NFL’s Touchdown Platform: Boost Earned Media 2026

If you’re a sports marketing pro trying to land earned media in 2026, the NFL’s Touchdown Platform is the tool you need to master. It pulls your outreach, content, and performance tracking into one place, which changes how you work with sports media by giving them direct access to your assets and you direct access to their inboxes. Knowing how to use it is the difference between getting a few random hits and building a steady drumbeat of coverage. This is how you actually bake it into your day-to-day marketing.

Accessing the Touchdown Platform

First things first, you can’t just sign up. You need verified media credentials or, more likely for a marketing team, an existing partnership agreement with the league. Access usually comes through your brand’s contact in the NFL’s partnership division. Once they approve you, you’ll get a login for the NFL Media Portal, which is the hub for all their professional tools. Don’t waste your time looking for it on the public NFL.com site, that’s for fans, not for us.

Step 1: Log In and Navigate

1. Open your web browser and go to nflmedia.nfl.com.
2. Enter your provided Username and Password in the respective fields.
3. Click the “Sign In” button.
4. Once you’re in the dashboard, find the main navigation menu (it’s usually on the left or across the top).
5. Click on “Tools” or “Platform Suite”.
6. From the menu that appears, select “Touchdown Platform.” This will launch the actual platform interface, which looks different from the main portal.

Pro Tip: Once you’re in the Touchdown Platform, bookmark that specific URL. It saves you a few clicks every time you log in, which honestly adds up when you’re managing campaigns all year.

Configuring Your Brand Profile

Don’t even think about sending a pitch until your brand profile is 100% complete and correct. A journalist clicking through to find a missing logo or an old media contact number is a bad look. A complete, professional profile makes it easy for them to grab what they need and trust your content, which means your stories are more likely to get picked up without any back-and-forth.

Step 2: Establish Brand Identity

1. Inside the Touchdown Platform, find “Settings” in the main menu.
2. Choose “Brand Identity” from the options.
3. Go to the “Brand Logo” area. Click “Upload New Logo” and get your high-res logo in there (a PNG or JPEG at 1920×1080 with a transparent background is best).
4. Fill out the “Company Information” fields with your official brand name, address, and main phone number.
5. Scroll to the “Media Contact” section. This is important. Put in the name, title, email, and direct phone number for your main PR contact. This is who journalists will call.
6. Write a short “Brand Description” (250 words max) that explains who you are and why you’re connected to the NFL. This is what shows up on your media kit within the platform, so make it good.
7. Click “Save Changes” to lock it all in.

Common Mistake: Using old contact info. I can’t tell you how many times a huge opportunity died because a reporter’s email went to someone who left the company six months ago. You have to update this the second someone on your comms team leaves. The platform might catch a dead email address, but it has no idea that Jane moved to a different department, so her inbox is a black hole for your pitches.

Populating the Content Hub

The Content Hub is your central library for everything a journalist might need: press releases, high-res photos, video B-roll, and fact sheets. When a reporter is on a deadline, they’re not going to wait for you to answer an email. They’ll grab assets from a well-organized hub first because it’s faster. It’s basically your digital press kit, but live and searchable.

Step 3: Upload and Categorize Assets

1. From the main menu, click on “Content Hub.”
2. Find the “Upload New Asset” button, which is usually in the top-right.
3. Pick the asset type: “Press Release,” “Image,” “Video,” “Fact Sheet,” or “Other Document.”
4. For visuals like images and videos, just drag your files onto the upload area or click “Browse Files.” Make sure your images are at least 300 DPI and videos are in a standard format like MP4 or MOV.
5. Give every asset a clear “Title” (e.g., “Team X Partnership Announcement – High-Res Logo”). Don’t be lazy here.
6. Add relevant “Keywords” or “Tags” (e.g., “NFL,” “Super Bowl LXI,” “Player Name,” “Brand Name,” “Partnership”). This is how journalists will find your stuff when they search.
7. Write a quick “Description” (100-150 words) to give context. For a photo, you could include photo credits or usage notes.
8. Use the checkboxes to put the asset into “Categories” like “Sponsorships” or “Product Launches.”
9. Set the “Release Date” and, if you have one, an “Embargo Date.” The system will keep it locked down until the embargo lifts.
10. Click “Publish Asset” to make it live for approved media.

Expected Outcome: You’ll have a single, searchable place for all your brand’s media assets. Reporters on deadline love this because they can find and download broadcast-quality files themselves without having to wait for you to email them back.

