Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs face Justin Herbert and Jim Harbaugh’s Los Angeles Chargers in the most accessible game to viewers on Friday night in Brazil.
It’s the first NFL game streamed on YouTube and there will be plenty of unique elements surrounding the broadcast.
The league and YouTube have assembled a lineup of content creators to enhance the viewing experience.
Cam Newton, Brandon Marshall, Derek Carr and Tyrann Mathieu will be part of a pre-game and post-game shows hosted by Kay Adams.
Donald De La Haye, known as “Deestroying” to millions of social media followers, will serve as a sideline creator — as opposed to the usual sideline reporter.
Four creators will host their own “Watch With” streams on YouTube and YouTube TV — IShowSpeed and Tom Grossi in English and Robegrill and SKabeche in Spanish.
“It’s been an awesome journey. I used to do this at high school games, JV games and stuff, and now the fact that I’m doing it at the highest level is amazing,” Deestroying said. “And it kind of carved out this brand new role as a sideline creator. It’s awesome, man. It’s new to everybody. It’s knew to me. It’s new to YouTube, new to the NFL, but I think it’ll be awesome and we’ll see a lot more of it to come.”
Deestroying is no stranger to football. He played college ball at Central Florida and was a kicker for the San Antonio Brahmas of the United Football League.
Growing the sport globally has become a top priority for the NFL, which dominates ratings in the United States. The league has promoted flag football to increase participation in the sport around the world, helping it become part of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Using content creators and influencers is a natural step forward.
“I think that it starts to show just the convergence of the creator world, the creator economy, together with the NFL,” league executive Ian Trombetta said. “There’s so much interest in what our players are doing and you’re seeing that clearly across the league, whether it be with our existing players or our legends like Cam Newton and others who’ve really leaned into YouTube as a platform. The Kelce brothers are another great example of that. So it’s just this wonderful convergence of creativity and sport. And I think that led us to this place where they’re integrating and give YouTube a lot of credit. They’ve found ways to put forward creators that make sense in these different environments and different situations.”
Grossi, a Green Bay Packers fan, has been watching games with fans on YouTube for almost a decade. He’s aiming to break his streaming record of 51,000 people watching a game with him.
“I love football and I love the Packers,” Grossi said. “To be able to stream these games and have actual fan interaction throughout the game and kind of create that communal sense of we’re all fans watching the game together, I think it just gives folks a different way to engage with football that maybe they haven’t before.”
Newton, the 2015 NFL MVP, has embraced his creating content. He has the largest following on YouTube among players at 1.7 million subscribers.
“We’re not just broadcasting a game; we’re creating an experience,” he said. “We’re merging a traditional sports broadcast with the creator-led content that has made YouTube what it is. It’s a new era of sports media, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
The NFL has exclusively streamed games before on NBCUniversal’s Peacock, Amazon’s Prime Video and Netflix, but those required subscriptions. The Chiefs-Chargers game is available to anyone with access to the internet. That makes it a first.
“Our thesis around bringing an NFL game to YouTube wasn’t just sort of lift and shift from any other network, it was about how do we make it feel uniquely YouTube?” YouTube executive Angela Courtin said. “And the thing that is unique to YouTube, more so than any other platform, is our creator community. And that means bringing creators who are football fans, who talk about their content around football.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh speaks during a news conference prior to an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Sao Paulo, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce speaks during a press conference ahead of a NFL football game against Los Angeles Chargers in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes speaks during a press conference ahead of a NFL football game against Los Angeles Chargers in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Now that the Chiefs are moving across the state line from their longtime home in Missouri to a $3 billion domed stadium to be built in Kansas, attention in the area has swung to the Royals, who have a similar decision to make regarding their own future.
One thing is certain: They will not be playing at Kauffman Stadium once their lease there expires in January 2031.
Royals owner John Sherman has long said his preference is to build a downtown ballpark, but those plans have been bogged down at nearly every turn by politics and community backlash. Last year, voters in Jackson County, Missouri, soundly defeated the extension of an existing sales tax that pays for the upkeep of Kauffman Stadium and would have helped to fund the new ballpark.
