The NFL risks alienating fans and accusations of “running scared” from Donald Trump and Elon Musk ahead of Super Bowl LIX after it banned teams from posting on X rival Bluesky, say industry watchers.
Sunday’s showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans, the climax to the NFL season, is set to be watched by around 200m people worldwide.
But neither team is allowed to connect with American football fans on Bluesky, which has 30m users, because the league has refused to approve the social media platform.
It comes after Trump returned for a second term as US president, backed by billionaire Musk, who bought Twitter in 2022 and renamed it X.
Trump – set to be the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl – has been quick to flex his muscle, starting trade wars with China, Canada and Mexico and declaring his desire to take control of Greenland and Gaza.
“Given Trump’s alliance with Musk, any migration away from X will likely incur the wrath of Republicans,” Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy, told City AM.
“Yet in shying away from platforms such as Bluesky, the risk is that some fan segments will be alienated while critics might accuse sport organisations of running scared of Trump’s bullying tactics.
“Social media started out as an interesting new way for sport to communicate with its target audiences, but now it has become weaponised and, in some cases, toxic. Sports officials are therefore in an invidious position of not only having to be careful what they say, but also where they say it.”
NFL ‘wants payment’ from Bluesky, say reports
The NFL has not commented on its Bluesky policy and did not respond to requests for comment. But an official from the New England Patriots revealed last month that the league had told the team to shut down its Bluesky account.
Sports content has been at the centre of an arms race between social media platforms. X pays the NFL to host exclusive content, renewing its deal last year, and NBC reported last week that the league was seeking payment from Bluesky to afford it the same privileges.
“What the NFL will be concerned about is the similarity of Bluesky and X/Twitter, and what ramifications that might have for its existing partnership,” said Joe Weston, head of sport at agency We Are Social.
“If these deals are based on content exclusivity, how can they ensure that is protected as teams experiment on Bluesky?”
He added: “While X/Twitter is still substantially larger than BlueSky, growth has stalled and recent controversial events and shifts in policy are making a lot of brands question the value of the platform.”