Targeting Media Outlets and Journalists

The Media Relations module is way more powerful than your average media database. You’re not just filtering by publication. You can drill down to a reporter’s specific beat, search their past articles for keywords, and find their preferred contact methods. When you can get that specific, you’re not just blasting a generic list, you’re targeting the few people who are actually likely to write about your story, and your response rates will show it.

Step 4: Crafting Your Outreach List

1. Go to the “Media Relations” module.
2. Click “Create New List” or “Manage Contacts.”
3. Use the search and filter panel on the left. Start layering filters like:
   • “Beat Focus”: Pick things like “Sports Business,” “NFL,” or “Marketing.”
   • “Publication Type”: Narrow it down to “National News,” “Industry Trade,” “Local Market (e.g., Atlanta Journal-Constitution),” or even “Online Blog.”
   • “Geographic Region”: You can target a whole country like the “United States” or get as specific as a metro area like “Atlanta.”
   • “Past Coverage Keywords”: This one is gold. Search for terms like “NFL sponsorship” to find reporters who have already written about your topic.
4. As the list of journalists populates, click on their profiles to check their recent articles and contact info.
5. Click the “+” icon next to a name to add them to your outreach list.
6. When you’re done, click “Save List” and give it a name you’ll remember (e.g., “Super Bowl LXI Tech Media”).

Editorial Aside: Don’t just build a list and hit send. Take five minutes. Skim the last couple articles of each person on your list. A truly relevant pitch to five reporters will always beat a generic blast to 50. They know when they’re part of a mass email, and it’s a quick way to get your domain blacklisted. It’s a powerful platform, but you still have to do the work.

Distributing Press Releases and Pitches

Once your content is uploaded and your list is built, it’s time to send. The Touchdown Platform has its own email distribution system that handles formatting and delivery, which is great. It also gives you immediate feedback with open and click-through rates, so you know right away if your subject line was a dud.

Step 5: Sending Your Communication

1. Go to the “Media Relations” module and pick the list you just made.
2. Click “Compose New Email” or “Send Press Release.”
3. Select the main press release or asset you want to send from your Content Hub. The platform will automatically drop a nicely formatted version into the email body, saving you a ton of time.
4. Write a great “Subject Line.” This is everything. Make it clear and interesting (e.g., “NFL Partner Unveils Fan Engagement AI for 2026 Season”).
5. Use the platform’s personalization tags, like [Journalist_First_Name], to make the opening feel less robotic.
6. Add a short, 2-3 sentence personal note at the top, explaining why you thought *they* specifically would be interested in this story.
7. Attach any extra files that aren’t in the main press release, like a sheet of executive quotes.
8. Always, always click “Send Test Email” to yourself first to check for typos and broken links.
9. When it looks good, click “Send Now” or schedule it for a better time.

Pro Tip: Timing matters. I send most of my pitches between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM Eastern. That’s when journalists are planning their day. And unless it’s huge breaking news, never send a pitch on a Friday afternoon. Data from a HubSpot report on email marketing trends backs this up, showing that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday get the best engagement for professional emails.

Monitoring Performance and Analytics

Pitching is just the first step. The analytics dashboard is where you prove your work has value. You need to track who’s opening your emails, what assets they’re downloading, and where your brand is actually getting mentioned. This is the data that lets you go back to your boss, show the ROI, and make smarter decisions for the next campaign instead of just guessing.

Step 6: Analyzing Campaign Effectiveness

1. Go to the “Analytics Dashboard” in the main menu.
2. Pick the campaign you want to check on or set a custom time period.
3. Look at the “Email Performance” section. Key metrics are:
   • Open Rate: Who actually opened your email.
   • Click-Through Rate (CTR): Who clicked a link. This is more important than the open rate.
   • Bounce Rate: How many of your contacts are out of date.
4. Check the “Content Hub Downloads” report. It will show you exactly which images or videos the media found most useful.
5. Scroll to the “Media Mentions” section. This is an AI-powered feed that scrapes the web for articles and posts that mention your brand or keywords.
6. You can click on a mention to see the article, its sentiment (positive, neutral, negative), and how many people it likely reached.
7. Click “Export Data” to get all this into a CSV or PDF you can use for your own reports.

Expected Outcome: You’ll know exactly what you got from your campaign. You’ll see which reporters are paying attention, what kind of content they like, and the overall tone of your coverage. Use this feedback to stop guessing and start making smarter choices about your next campaign.

When you use it right, the NFL’s Touchdown Platform stops you from just guessing at what works in earned media and turns it into a measurable part of your marketing plan. The combination of sharp targeting, easy distribution, and real analytics means you can get your brand seen by the right people and build a real reputation in a very crowded sports market.