The question now is whether the Royals continue their pursuit of downtown baseball, build a new stadium elsewhere on the Missouri side of the state divide, or follow the Chiefs in moving their new home to the Kansas side of the border.
“The Royals are also a great legacy team that we would love to keep in Missouri. We will do everything we can to continue those conversations,” said Gov. Mike Kehoe, who responded with scorn to the news Monday that the Chiefs had accepted a bond package approved by Kansas lawmakers that will cover 60% of a total project expected to exceed $4 billion.
The Chiefs also plan to build a $300 million training city in the Kansas City-metro suburb of Olathe, Kansas.
“If I’m the Royals," Kehoe said, “I’m in the driver’s seat now. I’m THE team.”
In their bid to keep the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, Missouri lawmakers authorized bonds in June during a special legislative session that would cover up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums, plus up to $50 million of tax credits.
That is the financing package that still could be used by the Royals to build their ballpark.
But the bond package put forth by Kansas lawmakers, which would not tax residents but instead be paid off by state sales and liquor taxes generated in a defined area around the project, provides the potential to cover up to 70% of overall costs.
In the case of the Chiefs, the term sheet signed by owner Clark Hunt and Lt. Gov. David Toland calls for a stadium with at least 65,000 seats to be built by August 1, 2031, and the Chiefs to stay there for at least 30 years, with an option to remain up to 30 years more.
Along with the $3 billion stadium, the Chiefs committed to at least $1 billion in “ancillary development,” which includes a headquarters and training facility in Olathe and at least $700 million worth of retail, entertainment and other commercial space.
The agreement allows $100 million of that space to be built outside the two counties containing most of Kansas’ side of the metro.
The state agreed to issue a little more than $2.4 billion in bonds to cover roughly 60% of the costs, though if the extra development exceeds $1 billion, it would cover 70%. That makes it the largest public subsidy ever for a U.S. Stadium project.
“Missouri put together a very competitive package,” Kehoe said of the state's attempts to keeping the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, adding: “Kansas is about to leverage ... Kansas taxpayer revenue to make this deal happen. I can’t see where the numbers would pencil on that, as a business person, where it would be a good deal for Missourians.”
The Royals have considered multiple sites around downtown Kansas City, but all have had issues, whether it be traffic flow, community support or something else. They also have provided renderings in the past of a stadium and ballpark district that would be built across the Missouri River in Clay County, which is technically North Kansas City, Missouri.
But momentum of late appears to be behind a move to the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, and a tract of land known as the Aspiria Campus, where an affiliate of the Royals already holds the mortgage. The property, once home to Sprint and still the headquarters of T-Mobile and several other companies, lies just off Interstate 435 in the south part of the metro.
Those plans have been met by opposition from residents in the affluent neighboring suburb of Leawood, Kansas.
John Mosley, a 65-year-old fan from Kansas City, Missouri, said Monday that he had been hearing people talk about Kansas using a bond package to lure the Chiefs — and, perhaps, even the Royals — across the state line for years.
“To me personally, it doesn’t matter. But I’m noticing that most things are going over into Kansas,” he said. “I’m not sure what’s going on in Missouri. I think it’s a money issue. Maybe over in Kansas things are much better. It just seems like everything is moving.”
Associated Press writers John Hanna, David Lieb and Heather Hollingsworth contributed.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, center right, talks to the media during an event Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Topeka, Kan., after announcing the team will leave Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., for a new stadium that will be built across the Kansas-Missouri state line and be ready for the start of the 2031 season. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, right, and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, shake hands during an event announcing the team will leave Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. for a new stadium that will be built across the Kansas-Missouri state line and be ready for the start of the 2031 season, during an event Monday, Dec. 22, 2025 in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, right, and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, pose for a photo during an event announcing the team will leave Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. for a new stadium that will be built across the Kansas-Missouri state line and be ready for the start of the 2031 season, during an event Monday, Dec. 22, 2025 in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, right, addresses attendees while Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, left, looks on during an event Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Topeka, Kan., announcing the team will leave Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. for a new stadium that will be built across the Kansas-Missouri state line and be ready for the start of the 2031 season. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
