MrBeast is going to be subjected to subpar American Football by making an appearance at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Atlanta Falcons game, decked out in a custom jersey and, puzzlingly, football pants.
Usually, appearances from celebrities come with a custom jersey; that’s nothing new. But what’s with the pants and cleats? Is he suiting up? Where are the pads for the pants? Does MrBeast get to keep the pants and cleats? What is happening here?
MrBeast was born in Kansas and raised in North Carolina, so there’s really not a geographical connection here. Maybe he just simply isn’t a fan of one of the NFL’s most fraudulent franchises, the Carolina Panthers?
From the NFL’s perspective, this move makes sense. The league has had tons of outreach to the wider gaming community and younger audiences over the past several years to combat their growing average audience age. This year, they’ve gone so far as to put up a bizarre Toy Story-themed game, complete with Slinky Dog taking the role of the down and distance markers. NFL teams have skins in Epic Games’ Fortnite, and all-star quarterback Patrick Mahomes is part of the game’s Icon Series skin collection.
Beyond the strange football pants, Mr Beast has been making inroads with traditional sports franchises recently. He’s struck a partnership for his Feastables brand with the Charlotte Hornets, which MrBeast called his “hometown team” on Twitter (sorry, Panthers). As his YouTube channel grows, so does his plunge into the older parts of the cultural mainstream. “Older” is an intentional word placement: gaming and gaming influencers, are decidedly mainstream at this point, despite being under-covered by legacy media outlets. Gaming is bigger than the music industry and movies combined. As strange as that may seem for readers over the age of 35, MrBeast is doing the Bucs a solid here, not the other way around.
