NFL Embraces Live Audio

Live audio continues to heat up. The most recent sign of growth? America’s most popular league and Clubhouse are joining forces.

Starting Monday, the NFL will host a series of rooms on the live audio app featuring pre-draft player analysis, mock drafts, a conversation with University of Alabama alumni, and more. 

The partnership is Clubhouse’s first with a major sports league. The company hired a head of sports partnerships, Sean Brown, earlier in April.

Clubhouse, recently valued at a reported $4 billion, is still invite-only and exclusive to iOS. The app has seen enormous growth since debuting in March 2020, tallying more than 10 million downloads.

Since Clubhouse hit the scene, Twitter, Facebook, Discord, LinkedIn, and Slack have all launched their own live audio products.

Spotify, in particular, is making an aggressive push into sports-related audio. It acquired The Ringer and its vast podcast network for close to $200 million last year and live audio hub, Locker Room, in March.

Last year’s “virtual draft” was the most-watched NFL Draft ever, reaching more than 55 million viewers over three days.

The NFL recently scored $113 billion for a decade of broadcast deals with CBS, NBC, Fox, Disney, and Amazon — indicating interest in the game remains high.

Now, the league and Clubhouse just need fans as excited about discussing the next crop of NFL talent as they are about watching them.