September 6, 2024
©nomadsoulphotos via Canva.com
Does the NFL Have a Gen Z Problem?
The NFL, according to numerous reports, faces a challenge reaching Gen Zers, a troubling trend not only for the league but for the scores of advertisers backing America’s most popular sport.
The concerns stem from studies showing that Gen Z has a general lack of interest in watching live sports, although the reasons they don’t watch vary widely.
A 2021 study from Emory Marketing and Analytics Center showed that only 23% of Gen Z described themselves as passionate sports fans in contrast to 42% of millennials and 33% of Gen X. A sizable 27% of Gen Z described themselves as “anti-sports,” compared with single-digit percentages from other generations saying the same.
The study chalked up the poor interest in sports to the first digital-native generation suffering from isolation and historically low civic engagement due to the hours spent online. Emory professor Michael Lewis said in the study, “Part of the lack of Generation Z fandom is due to younger individuals having less intense feelings of group belonging in general.”
A YouGov report last year found that just 31% of global sports fans ages 18-24 watched live matches, compared with 75% for those 55 and over. Instead, the study found younger viewers were more likely to watch highlights clips or interact with star athletes via social media, while a large portion engage with their preferred sports through video games.
In a recent article on Gen Z’s reduced enthusiasm for watching sports, The Financial Times stated, “Explanations for these changing habits vary, from rising ticket and TV subscription costs which have priced younger people out, to a preference for short-form content, or a simple overload of other forms of entertainment that did not exist when older fans got their first taste of live sport.”
For the NFL, a positive finding is that surveys regularly rank the league as Gen Z’s favorite sport. Also encouraging, a Morning Consult survey taken last December found that 64% of Gen Z and millennial women held a favorable view of the NFL, an all-time high among that demographic. The female interest was attributed to the widely covered romance between pop superstar Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce.
Overall, the NFL remains extremely popular, with television viewership last year the second-highest since averages were first tracked in 1995. A recent Sports Business Journal article stated the NFL’s popularity is being bolstered “by factors as diverse as the growth of legal wagering (the ultimate fan engagement tool); the expansive growth of NFL on- and off-field content; the geometrically magnifying force of social media; and the additional inclusion engendered by the Swifties.”
To reach younger generations, the NFL teams have been aggressively building their social media presence, with 26 of the league’s 32 teams having over 1 million TikTok followers each. Many videos rack up 100,000-plus views, with those showcasing player personalities in off-the-field moments often going viral.
The NFL also recruited over 50 influencers and creators to “film social content” from the sidelines of the NFL’s opening week in an expansion of its “Creator of the Week” program, according to Ad Age. The goal is to better connect with Gen Z as well as female and multicultural audiences.
Targeting Gen Alpha, the NFL last year aired the Super Bowl live on Nickelodeon, deploying cartoon characters SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star as commentators.
In a just-released study exploring Gen Z’s aversion to watching sports on traditional TV, Horizon Media detailed how further shifts may be necessary to capture younger audiences as live sports moves from linear to streaming, sports betting deepens engagement and attracts new audiences, and lifestyle content on social media redefines what it means to be a sports fan.
“The modern sports fan cares about so much more than the wins and the losses,” Kerry Bradley, SVP of strategy at Horizon Sports & Experiences, told Sportico. “It’s about the experience, it’s about getting to know the athletes, off the field, behind the scenes — these are the values that sports fans and consumers in general want to now act in accordance with.”
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Discussion Questions
Why are Gen Z members less interested in watching live sports, including the NFL?
How do you think younger generations may redefine sports marketing?
Does the NFL need to take further steps beyond focusing on driving social media engagement and working with influencers?
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From the data I have seen, interest in formal sports is much lower among Gen Z than it is for other generations. So it’s not just NFL. What’s interesting is that Gen Z’s purchases of sports apparel hasn’t suffered because of it. There might, however, be more of an issue for sports and team branded goods as this generation matures.
I’m not sure that Gen Z has an indifference to sports, inasmuch as they might watch sports a different way, either digitally, or otherwise.
Sports apparel is selling at record high numbers, with Gen Z being the majority of buyers. That would indicate an interest in sports.
However, and specifically to NFL, Gen Z has been raised to be very sensitive, and perhaps football is too “rough” and too “offensive” for their taste. Db
Rising ticket prices for sporting events have led to more “suits” in seats than rabid sports fans from lower income brackets. Yet younger cohorts are absolutely influencing sports marketing and the fan experience.
