As a football emblazoned with the Colts logo soars across a blue, cloud-filled sky, the unmistakable notes of The Simpsons theme song chime. And just like an episode of the long-running show, viewers get a glimpse of the town—except this time it’s Indianapolis, not Springfield.
Homer Simpson carefully tongs a pigskin inside his power plant work station. Bart repeatedly scribbles a rival wide receiver’s name on a chalkboard as punishment. Lisa performs a sax solo down a hallway lined with Peyton Manning’s portrait. And the Colts’ offensive line has scrunched together on the family’s orange couch, admiring the yellow TV patriarch’s slimmer physique.
What looks a lot like an NFL crossover episode of The Simpsons, is actually the Colts’ 2026 schedule release video.
The idea grew out of months of brainstorming, pitching, and planning—and an attempt to learn from previous mistakes.
Last year, the Colts released a Minecraft-themed video (an idea the Chargers also used) but took it down because it exceeded their rights with Microsoft. It also included an insensitive clip involving Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill. (The unsanctioned video has since lived on through other social accounts like a cult film.)
The Colts secured the creators, illustrators, and voice actors of The Simpsons to produce an original animation that included classic clips from the hit show’s 800-plus episodes. Unlike last year, the team got full cooperation from Disney, whose subsidiary ESPN will broadcast its first Super Bowl this season, plus round-the-clock edits from the animation team—effectively poking fun at their mea culpa.
“We could just tell they were so excited to go through and find these historical clips and bring them back to life,” Amber Derrow, the Colts’ senior director of content strategy and operations, tells Front Office Sports. “They view it as just as much of a promotional opportunity as we do.”
“NFL schedule release day” has morphed into a tentpole event, where every franchise becomes a mini Hollywood studio. What used to be a straightforward graphic and a press release sharing the season’s slate of games, times, and locations is now a full-fledged content operation involving (and sometimes outsourcing) video, social, digital, PR, and marketing teams all chasing the same goal: a schedule-release video that cuts through the algorithm, dominates group chats, and racks up tens of millions of views. And every year, the stakes continue to rise, with each team trying to find new, exciting ways to one-up themselves (and their rivals) with these glorified calendars.
“You’ve got creators putting their heart and soul into this project that is either going to be loved or ripped to shreds [by the fans],” Derrow says. “It’s only going to get bigger—you just have to rise to the challenge.”
Getting Creative on the Clock
In 2016, the Seahawks had the novel idea to make the NFL’s schedule release more interesting—and appeal to more than just their diehards. The resulting video, which featured a bowl of cupcake ingredients representing each opponent’s city, was relatively tame compared to the elaborate, recent iterations.
In the years since there have been celebrity cameos (from Allen Iverson to Tim Robinson), man-on-the street productions (most notably on Nashville’s Broadway), and homages to pop culture (including Game of Thrones and Good Will Hunting). There are also plenty of Easter eggs for eagle-eyed fans to find: inside jokes, clever geographic references, and recreations of memorable plays.
How much bigger can these videos get? It might be less a matter of scale than continuing to find new audiences and various fan subgroups with more inventive, specific, unlikely ideas. Or maybe stripping things down entirely (like the Colts did in 2019). “There are definitely ways to get creative and different,” Kline says. “And that’s probably what’s on the horizon over the next few years—just getting wackier and weirder with it.”
The timeline for building and executing these viral videos typically starts after each team’s regular season (or playoff run) ends. But suggesting and debating ideas is often a year-round endeavor—with many teams jotting down thoughts in notes apps and dedicated Slack channels as inspiration arises.
To conceive their Halo-themed video this year, the Chargers social team—known for creating detail-oriented videos like 2023’s anime-inspired production and 2024’s The Sims parody—brainstormed with about 15 people across departments in January. The team then spent about three weeks using “a formula for what we think constitutes success for these things,” says David Bretto, the team’s director of video content. Over the last few months—and into the weeks leading to release—Bretto built out a replica of the game’s hyper-detailed landscapes while production and social heads Tyler Pino and Megan Julian refined jokes and managed various approvals.
“We’re trying to stay as nimble as we can, as close to the deadline, so that it feels as fresh and contemporary as it can be,” Pino says. “‘How do we make this punch here? Is this joke falling flat when we watch it as a group?’ If no one’s laughing, maybe there’s a reason why.”
The Jets’ schedule video began while the team’s vice president of content strategy, Dan Szpakowski, was on paternity leave in February. As he scrolled Instagram, Art Craft Blend’s Reels kept invading his algorithm, so much that Szpakowski eventually pitched a joint video with the creator, continuing the team’s string of popular influencer collaborations. “Part of the reason why we like to go the creator route and the collab approach is we’re trying to reach more than just Jets fans,” Szpakowski says. “The social world is so much bigger than just Jets fans.”
Though teams learn their opponents by January, the NFL usually doesn’t give teams access to the official schedule until a day—or less—before it drops. Then comes a mad scramble to stitch pre-made video assets together into the correct order. “It’s a marathon up until then—and the last day is like a sprint,” says Kevin Kline, Commanders senior director of content strategy, who spent Thursday fine tuning their video, which depicts Jacory “Bill the Science Guy” Croskey-Merritt performing science experiments in a school gym.
On occasions, teams can take playful jabs at opponents, making fun of a recent scandal or game result, though some teams like the Commanders have strict guidelines against it. “Our golden rule is we never want to create bulletin board material for the other team,” Kline says.
And the league doesn’t babysit teams on what they are or aren’t allowed to include in their promos.
“This is the day when teams are licensed to poke fun at each other. The [Mike Vrabel] story has become such a public matter that teams can take the shot. You may get a call from the Patriots. But the league is not going to get involved,” one source recently told FOS.
A ‘Whirlwind’ Rollout
Ultimately, each team has different metrics to hit and production budgets to measure success, but the overall goal (and the stress) remains the same: trust the creative process—and then hope it connects with the fan base. “It’s really a gut thing,” Julien says. “You genuinely don’t know until you put it out into the universe.”
Much like the NFL Draft, the schedule release is more than just a one-night party. Despite all the energy and effort put into making these videos, social teams have to put just as much steam into the rollout, making sure to engage with fan reactions and video ranking articles, agree to interviews with media outlets, and sometimes offer behind-the-scenes explainers and bonus material over the weekend.
“The day after is honestly a whirlwind,” says Jason Lavine, the Chargers’ senior vice president of brand creative and content.
Last year, he notes, the Chargers hosted a Reddit AMA to explain everything that went into their Minecraft video. This weekend, the Seahawks have close to 100 different schedule-related media assets to deliver between their social platforms, website, and mobile app. And the Jets crafted different vertical and horizontal versions of their video to match the specs and audiences of their various social channels.
It’s a far cry from 2016, when Pardon The Interruption’s co-hosts (and the larger sports blogosphere) thought the Seahawks’ cupcake video was a blatant insult to their opponents. Ten years later, the productions have gotten so elaborate and inventive, most fans don’t even think about them as information delivery devices, let alone serious, organizational philosophies. After all, teams still post a graphic, too.
“I don’t think we sat there and said, ‘Hey, we’re revolutionizing the industry,’” Seattle’s VP of digital and emerging media Kenton Olson tells FOS. “We were just trying something different.”
