Every year, the Minnesota Vikings do something special when the schedule is released. Last year, fans got a great look at legendary defender John Randle introducing the upcoming games in a video and this year sees another purple and gold contributor getting the honor.
Only the NFL can manage excitement and innovation when it comes to something as standard as a schedule release. The league has been able to make major events out of routine things like free agency, the draft, schedule releases, and more over the years.
This year, the Vikings looked to one of the current players on their roster for inspiration and innovation when it comes to their upcoming schedule and it played out in a fantastic video shared to the team's social media accounts.
Vikings 2024 Schedule Release Video: T.J. Hockenson hosts an infomercial
Currently recovering from surgery following a torn ACL and MCL suffered against the Lions last season, starting tight end T.J. Hockenson channeled his inner Steve Jobs and gave a presentation similar to how Apple holds its events for a new product.
The next generation of #Vikings schedules is here!https://t.co/UeiFxRs60a pic.twitter.com/RTpkaEmlLF
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) May 16, 2024
The video centered around TCO Studios at Viking Lakes in Eagan, Minnesota shows quite a bit of fun imagery. Featuring fun cameos from Viktor the Viking and the "MV24 processor" that helps to power the upcoming schedule.
Of course, there are also some highlight clips added to give the video a little extra flair. Those clips have the "Voice of the Vikings" Paul Allen giving his familiar "Touchdown Vikings!" announcement that fans are hoping to hear a lot during the upcoming season.
The Vikings aren't the only team that does fun things for the schedule release. In fact, the Los Angeles Chargers shared the Pop-Tarts versions of their upcoming opponents and featured a pastry on a chain in the style of Kirk Cousins for when they face the Falcons. And they went even further by creating a Sims video game style video for their schedule release.
It must be difficult to try to draw excitement out of a schedule release, but the NFL is doing it right and having fun with it. Teams like the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Chargers have found fun ways to take this new information and present it in a way that is not only interesting but helps to build excitement for the upcoming games.
Hopefully the trend of schedule release videos doesn't end any time soon.