Los Angeles Chargers 2025 Schedule Release

ABOUT THIS ENTRY

The Los Angeles Chargers transformed the 2025 NFL schedule release into a cultural gaming moment with a Minecraft-inspired video and full-scale social campaign designed to reach both die-hard football fans and new gaming audiences. The tentpole launch combined storytelling, strategic partnerships, and a phased social rollout to drive engagement, earned media, and single-game ticket sales.

How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?

The Chargers have helped transform the NFL schedule release from a simple announcement into a major digital content moment—and the 2025 campaign continued to raise that standard.

While the schedule release might traditionally appeal only to dedicated football fans, the Chargers intentionally design their campaigns to reach broader internet culture. By combining NFL storytelling with gaming culture through Minecraft, the campaign resonated with Chargers fans, NFL fans, and the massive global gaming community. The video’s layered humor, gaming references, and internet-native storytelling made it highly shareable and rewatchable, helping it spread far beyond sports audiences.

Engagement didn’t stop with the video drop. Behind-the-scenes content, player reactions, Reddit AMA participation, and meme-driven posts kept the conversation going throughout the week. By blending creative storytelling, strategic partnerships, and an always-on content strategy, the Chargers turned a league calendar moment into a viral cross-cultural campaign—delivering industry-leading engagement while driving real business impact.

Objective

The Chargers approached the 2025 schedule release as a major offseason marketing moment designed to reach new audiences, energize existing fans, and drive visibility for single-game ticket sales.

Our primary goals were to maximize organic engagement, expand beyond traditional NFL audiences, and create a highly shareable video capable of generating earned media across sports and mainstream outlets. Each year, our benchmark is simple: produce the #1 schedule release video in the NFL.

The campaign targeted multiple audiences simultaneously—including die-hard Chargers fans, general NFL viewers, and the global gaming community. By leveraging Minecraft, one of the most recognizable games in the world, we aimed to tap into gaming culture while layering in football and internet humor that core fans would appreciate.

Beyond engagement, the campaign was also designed to drive ticket sales, increase site traffic, and reinforce the Chargers’ broader brand strategy: creating culturally relevant content that expands the team’s fan pipeline and connects with audiences well beyond traditional sports media.

Strategy & Execution

While the schedule release video was the campaign’s centerpiece, the Chargers executed a phased social strategy to maximize attention before, during, and after launch. Pre-release content built anticipation through teasers and cultural references. One teaser featuring our opponents as Pop-Tarts, which we’ve executed for the past 4 years, generated 9.3M impressions, 1.59M engagements, and a 22.59% engagement rate—a 349% increase over the previous year. The social team also generated early buzz through interviews with outlets including Los Angeles Times.

The Minecraft-themed video required close collaboration with Microsoft to ensure proper licensing and compliance. The team also tapped into the Minecraft creator community by incorporating existing builds and mods, crediting creators in the final video.

Following the release, the campaign expanded with schedule graphics, primetime announcements, and ticket-focused posts sponsored by Ticketmaster. Post-launch engagement continued through behind-the-scenes content, player reactions, Reddit AMA participation, meme posts, and top internet reactions.

Organizations

• Los Angeles Chargers

• Microsoft

Credits

Jason Lavine
SVP of Brand Creative & Content
Los Angeles Chargers

Megan Julian
Vice President of Digital Marketing and Social Media
Los Angeles Chargers

Tyler Pino
Vice President of Production
Los Angeles Chargers

David Bretto
Director of Creative Video
Los Angeles Chargers

Allie Raymond
Director of Organic Social Media
Los Angeles Chargers

Brian Raab
Lead Editor of Features and Branded Content
Los Angeles Chargers

Luke Kohli
Lead Producer of Creative Video
Los Angeles Chargers

Hannah Johnson
Coordinator of Organic Social
Los Angeles Chargers

Bailey Pelletier
Producer of Creative Video
Los Angeles Chargers

Michael Gonzalez
Coordinator of Digital Media
Los Angeles Chargers

Benjamin Chairnoff
Producer/Editor of Features and Branded Content
Los Angeles Chargers

Will Hahn
Lead Cinematographer, Storytelling
Los Angeles Chargers

Jaemin Cho
Vertical Video Producer of Organic Social
Los Angeles Chargers