Creating Sports I: It Begins

Latest news among sports + creators

June 12, 2024

Hello, friends.

As Bruce Buffer says – We are live!

On the slate for Creating Sports I:

  • Tom Grossi reaches $1M raised for charity

  • Gatorade taps four sports creators in a new promo campaign.

  • Halftime entertainment with CS99TV

  • Sports creator and industry news you need to know

  • Last look at EA College Football 25

Let’s dig in.

Tom Grossi Hits Charity Milestones by Going International

Tom Grossi has had a hell of a past 18 months.

Last February, he decided to spend $50K of his own money to visit 30 NFL stadiums in 30 days to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He ended up smashing his initial goals by raising $500K. He then ended the year with Roger Goodell naming him the NFL Fan of the Year, and since then his YouTube channel has added more than 200K subscribers.

He’s back: Grossi, further cementing himself as a Good Dude™, went on an international tour to once again earn money for St. Jude. He began in London at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, then headed to Munich Football Arena in Germany before going to Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. He proceeded to cross the Atlantic for a stop at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City before the finale at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo where his favorite Green Bay Packers will open the 2024 NFL season.

And again, Grossi will deliver the children’s hospital a six-figure check. In total, it’s over $700K for St. Jude alone since the beginning of last year. Combined across three years? More than $1M for a variety of charities (take a look at the well-deserved celebration).

It’s a good day when good people win.

New Campaign: Gatorade x Sports Creators

Gatorade collaborated with high-end streetwear brand Eric Emanuel on a new collection that debuted on Tuesday. To market the drop, Gatorade turned to four former college athletes (including one Harlem Globetrotter!) who star in the promotional announcement video:

  • Emily Harrigan: A recently graduated University of Pittsburgh soccer player whose mixture of short-form soccer and lifestyle content has led to an engaged following.

  • Anthony Hamilton Jr.: A former Clemson track athlete who has built a huge audience on the back of short-form basketball and lifestyle content.

  • Crissa Jackson: A former Harlem Globetrotter with a booming career as a short-form basketball creator (including 15M+ followers on TikTok alone).

  • AJ Greene: A former Division-II football player whose career as a creator exploded while focusing on youth and high school football content.

With their help, the collection sold out the day it dropped.

Creators 🤝 Beverages: Perhaps no CPG category has been swarmed by creators quite as much as beverages.

Among the many creator-owned beverage companies to pop up: Prime (Logan Paul + KSI), Have A Day (Bob Does Sports), Stella Blue Coffee (Barstool Big Cat), Chamberlain Coffee (Emma Chamberlain), XIX Vodka (The Sidemen) and Happy Dad (NELK).

Creators don’t own Gatorade, and they’re not the focus of the brand’s marketing apparatus – elite athletes are. Just look at their latest #IsItInYou campaign featuring a who’s who of superstar athletes (Caitlin Clark, Damian Lillard, Serena Williams and many others, plus a Michael Jordan-narrated commercial debuting during the NBA playoffs). But Gatorade has strategically positioned itself alongside the top creators in sports, and is poised to continue to do so.

Your Halftime Entertainment

If you’re an adult, you may not have heard of CS99TV. But if you’re young or have a kid who likes baseball, chances are you’ve heard of them and their nearly 5M combined followers across all platforms. Self-described as “just a group of friends creating baseball content,” CS99TV has drawn well over 100K on each video for the past two years – including this past week's video on its Pottstown Scout Team.

The first 10 seconds explain the latest video as well as I could:

“Imagine a travel baseball team coached entirely by some of the biggest content creators in baseball. That is exactly what the Pottstown Scout Team is. One team assembled to play in just one tournament sponsored by some of baseball's most popular brands.”

Enjoy!

10 Of ‘Em: Creators & Content & Changes

One Last Thing

The last time Electonic Arts dropped a college football video game, the Creator Economy was in its nascent stages. Now, it is a necessity for EA to tap into these avenues – and we have seen it executed to perfection.

Go to YouTube. Search for “EA College Football 25” videos. Sort by view count.

Here is what you’ll see:

The first three videos? From EA’s channel. The next two? One from big-time video game creator Bordeaux who EA brought to HQ for a first look at the game, and the next from Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter who is one of the game’s three cover stars and also a prolific creator. Then came multiple videos apiece from sports video game creator MMG (a one-time mortal EA enemy, as many commenters point out) and EricRayweather who got behind-the-scenes access to the cover shoot.

Unlike Madden or FIFA or NBA 2K which come out annually, EA has not dropped a college football game in a decade. So many potential customers weren’t gamers or weren’t paying attention to college football, so they have no relationship with the past games. EA knew they needed to reach them, and they succeeded. Well done.

Talk Soon

I want to hear from you. Yes, you.

What did you like? What didn’t you like? Not enough something? Too much another thing?

The more people I hear from, the better I can serve you. Thank you for being here at the beginning of the journey – you are appreciated!

I’ll see you again…

*checks notes*

…tomorrow!

-Colin