Sports venues are shifting to a mobile-first experience, as tickets, marketing and Just Walk Out convenience move to smartphones.
Media coverage is shifting from linear TV to streaming and social media to get in front of Gen Z eyeballs. Footage of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Ice Spice in the stands at this year’s Super Bowl in particular captured Gen Z attention across social media.
Gen Zs also express growing interest in women’s leagues like the WNBA.
GenZ will define how we engage with live sports and other large format live events. Just when we thought AI will figure out everything for us, GenZ is coming with a massive curve ball. They are much more comfortable with social engagement on an electronic device or, small, intimate groups rather than attending -or watching- large scale events.
The days of just broadcasting a game and raking in fans will peak with Millenials. GenZ will need more than that. They want to be inside, know the players, and get a glimps of their real life in a way that they can relate to them. This will be important to reach GenZ.
Definitely social media comes into play but the NFL may also want to look at their players and teams differently too. Who has the natural ease and clarity to communicate well on camera? Who can be a good ambassador for the league and break through cultural lines (GenZ is highly multicultural)? Who can connect with authenticity and drive aspirations?
Ultimately, the players are key to unlocking GenZ. The NFL just has to figure out how best to leverage their natural talents on and off the field now.
Looks like Roger Godell’s people need to call Taylor Swift’s people and get her to up her game attracting younger fans. Just kidding. Kind of.
The YouGov study quoted in the article is the opposite of the headline. That study found that male and younger viewers are most engaged.
I am writing this as I watch the Packers and Eagles play in Brazil in a room full of multiple generations. There seems to be a lot of Gen Zs in the crowd. It’s about the experience, right? Ever been to Lambeau Field? That’s an experience, and maybe that’s what Gen Z needs before they settle in to watch on TV with the rest of us sports fans.
Hi Georganne,
To your point and to the point of many others, Gen Z is participating in sports, not being couch potatoes and watching. And so once again I ask…what is specific to the people vs. the age demographic? When I was 23, I was far more interested in participating in sports than watching them. I watched as a child as a bonding experience with my father, and then moved on to doing it all myself. If my knee was “normal,” I’d still be out and about. I learned to kayak during the pandemic and it was a blast.
I guess my point is that I don’t find these “studies” to have a lot of credibility. There are leaps and assumptions made that simply don’t stand the test of time. Retailers need to understand that. And, as an aside, is it an accident that the Chiefs ratings are way up since a certain Taylor Swift has taken interest in the sport?
Sometimes I feel like saying “Just stop it.”
This problem is years in the making and has many layers. I am not sure the exact start on the timeline, however I will use baseball as the first example. I am of a “vintage” to remember when we would bring transistor radio to school in order to listen to the World Series. It did not matter who was playing, most of us were completely enthralled. Now you have night games that end at midnight or later, and my guess is not too many 4th graders make it.
The second issue is omnipresent, and that is the money involved is huge. Everything about the NFL, MLB, NBA, etc has been supersized. Which translates into ticket prices skyrocketing along with cable bundle prices along with everything else. Which effectively locks the lower middle class on down out of most live experience. It also introduces a huge gulf between the athletes and the kids.
There is a lot more to this (obviously) however the net result is the distancing of younger generations from caring, or developing the remotest interest in the NFL or other leagues. Even College football is starting to present itself as more of a professional endeavor. And we have not even started to consider the effect gambling has on all of this.
Will the NFL continue. Of course. Do they have a long term generational problem? Absolutely. Will it be rectified? My view is it will not.
Yet, all of the financials say otherwise: team values, attendance, viewership, apparel, sports tourism, and participation are al setting new records every year. I think this youth don’t care about sports narrative is patently false.
The NFL is a money-printing machine. There is always a new “study” that predicts why the league faces an existential threat (brain injuries, lowered youth participation, lack of appeal to women), yet every year, the league breaks revenue and viewership records.
Thursday’s kick-off game between the Ravens and Chiefs drew a 28 share. Almost 1/3 of all TV sets were tuned into the game. By comparison, the most popular streaming and broadcast shows draw 2-5 million viewers.
That said, younger people are showing a shift in interest, primarily to playing soccer (#1 in youth participation) and watching soccer. This applies to males and females. There is huge interest in the Premier League, La Liga and MLS.
The biggest challenge most sports face with the young is attention span. In a TikTok world, getting kids to focus on a single game for 90 minutes, 2 hours, or 3 hours is nigh impossible.
