The NFL game plans for a “Marvel-like” entertainment business

The Future. The NFL is looking to flood Hollywood with a lot more branded shows, movies, and other forms of entertainment to grow the brand and juice revenue. Even though the NFL is the most profitable sports league in the world, with $18 billion in revenue last year, the league has a goal of scoring $25 billion by 2027… and it may be hoping that entertainment can help them get there.

Hollywood huddle
The NFL wants to step up its game in entertainment, per Insider.

• The company is looking to mine its archive to find stories that can be adapted for film and TV, which it would help develop and produce (we’re sure it wishes it had a stake in Tom Brady’s movie at Paramount).
• It’s also going to expand its unscripted footprint, partnering with players on shows, as it does with Peyton Manning’s Peyton’s Places, and jumping on existing shows, such as this season of the HBO docuseries Hard Knocks.
• But NFL Films is planning to branch out even more, with senior executive Ross Ketover saying the company is working on a tailgating competition show for The Food Network.
• Additionally, it will offer to produce content for sports other than football, like when it made Amazon’s All or Nothing about the Manchester City soccer team back in 2018.

Free agent
What may be music to Hollywood’s ears is that NFL Films is not yet signed to an agency or has any first-look studio deals, but apparently, those conversations are already ongoing. With how well Amazon Prime’s investment to stream Thursday Night Football has paid off so far, expect companies to line up to sign the company to a deal with the hope of bringing in a fraction of that audience.

With 40 projects in production and another two dozen in development, NFL Films is looking for “a Marvel-like brand expansion” and wants the industry to know that it’s finally ready to team up. But we can neither confirm nor deny if the NFL will be positioning its players as real-life superheroes…