With the start of the 2025 NFL season less than a week away, a new era of professional football is about to get under way. NFL broadcasts all across the globe will soon become available on more platforms than ever before.
From your standard cable channels to a plethora of streaming options, NFL fans will soon have options on how to watch their favorite team nearly every night of the week.
YouTube is getting set to broadcast its first exclusive NFL game ever. On Friday, Sept. 5, YouTube will handle the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Los Angeles Chargers from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
ESPN Shuts Down YouTube’s Request
YouTube reportedly approached multiple media personalities about being a part of this NFL broadcast. One name on that list, former NFL player, Jason Kelce would have made perfect sense. His brother, Travis Kelce, plays for the Chiefs, and the brothers have an extremely successful podcast, “New Heights”, that does monster numbers on YouTube.
However, ESPN, who signed Kelce to an eight-year, $24 million contract to be part of its “Monday Night Countdown” broadcast, will reportedly be blocking Kelce from being part of YouTube’s broadcast of Chiefs-Chargers.
The initial report came from Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports. As per the report, ESPN had made the decision not to allow its broadcasters to appear on any streaming platform prior to YouTube approaching Kelce.
With streaming services becoming legitimate competition for the likes of TV networks everywhere, ESPN and Fox appear to be taking a stance on lending out their contracted, on-air talent.
Just last season, ESPN’s Laura Rutledge and Mina Kimes were allowed to work the Christmas broadcast on Netflix as was Fox’s Greg Olsen.
With this news surfacing, YouTube reportedly did not respond to inquiries for a comment and ESPN responded but declined to comment.