And yet…Global Sport is a money machine: the EPL, the NFL, the NBA, Cricket, and F1. More money is being made at every level than at any time in history.
Teams that were valued at $500mm 10 years ago are worth $3 billion today, and teams that were worth $1 billion ten years ago are worth $6 billion today.
Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, and other EPL teams played to sold-out stadiums (60k, 70k, 80k and in places like Columbia SC and Chapel Hill NC, not just NY and LA) across the country this summer for meaningless friendlies. I went to Arsenal/Liverpool in Philadelphia on August 31, and half the Stadium was 21 and under.
This is not a crisis moment for the NFL or other leagues. It’s a moment of change and tweaking.
Baseball introduced the pitch clock two years ago. It has shorted games from almost 3 hours to 2 hours and twenty minutes, and viewership/attendance has risen as a result.
In other words, don’t believe the hype…deflation theories.
Sports-licensed apparel is a hot trend. Knowing whose jersey you’re wearing or the history of the team whose colors you’re wearing, not so much these days. One issue I’ve not seen mentioned here is how complicated it’s become to access games. If you’re a streamer, like so many GenZ folks are, you’ll have to subscribe to six different streaming services. Using baseball as an example, it’s been a headscratcher for me that sports leagues who complain about declining interest have also made access to broadcasts expensive and complicated.
Among my millennial offspring, “sports-ball” of all types generally results in a big yawn.
They show more interest in “who’s the best” type sports, like track and field, weightlifting, skateboard stunts, World’s Strongest Man – any feat that can be viewed in a one-minute video clip and shared by influencers.
Younger cohorts, who grew up playing “participation trophy” kid soccer and video games, seem to care even less for sports that feature mock violence committed by big sweaty men. Many prefer online games that feature mock violence committed by overdeveloped fantasy characters.
But it would be a mistake to assume that all Gen Zs harbor the same indifference about pro sports. Thousands of kids play in youth leagues and dream of NFL and MLB stardom. For that matter, there is plenty of participation among both genders in basketball and volleyball. Lots of young people do appreciate competition.
To its credit, the NFL has recognized that it is in an intense ongoing competition for audience. It continues to tweak its product, using on-field rules to emphasize skills play, reduce brutality and reduce waiting time between plays. If the game remains entertaining, audiences will follow. Some will even pay to watch.
The Taylor Swift affect on the stats is sizable, and removing it would show that yes the NFL has a Gen Z problem for not embracing player led social media (as particularly contrasted by the success of the NBA), and for poor handling of social issues important to Gen Z. Where the NFL has seen success in Gen Z is in the embracing of gambling and fantasy football, where 61% of NFL fans aged 18-29 participated in fantasy football leagues in 2022, compared to only 26% of fans 30 and older.
The GenZ problem is called Soccer, ESports, and Gaming. The NFL needs to transform the elements of it’s core experience to figure out how to bring these elements into the experience. Soccer withstanding, how can they better “gamify” the Big Game. GenZ still loves amazing experiences – that are destination driven. But given that “luxury” lives in the eye of the beholder, it needs to be accessible as well. Universities and software companies have it right with “student” pricing. Live Nation gave away $25.00 flash ticket sales for 21 Savage to get a flurry of under 20 year olds in the building. Expansion doesn’t just meaning going over seas. Expansion is replenishment of the pipeline.
When I was marketing to Gen Z during the SuperBowl, we needed to focus on “the second screen” during the game to capture their attention. Most were more interested in the party aspect of the game than the game itself. So – I do agree – the NFL itself needs to take a page from this playbook and leverage influencers and social media and even digital gaming to engage them.
Is it a problem of GenZ’s interest in the sport or a financial issue? Even if you buy inexpensive tickets, when you add on parking, food, and a souvenir (like a hat), you could be eating up half a week’s paycheck. Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but the point is that it’s expensive to go to a game. I remember going to many games when I was young. My parents took me. Then I was on my own. It was a good 15 years before I could start going to games regularly.
Dropping ticket prices may not be the answer to getting GenZs more involved in a sport. Finding ways for them to love their local team without having to attend the live event is the secret to building fandom!
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From the data I have seen, interest in formal sports is much lower among Gen Z than it is for other generations. So it’s not just NFL. What’s interesting is that Gen Z’s purchases of sports apparel hasn’t suffered because of it. There might, however, be more of an issue for sports and team branded goods as this generation matures.
I’m not sure that Gen Z has an indifference to sports, inasmuch as they might watch sports a different way, either digitally, or otherwise.
