What to expect, details, more

If this past football season was any indication, fashion has become a staple of the NFL, and its prominence around the league is not diminishing.

The rise of the ‘NFL Tunnel’ – like the long-standing ‘NBA Tunnel’ – gave many top players a new platform to connect with fans through their fashion, wearing high-fashion looks from luxury brands or a gave a nod to their roots through traditional clothing.

Fashion’s reign in the NFL continues with the 2024 NFL Draft starting Thursday in Detroit, where football fans and the league expect fashion to take the spotlight as potential players use the platform to introduce themselves to a wider audience .

“The draft is the moment we welcome prospects to the NFL family,” said Justin Anderson, NFL director of social content. “It’s primetime, it’s anticipation and it’s celebration, but it’s really one of the few events that brings enthusiastic and casual fans from both the professional world – like you want to see who picked your favorite team – but also from the collegiate world attracts. – they want to see where their former star player ends up. (Everyone) really comes together to look at the design. And that red carpet moment, that is such an important style moment.”

The NFL has robust draft coverage plans to highlight the prospects and their red carpet looks. In addition to multiple broadcasts and social streaming, the NFL’s social media team will be on the red carpet with 13 potential players to create content that aims to fully immerse viewers.

With the intersection of sports and fashion becoming increasingly important, especially among Generation Z and younger, the NFL is “really focused on elevating and supporting our players,” said Kylie Callura, the manager of social content and production at the N.F.L. . “As they continue to see the storytelling efforts that we’re doing across our ecosystem, it kind of gives them an incentive to lean into their fashion a little bit more and have more fun with it.”

The NFL Draft has had a history of memorable fashion moments over the decades. Anderson and Callura pointed out former football players like Deion Sanders and his black and white tracksuit at the 1989 NFL Draft, Ray Lewis and his white, black and gold standout outfit in 1996 and Ezekiel Elliott and his cropped shirt in 2016 as notable moments. .

Other footballers have used the design to give a nod to their roots. For example, last year Christian Gonzalez wore a jacket with the Colombian flag on the inside, and in 2022 Sauce Gardner paired a powder blue suit with a ‘Sauce’ bottle necklace.

“It’s such a great experience for prospects,” Anderson said of the NFL Draft. “What we’ve seen in recent years is a great opportunity for them to get into fashion and it’s almost becoming an art form. Our team’s job is to tap into the unique and authentic personalities that potential players want to tell, help them build their brands and ultimately amplify their interests through our social broadcasts and messaging as it relates to concept as a whole.

According to Callura, the NFL’s fashion content is among the best performing. Last season, the average fashion post saw 43 percent more engagement and 51 percent more video views year-over-year. This has encouraged the NFL’s social media team to expand its fashion coverage for the draft and for the upcoming football season.

This past football season was perhaps the NFL’s trendiest, with players like Travis Kelce, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Stefon Diggs, Ray-Ray McCloud III, Darren Waller and others regularly going viral for their high-fashion looks.

For this year’s NFL Draft, Anderson said it will be notable considering the number of quarterbacks expected to be selected in the first round, some of whom will be on the red carpet.

Callura also highlighted the number of older players who will be closely watched during the draft and on the red carpet, including Marvin Harrison Jr., son of Marvin Harrison, Luke McCaffrey, brother of Christian McCaffrey, and Brenden Rice, son of Jerry Rice. among other things.