We're thankful that APM has been a part of this phenomenon from the very beginning." 

APM Music has such an enormous footprint in this space that most of the best videos this year used APM tracks to enhance their productions. For their landmark 2022 animé -themed video, the LA Chargers used the track “Dream Within a Dream,”and for this year, a remix of "Monday Night Football."  The Colts used the track "Optimistic Pre-School Program," which is perfect for the elementary school setting, while Patriots used these tracks in their "Good Jules Hunting” video:  "Destination Arcadia," "Afraid," "Bridge to Glory," "Reputation Ruined," and "Moon Child." Finally, the Browns used two tracks from the APM catalog delivered to them music director Alia Johnson to bring vibes to their bowling alley excursion: “You Make it Hard,” and “Moving Along.”

“Another thing we noticed that is interesting is that this kind of content is now sponsored,” Gutknecht said. “And that’s a clear sign that it’s going to get really big.” 

As the dust begins to settle after last week's schedule announcements, and as teams begin to focus on the upcoming season, the creative marketing teams have a full year to plan and produce for next year's grand reveal.  

By Ted Reyes