Sports apparel is selling at record high numbers, with Gen Z being the majority of buyers. That would indicate an interest in sports.
However, and specifically to NFL, Gen Z has been raised to be very sensitive, and perhaps football is too “rough” and too “offensive” for their taste. Db
Rising ticket prices for sporting events have led to more “suits” in seats than rabid sports fans from lower income brackets. Yet younger cohorts are absolutely influencing sports marketing and the fan experience.
Sports venues are shifting to a mobile-first experience, as tickets, marketing and Just Walk Out convenience move to smartphones.
Media coverage is shifting from linear TV to streaming and social media to get in front of Gen Z eyeballs. Footage of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Ice Spice in the stands at this year’s Super Bowl in particular captured Gen Z attention across social media.
Gen Zs also express growing interest in women’s leagues like the WNBA.
GenZ will define how we engage with live sports and other large format live events. Just when we thought AI will figure out everything for us, GenZ is coming with a massive curve ball. They are much more comfortable with social engagement on an electronic device or, small, intimate groups rather than attending -or watching- large scale events.
The days of just broadcasting a game and raking in fans will peak with Millenials. GenZ will need more than that. They want to be inside, know the players, and get a glimps of their real life in a way that they can relate to them. This will be important to reach GenZ.
Definitely social media comes into play but the NFL may also want to look at their players and teams differently too. Who has the natural ease and clarity to communicate well on camera? Who can be a good ambassador for the league and break through cultural lines (GenZ is highly multicultural)? Who can connect with authenticity and drive aspirations?
Ultimately, the players are key to unlocking GenZ. The NFL just has to figure out how best to leverage their natural talents on and off the field now.
Looks like Roger Godell’s people need to call Taylor Swift’s people and get her to up her game attracting younger fans. Just kidding. Kind of.
The YouGov study quoted in the article is the opposite of the headline. That study found that male and younger viewers are most engaged.
I am writing this as I watch the Packers and Eagles play in Brazil in a room full of multiple generations. There seems to be a lot of Gen Zs in the crowd. It’s about the experience, right? Ever been to Lambeau Field? That’s an experience, and maybe that’s what Gen Z needs before they settle in to watch on TV with the rest of us sports fans.
Hi Georganne,
To your point and to the point of many others, Gen Z is participating in sports, not being couch potatoes and watching. And so once again I ask…what is specific to the people vs. the age demographic? When I was 23, I was far more interested in participating in sports than watching them. I watched as a child as a bonding experience with my father, and then moved on to doing it all myself. If my knee was “normal,” I’d still be out and about. I learned to kayak during the pandemic and it was a blast.
I guess my point is that I don’t find these “studies” to have a lot of credibility. There are leaps and assumptions made that simply don’t stand the test of time. Retailers need to understand that. And, as an aside, is it an accident that the Chiefs ratings are way up since a certain Taylor Swift has taken interest in the sport?
Sometimes I feel like saying “Just stop it.”
This problem is years in the making and has many layers. I am not sure the exact start on the timeline, however I will use baseball as the first example. I am of a “vintage” to remember when we would bring transistor radio to school in order to listen to the World Series. It did not matter who was playing, most of us were completely enthralled. Now you have night games that end at midnight or later, and my guess is not too many 4th graders make it.
The second issue is omnipresent, and that is the money involved is huge. Everything about the NFL, MLB, NBA, etc has been supersized. Which translates into ticket prices skyrocketing along with cable bundle prices along with everything else. Which effectively locks the lower middle class on down out of most live experience. It also introduces a huge gulf between the athletes and the kids.
There is a lot more to this (obviously) however the net result is the distancing of younger generations from caring, or developing the remotest interest in the NFL or other leagues. Even College football is starting to present itself as more of a professional endeavor. And we have not even started to consider the effect gambling has on all of this.
Will the NFL continue. Of course. Do they have a long term generational problem? Absolutely. Will it be rectified? My view is it will not.
Yet, all of the financials say otherwise: team values, attendance, viewership, apparel, sports tourism, and participation are al setting new records every year. I think this youth don’t care about sports narrative is patently false.
The NFL is a money-printing machine. There is always a new “study” that predicts why the league faces an existential threat (brain injuries, lowered youth participation, lack of appeal to women), yet every year, the league breaks revenue and viewership records.
Thursday’s kick-off game between the Ravens and Chiefs drew a 28 share. Almost 1/3 of all TV sets were tuned into the game. By comparison, the most popular streaming and broadcast shows draw 2-5 million viewers.
