The NFL preseason has been underway since August 6 and the regular season kicks off September 9 when the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks host the New England Patriots at Lumen Field in a rematch of Super Bowl LX. College football’s Week 0 starts August 29, with Week 1 arriving September 3 through Labor Day weekend. Within the span of about two weeks, the sports calendar shifts completely, and for anyone working in sports PR, that shift requires being ready before it arrives rather than catching up after it does.
I will be honest that I say all of this as an Eagles fan who is personally very invested in how September goes, but professionally the point stands regardless of which team you are pulling for. Football season is one of the most consuming stretch of the sports calendar for the communications industry, and the work that positions clients well during it happens now.
The thing about football season is that it compresses attention in a way that few other sports moments do. The NFL commands the largest sports media footprint in the country, and college football is not far behind. When both are running simultaneously, as they will be starting in two weeks, the competition for coverage becomes significantly more intense across every platform. Stories that would have had more room to breathe in July are now competing with training camp updates, injury reports, roster decisions, and the kind of game-week coverage cycle that repeats itself every single week without pause from September through January.
For clients in or adjacent to football, this is the most important planning window of the year. The feature stories and long-lead opportunities that need to be in motion now are the ones that will land during the season when the context is right and the audience is paying attention. A monthly publication with an October issue is already past its editorial deadline. A journalist building a season-preview story has probably already done most of their reporting. The groundwork for the most visible placements of the fall has to be laid right now, in the last few weeks before the calendar takes over.
For clients outside of football, the calculus is different but equally important. Understanding how football season affects the broader media landscape is part of managing any client’s communications strategy in the fall. The outlets covering sports business, athlete lifestyle, and brand partnerships are still running, but their editors and reporters are operating in an environment where football is pulling significant attention. Knowing which stories still cut through in that environment and how to position them is the kind of thing that separates a well-timed fall campaign from one that gets lost in the noise.
There is also an opportunity in the season itself for clients who have a genuine connection to football, whether that is through a player, a partnership, a brand activation, or a community program. The audience that football brings is enormous and highly engaged, and the brands and clients that earn placement within that conversation during the season benefit from a level of visibility that is hard to replicate at other points in the year. Identifying where those connections exist authentically and building toward them now is part of the work of this particular moment.
College football adds its own layer to all of this. The 2026 season features another year of conference realignment adjustments, the third season of the 12-team College Football Playoff format, and the usual wave of storylines around freshman breakouts, Heisman candidates, NIL, and programs with something to prove. For anyone managing college athletes, coaches, or programs, the communications calendar from now through January is one of the busiest of the year and it rewards the clients who came into it with a clear plan.
Football season does not wait for anyone to get ready. It starts, it takes over, and it moves at a pace that requires having done the preparation before the first whistle blows. We are in the window right now where that preparation still has time to matter.
You can also read this issue and subscribe to Built in Public on LinkedIn: Built in Public
Built in Public is a newsletter where Amani Marie documents her growth as a young sports public relations professional in real time. It focuses on what she is learning, what she is observing across the industry, and the people and work that stand out.
Some issues will examine moments in sports and how they are communicated. Others will reflect on career development, access, and what it takes to build in this space over time.
This is intended to be a space for learning, sharing perspective, and tracking progress along the way.
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