Threads gets on the call with an official NFL commentary team

Threads is looking to rule the second screen during NFL Sundays. The Meta-owned alternative to X has announced an eight-person commentary team that will lead the app’s NFL coverage during the football season.

The move builds on Threads’ activity at the intersection of sports and creator content

Ever since CazeTV dominated the World Cup, sports leagues across the world have been pivoting toward creator-led coverage. KSI, for example, has started offering official broadcasts during matches contested by the soccer team he co-owns.

Even before the World Cup kicked off, Threads was already recognizing creators’ growing presence in the pro sports universe. At the most recent Super Bowl, the platform set up an NFL Media Center, which creators and podcasters used as a studio space,

The pundits participating in Threads’ NFL push are a mixed bag (more on that in a second), but creators are a big part of the equation. Podcaster Griffin Prock and Black Girls Love Football Founder Adrianna Ebron will both deliver their two cents as the Threads team tackles each week’s NFL action.

The “Threads Team” has a deep roster

As creators have broken into sports, they’ve covered games with more voices than what you’d expect from a traditional network broadcast. CazeTV’s World Cup streams featured a rotating cast of guests, and YouTube made room for plenty of creator guests when it streamed a regular season NFL game last season.

Just as traditional networks have embraced creator broadcasters, they’ve also recognized that many people who follow those creators prefer larger broadcast teams. Between the play-by-play announcer, color commentators, sideline reporters, and rules experts, it’s not uncommon to see five or six people on the call in today’s NFL.

With a crew Threads Head Connor Hayes calls the “Threads Team,” Meta’s X alternative will be able to offer comprehensive football coverage. Prock and Ebron will offer creator perspectives, Brandon Marshall and Chase Daniel will share their input as former players, and reporters like Matt Lombardo and Mina Kimes (pictured above) will bring their journalism to Threads’ game-day lineup.

“The NFL Threads community is already home to some of our most active conversations,” Hayes wrote. “I’m excited to turn up the volume with Team Threads: a group of commentators, creators and community champions sharing their takes all season, with primetime Live Chats starting in November.”

Is this move a prelude to a bigger broadcast deal?

Sports discussions aren’t just big on Threads — they receive outsized attention on X as well. The amount of sports chatter on social media helps explain why creators are getting more broadcast deals than ever before.

The idea of an NFL game broadcast exclusively through Meta platforms still seems like a long shot, but if Meta ever did secure a deal like that, it would have its commentary team ready to go. Sometimes, when a platform gets a chance to stream pro sports for the first time, the quality of the product can disappoint fans — just ask Netflix. Threads would have no such problems, but even if the Threads Team never strays beyond second screen coverage, it will still be an exciting outfit for football aficionados.

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