https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2025/chiefs-chargers-nfl-youtube-stream-free-ishowspeed-feed-1234868230/
As YouTube looks to differentiate its first exclusive NFL broadcast—Chargers vs. Chiefs in Brazil on Sept. 5—the streamer will allow several personalities to host their own coverage of the Week 1 matchup, alongside a more traditional presentation on the platform.
IShowSpeed headlines the first group of creators who will use YouTube’s “Watch With” feature during the game, while Packers fan Tom Grossi and a pair of Spanish language web stars—Robegrill and SKabeche—deliver their own altcasts. YouTube is expected to announce more co-streamers over the next two weeks. The game and altcasts will be free to view.
IShowSpeed (whose real name is Darren Watkins Jr.) regularly streams to 43 million subscribers, nearly three times as many as the NFL has on YouTube. He is among those blurring the lines between sports media and digital stardom, having previously popped up at WWE events and this summer’s MLS All-Star festivities. He also joined the NFL and YouTube’s flag football game ahead of the 2025 Super Bowl after showing up to the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit.
“A lot of what YouTube has done with sports and with the NFL in particular, looping Sunday Ticket in here … is really give the fans choice,” YouTube global sports partnerships head Jon Cruz said in an interview. “We’re really living up to that when you look at the kind of choice that we’re providing fans from a viewing experience and also from a personality standpoint.”
YouTube conducted its first public test of the “Watch With” feature during an NFL game last year, part of its larger push to get more users consuming YouTube content on their televisions. The company said late last year that watchtime of sports content on TV was growing 30% year-over-year.
Grossi regularly streams realtime commentary of Packers and primetime NFL games on YouTube, though not with live images of the games.
“Nothing against the broadcasters whatsoever, but it’s more of just, you know, I’m jumping up and down when folks score,” Grossi said. “For me, it’s going to kind of be doing the continuous thing that we’ve been doing for almost a decade—just being excited about football and loving the game.”
Fans will be able to quickly jump between a more traditional broadcast and the creator co-streams
YouTube is still producing a more traditional broadcast that Cruz expects will be watched by most fans tuning in. Rich Eisen and Kurt Warner will call the game, with Kay Adams and Cam Newton, Brandon Marshall, Tyrann Mathieu, Derek Carr and fantasy football analyst Peter Overzet working the pregame and postgame shows. However, even on that broadcast creators will play a role, with Deestroying (AKA Donald De La Haye) manning the sidelines along with Stacey Dales. Deestroying, who played at UCF and in the UFL in addition to developing a YouTube Channel, currently boasts more than six million followers on the platform.
The main broadcast video and audio will be shown alongside the creators on their “Watch With” feeds. YouTube is believed to be paying at least $100 million to stream the game globally. Peacock streamed the first NFL game from Brazil during the opening weekend of last season.
“We very much understand the prestige and importance of this window,” Cruz said. “We’re going to learn a lot about our delivery, and we’re going to learn a lot about the way that we’ve selected talent, both from a more traditional sense and also from some of these newer creators.”
https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2025/chiefs-chargers-nfl-youtube-stream-free-ishowspeed-feed-1234868230/
