NFL and Bleacher Report Team Up for Content Rights and Super Bowl Coverage

The NFL is adding Bleacher Report to its team this offseason with a multiyear deal that hopes to turn the Warner Bros. Discovery digital platform’s audience and content, as well as the league’s highlights and sponsors, into a dynasty.

The partnership, which began on NFL Wild Card weekend, gives Bleacher Report and House of Highlights access to NFL game footage for its app, social content, and programming; behind-the-scenes content from league officials, players, and coaches during the season; and on-the-ground behind-the-scenes access and activations for big events, including the NFL Scouting Combine, NFL Draft, and Super Bowl.

Now, if, say, Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons—who currently discusses various events in the NFL and college football week on his Bleacher Report video podcast, The Edge—wants to recap a game and break down specific moments, he can use highlights with the league’s blessing.

“[Using highlights] just brings the fan that much closer to the player’s perspective,” said Bennett Spector, general manager at Bleacher Report.

While Bleacher Report will be able to use those highlights across properties like Parsons’ show, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel’s Cleats and Convos, and other programming, becoming an official content partner of the NFL allows the TNT Sports property to work more closely with official NFL sponsors. Though league insurance partner Nationwide already sponsors Parsons’ show, Bleacher Report sees the opportunity to build new content franchises around its league access while providing the NFL and its brand allies the opportunity to reach a younger, more digital audience.

“Having official partnership helps them have a better and stronger conversation with some of our partners, who have already decided, ‘OK, we’re going to attach ourselves to the NFL,’” said Brent Lawton, vp of business development and strategic investments at the NFL. “Being able to go and do that on their platform with official content helps bring the pieces of the puzzle together.”

Reaching the goal line

In the Bleacher Report/NFL deal, both sides of the ball are making a play for expanded reach.

From the NFL’s perspective, Bleacher Report is a large, established digital audience that skews a bit younger than the NFL average but is specifically interested in sports. They’re an established presence with an audience that’s already aware of the NFL, even if they aren’t actively watching games, playing in fantasy leagues, or betting each week.

“While it might not necessarily be somebody that’s new to the NFL going to Bleacher Report, it’s somebody who cares about the game and wants to follow along,” Lawton said. “If we can reach them and help Bleacher Report tell better stories or enhance their content with official content, then that’s great.”

It’s a deal that comes at an interesting time for both the NFL and sports in general. While the league still accounts for the overwhelming majority of the most-watched broadcasts, ratings for the latest Wild Card games declined more than 9% from a year ago.

It isn’t just an NFL issue, as college football’s playoffs saw a 17% decline in ratings during the first year of their 12-team playoff format. Heading into the end of 2024, ratings were declining in the NBA (19%-25%), men’s college basketball (21%), women’s college games (38%), and the NHL (28%). Bleacher Report and parent company Warner Bros. Discovery—which found itself at the center of NBA broadcast rights talks last year—want to invest where those viewers are.

“WBD has signaled consistently that they want to be in sports and are doing so by investing in these new properties that have come online,” Spector said. “What has changed is not that there is a lack of interest in sports proper. It’s just how people are consuming those very same products. While linear television has shown a clear decline in consumption, digital-first consumption—be it through highlights either on social media or through our properties—is growing rapidly.”

Spector, TNT Sports, and WBD did not say how much was invested in the Bleacher Report-NFL deal, but it’s already had an effect on Bleacher Report coverage. Within its first three days, highlights distributed on the app received “tens of millions of views,” highlights have been added to Parsons’ show, and yet-unnamed sponsors have signed up for highlights packages later in the season.

Parsons will be hosting a show live from Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans, Samuel will be on Radio Row just before the game, and the crew from House of Highlights will meet with players, ask questions, and create content on-site. While yet-unnamed sponsors have signed up for highlights packages, Bleacher Report’s stance is “money will follow” if you find your audience first.

“With this deal coming online, we can say outright and very loudly and proudly that we have full coverage and comprehensive coverage across every major sports league in the United States,” Spector said. “That’s going to be very powerful as we go into work with the advertising community—if you have dollars to spend and you are trying to reach young sports fans, no matter the subject, we have an avenue for you to attach your brand to ours.”

The long game

Parsons kicked off the NFL postseason for Bleacher Report by saying that his Cowboys—who haven’t made the Super Bowl since 1995 and went 7-10 this season—would be Super Bowl champions in 2025.

Somehow, that wasn’t the highlight of his 2024 season on The Edge, as his nearly four and a half hours of NFL Draft coverage with friend and Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud drew the attention of fans and media peers alike. As Bleacher Report looks to expand its presence through its NFL partnerships, it’s hoping that combining its hundreds of millions of online followers with NFL-approved brand partners will supercharge the process that made Parsons a media personality in the middle of an active NFL career.

“Our draft show is one that we’ve always prided ourselves on: That you actually get to be with Micah Parsons when they are making the Cowboys pick, and you get to see how he reacts,” Spector said. “C.J. Stroud is another one who we’ve been investing in and has been working with us, so getting closer to the action and hearing directly from the athletes is going to be big for us.”

The NFL’s Lawton noted that Bleacher Report’s presence in college football already provides it tremendous access to football players early in their careers. As those players head into the NFL, Lawton said the platform is uniquely positioned to tell their stories and provide behind-the-scenes interviews, outtakes, and other content. 

The NFL sees Bleacher Report as a credible, knowledgeable source with a different point of view than, perhaps, NFL media or broadcast partners. As the NFL audience evolves and NFL fans aren’t necessarily just in the stands or watching on game day, those personality traits matter.

“People go there because they respect that voice and want to hear it,” Lawton said. “A partnership allows us to be there as well and help deliver for our fans.”