NFL's Memo on Team Schedule Memes, Videos Revealed Ahead of 2026 Releases

Thursday marks the Super Bowl for all 32 NFL teams' social media departments with the release of the 2026 regular-season schedule, particularly as bespoke memes and videos have become a staple of the reveal.

Per The Athletic's Jayna Bardahl, in a league memo distributed to all of the clubs, the NFL tends to take a "fairly hands-off" approach in how teams go about posting on social media for the schedule release.

Ian Trombetta, NFL senior vice president of global social, creator and content marketing, told Bardahl the items that are created tend to be driven by the teams and aimed specifically toward their fans, with the league using its power to amplify them to a wider audience.

"This is a club-driven moment with their cities and their fans," Trombetta said. "And then we as a league look to amplify all of that and then obviously push out to ensure that we reach the most people possible through our social channels, which are, in most cases, much larger than a single club."

Despite a few instances of a team taking down their release video due to insensitive content, Trombetta did praise the clubs for doing a "fantastic job" overall and that the league will "advise" them to avoid going too far:

"You'll see that happen where they really ramp it up when they're announcing Team X is playing Team Y in a division game. And that's OK. That goes back and forth in terms of how they banter with the fanbase. It's really the personal stuff that we try to, A, advise, just kind of keep it clean in that sense. And then B, if there really is a big issue, then we'll look at the real-time analytics of what's happening and respond to that along with the club. But that's happened very few times."

As far as the development timeline on the videos goes, Bardahl noted "many teams" indicate they begin brainstorming ideas as soon as the previous season ends and then have a quick turnaround time to piece them all together since the NFL "typically" gives the full schedule to clubs 24 to 48 hours before the official release.

"That part's probably the most difficult and the most fast," Chargers senior director of digital and social media Megan Julian told Bardahl. "You have all the pieces, it's just like this puzzle that you have to put together in a sprint to the finish line."

The Chargers have become the gold standard for schedule-release videos, both in terms of creativity and all of the easter eggs their crew will include for eagle-eyed viewers.

Fans will get to see what the Chargers, as well as the 31 other teams, have cooked up for 2026 on Thursday when the full schedule drops at 8 p.m. ET.