That said, younger people are showing a shift in interest, primarily to playing soccer (#1 in youth participation) and watching soccer. This applies to males and females. There is huge interest in the Premier League, La Liga and MLS.
The biggest challenge most sports face with the young is attention span. In a TikTok world, getting kids to focus on a single game for 90 minutes, 2 hours, or 3 hours is nigh impossible.
And yet…Global Sport is a money machine: the EPL, the NFL, the NBA, Cricket, and F1. More money is being made at every level than at any time in history.
Teams that were valued at $500mm 10 years ago are worth $3 billion today, and teams that were worth $1 billion ten years ago are worth $6 billion today.
Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, and other EPL teams played to sold-out stadiums (60k, 70k, 80k and in places like Columbia SC and Chapel Hill NC, not just NY and LA) across the country this summer for meaningless friendlies. I went to Arsenal/Liverpool in Philadelphia on August 31, and half the Stadium was 21 and under.
This is not a crisis moment for the NFL or other leagues. It’s a moment of change and tweaking.
Baseball introduced the pitch clock two years ago. It has shorted games from almost 3 hours to 2 hours and twenty minutes, and viewership/attendance has risen as a result.
In other words, don’t believe the hype…deflation theories.
Sports-licensed apparel is a hot trend. Knowing whose jersey you’re wearing or the history of the team whose colors you’re wearing, not so much these days. One issue I’ve not seen mentioned here is how complicated it’s become to access games. If you’re a streamer, like so many GenZ folks are, you’ll have to subscribe to six different streaming services. Using baseball as an example, it’s been a headscratcher for me that sports leagues who complain about declining interest have also made access to broadcasts expensive and complicated.
Among my millennial offspring, “sports-ball” of all types generally results in a big yawn.
They show more interest in “who’s the best” type sports, like track and field, weightlifting, skateboard stunts, World’s Strongest Man – any feat that can be viewed in a one-minute video clip and shared by influencers.
Younger cohorts, who grew up playing “participation trophy” kid soccer and video games, seem to care even less for sports that feature mock violence committed by big sweaty men. Many prefer online games that feature mock violence committed by overdeveloped fantasy characters.
But it would be a mistake to assume that all Gen Zs harbor the same indifference about pro sports. Thousands of kids play in youth leagues and dream of NFL and MLB stardom. For that matter, there is plenty of participation among both genders in basketball and volleyball. Lots of young people do appreciate competition.
To its credit, the NFL has recognized that it is in an intense ongoing competition for audience. It continues to tweak its product, using on-field rules to emphasize skills play, reduce brutality and reduce waiting time between plays. If the game remains entertaining, audiences will follow. Some will even pay to watch.
The Taylor Swift affect on the stats is sizable, and removing it would show that yes the NFL has a Gen Z problem for not embracing player led social media (as particularly contrasted by the success of the NBA), and for poor handling of social issues important to Gen Z. Where the NFL has seen success in Gen Z is in the embracing of gambling and fantasy football, where 61% of NFL fans aged 18-29 participated in fantasy football leagues in 2022, compared to only 26% of fans 30 and older.
The GenZ problem is called Soccer, ESports, and Gaming. The NFL needs to transform the elements of it’s core experience to figure out how to bring these elements into the experience. Soccer withstanding, how can they better “gamify” the Big Game. GenZ still loves amazing experiences – that are destination driven. But given that “luxury” lives in the eye of the beholder, it needs to be accessible as well. Universities and software companies have it right with “student” pricing. Live Nation gave away $25.00 flash ticket sales for 21 Savage to get a flurry of under 20 year olds in the building. Expansion doesn’t just meaning going over seas. Expansion is replenishment of the pipeline.
When I was marketing to Gen Z during the SuperBowl, we needed to focus on “the second screen” during the game to capture their attention. Most were more interested in the party aspect of the game than the game itself. So – I do agree – the NFL itself needs to take a page from this playbook and leverage influencers and social media and even digital gaming to engage them.
Is it a problem of GenZ’s interest in the sport or a financial issue? Even if you buy inexpensive tickets, when you add on parking, food, and a souvenir (like a hat), you could be eating up half a week’s paycheck. Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but the point is that it’s expensive to go to a game. I remember going to many games when I was young. My parents took me. Then I was on my own. It was a good 15 years before I could start going to games regularly.
Dropping ticket prices may not be the answer to getting GenZs more involved in a sport. Finding ways for them to love their local team without having to attend the live event is the secret to building fandom!