The Cycling GK has revived YouTube
September 28, 2020 — Veteran Premier League goalkeeper Ben Foster posts a video showing all the necessary pre-season tests that he and his professional teammates go through. These consist of body fat, heart, concussion, reflex, vision, bone density, and fitness tests. Little did anyone know that this video would turn into a regularly posting YouTube channel that many believe to be the future of sports communications.
Since then he has amassed almost a million followers on YouTube as well as 339,000 and 217,000 followers on his personal and channel Instagram pages respectively, started a podcast that has reached the top 20 overall in the UK on Spotify, influenced the captain of the Nigerian national team to make a YouTube channel, and posted high-quality videos regularly throughout the Championship and Premier League season.
Foster is by no means the first person to show behind-the-scenes operations at a professional sports organization, but he is one of the first professional athletes employed by a sports organization to do so.
The Watford FC goalkeeper began making videos during the 2020–21 Championship season (England’s second division). Within a matter of days, he had accrued just over 100,000 followers on YouTube after he promised viewers more content in the coming weeks.
According to a YouTube analytics site, as of November 25, 2021, Foster has posted 122 total videos on his channel, averaged approximately 525,000 views, and raked in about 59 million total views. He also still actively gains an average of 7,000 subscribers every day.
The Impact
Why does a soon-to-be-retired athlete vlogging matter in the grand scheme of things? It’s a sign of changing times as the societal gap between professional athletes and fans is getting smaller and smaller.
Social media bridged the gap drastically when it was first introduced — with fans able to follow athletes’ pages and see photos and posts they’ve made as well as direct messaging them in the hopes they’ll get a response.
Bridging the Gap
A pioneer of athletes adopting technology, basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal was one of the first superstars to circumvent the traditional press conference means of announcing one’s retirement (the first being former MLB star Curt Schilling announcing his retirement on his personal blog).
On June 1, 2011 Shaq announced his retirement with a Twitter post and video using the hashtag #ShaqRetires.
The retirement announcement was shocking at the time but was a sign of things to come. Despite the initial novelty of the Twitter post, it wasn’t even the first time breaking Shaw news was shared on the social media platform.
A few years earlier, news of Shaq being traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Cleveland Cavaliers was Tweeted out by Suns teammate Jared Dudley.
“I announced my retirement on Twitter because I have friends all over [and] I didn’t want to disappoint anyone,” Shaq told The Athletic’s Armen Keteyian. “Let me do it now before people start speculating. How can I do it so everybody gets it at the same time? Aha! Twitter.”
Since the late 2000s athletes have been growing their brands online and many even create an online presence that strays away from the sport they play.
Professional Athletes or YouTubers?
With Foster and other athletes starting YouTube channels, fans can now see the interworkings of sports franchises — something that was rarely possible in the past.
Other notable professional athletes that have started YouTube channels include Watford and Nigerian captain Will Troost-Ekong, English Olympians Tom Daley and Mo Farah, and NBA stars JaVale McGee and Matisse Thybulle.
Alongside Foster’s channel, Thybulle is a prime example of how athletes’ social media use can grow an individual brand and can act as a marketing tool for larger corporations.
Unlike Foster, Thybulle does not vlog on a regular basis throughout the year. Instead, he releases a few videos surrounding a theme, akin to a television show having several seasons. He has offered behind-the-scenes insights about three themes so far: the 2020 NBA Bubble, the 2020 off-season, and the road to the Tokyo Olympics.
Thybulle’s nine videos about the first theme, the NBA Bubble, raked in just under 10 million views combined and averaged around 1.1 million views per video. The 76ers guard/forward took advantage of the strict settings of the Bubble to build an audience. Because the Bubble was a locked-down campus in Orlando strictly for NBA players, very little media and no fans were permitted inside it.
The then-rookie filmed what he and his teammates were up to and posted videos to his YouTube channel. The success was immediate, and at the end of the Bubble, Thybulle teamed up with the NBA to create and narrate a video recapping the entire experience.
Criticisms
As is the case with every athlete, criticism from the media and fans is to be expected.
Recently, Foster’s team lost 5–0 to Premier League giants Liverpool. Despite the loss, Foster had his GoPro out at the end of the game and was filming his outro. While the fans were all out of the stadium, some people were critical of the goalkeeper’s decision to still film himself after he personally conceded five goals.
Foster never commented on the circulating concerns regarding his focus and reliability— though his manager Claudio Ranieri insists he’s been nothing but professional.
“I don’t know because Ben, in training sessions, on the pitch, and during the match is always concentrating,” Ranieri said regarding whether Foster was spending too much time on his social media channel.
Twitter user @SuperGaryCahill commented on Sky Sports’ video of Ranieri defending his player saying, “Journos and media making up this narrative that he needs to focus on football because they’re seething that he’s taking their views and producing better content.”
Should more players offer this insight? Is Foster’s content better than that of traditional journalists and media?
@SuperGaryCahill’s Twitter response was an appropriate judgement that was supported by the Director of Sports Journalism and Communications and lecturer in the CJC at the University of Florida, Eric Esterline.
“Journalists are already threatened by lack of access with sports teams/organizations controlling content and this exacerbates that,” explained Esterline.
He outlined the positives of athletes creating their own content and believes it can offer fans a different side of an athlete as well as help an athlete grow their brand and become more comfortable being on camera.
“It is not for everyone,” he said. “But if an athlete is comfortable and has good/original ideas for content, why not? Should help their brand and grow opportunity for revenue generation.”
Is this the future of sports media?
In an era when the gap between professional athletes and fans is shrinking, is the future of sports media a two-way communication model in which athletes share news directly to fans who can then respond and engage in dialogue with said athletes?
While YouTube is by no means struggling to stay relevant and Foster’s channel isn't actually saving the platform, it’s certainly offering a unique spin on traditional vlogs and sports content. His status as a professional footballer partnered with his talent for and willingness to use YouTube to create meaningful content makes him an anomaly.
In each of the aforementioned athletes’ videos, their teammates and peers are receptive to being on camera and in the majority of cases, are engaging and interactive with the person filming.
With the recent changes to the NCAA’s name, image, and likeness rule collegiate athletes across the United States are now able to accept sponsorships and make money from their own personal brand. The number of athletes vlogging and creating a marketable presence for themselves online will only grow in this country with the new NIL rule changes.
The professional athletes of the future are currently children and teenagers watching YouTube. They may already be planning the type of videos they’ll make when they themselves are in the same position as Foster and co.
