Industry observers warn that the NFL might alienate fans and face claims of “running scared” from Donald Trump and Elon Musk before Super Bowl LIX after prohibiting teams from posting on X competitor Bluesky.<\/p>\n
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The NFL season finale between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans on Sunday is expected to attract an audience of approximately 200 million viewers globally.<\/p>\n
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However, neither team can engage with American football fans on Bluesky, which boasts 30 million users, as the league has declined to authorize the social media platform.<\/p>\n
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This follows Trump’s return for a second term as US president, supported by billionaire Musk, who acquired Twitter in 2022 and rebranded it as X.<\/p>\n
Trump \u2013 poised to be the first sitting president to go to a Super Bowl \u2013 has swiftly shown his strength, initiating trade wars with China, Canada, and Mexico, while expressing his wish to take ownership of Greenland and Gaza.<\/p>\n
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“Considering Trump’s partnership with Musk, any shift away from X will probably provoke anger from Republicans,” Simon Chadwick, a professor of sport and geopolitical economy, stated to City AM.<\/p>\n
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However, by avoiding platforms like Bluesky, there’s a danger that certain fan groups may feel excluded, while detractors may claim that sports organizations are capitulating to Trump’s intimidation methods.<\/p>\n
Social media initially emerged as an intriguing method for sports to connect with its intended audiences, but it has now been weaponized and, in some instances, become harmful. Sports officials find themselves in a difficult situation, needing to be cautious about both their words and the locations in which they express them.<\/p>\n
NFL \u2018wants payment\u2019 from Bluesky, say reports<\/strong><\/p>\n The NFL has not provided any comments regarding its Bluesky policy and did not reply to inquiries for feedback. However, a representative from the New England Patriots disclosed last month that the league instructed the team to disable its Bluesky account.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sports content has been at the heart of a competition among social media platforms. X compensates the NFL for exclusive content hosting, renewing its agreement last year, and NBC disclosed last week that the league was pursuing fees from Bluesky for similar benefits.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Joe Weston, head of sport at agency We Are Social, stated, \u201cThe NFL will likely focus on the resemblance between Bluesky and X\/Twitter, and the potential consequences that may arise for its current partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIf these agreements hinge on content exclusivity, how can they guarantee that it remains secure while teams test things on Bluesky?\u201d<\/p>\n He noted: \u201cAlthough X\/Twitter remains significantly bigger than BlueSky, its growth has stagnated, and recent contentious incidents and policy changes are causing many brands to reconsider the platform’s worth.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Industry observers warn that the NFL might alienate fans and face claims of “running scared” from Donald Trump and Elon Musk before Super Bowl LIX after prohibiting teams from posting on X competitor Bluesky. The NFL season finale between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans on Sunday is expected to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n