The game has changed quickly.
It was the summer of 2018, days before France kicked off their World Cup-winning campaign that Antoine Griezmann laid out his plans for the big reveal.
‘The Decision’, he teased, would come at the end of a half-hour documentary broadcast on Spanish TV. Barcelona thought they had him, as did most fans when Gerard Pique – whose company produced the show – tweeted a popcorn emoji.
At the end of the documentary, however, Griezmann stood in front of the Metropolitano and revealed he was staying at Atletico Madrid in one of two different endings reportedly filmed to keep the decision secret.
The self-confessed NBA fanatic – inspired by LeBron James’ live show by the same name in 2010, when the basketball star joined the Miami Heat – was attempting to own his narrative. Instead he, and Pique, caught some criticism.
Kyle says that “self-commercialisation” did not have the impact it would have done now if it was Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe.
Griezmann was almost before his time. Many prominent players now share regular updates from their lives on their own YouTube channels – from Haaland, to Ronaldo, Jude Bellingham and Lionesses’ star Ella Toone.
“Players are becoming their own distribution levers, with some in particular taking a driving seat in terms of ‘how I project myself onto the world’ and building their own channels and audience,” explains Kyle.
Now, in many cases, the players do own the narrative and fans are increasingly able to invest in their journeys, which are more accessible than ever.
“Players are far more culturally symbolic than they used to be,” says Kirkham. “It is not that players don’t do endorsements now, but they know they have to resonate with fans, so fans can really latch on to them and get behind them.
“Look at what Marcus Rashford did during Covid in terms of changing actual legislation.
“Young fans want to know players stand for something more – that gives them more chance to follow and pursue them, find a deeper connection with them.
“They look for stuff that is aligned to them, who they are, their causes and where they’re from. I think we will increasingly see that.”
