The Men in Blazers Media Network, the largest and most successful independent soccer-focused media company in North America, today announced another expansion of their platform, “The American Football Awards.” This new award will honor the Premier League footballer deemed to have had the best season in 2022-23 as voted on by the surging audience of American fans. The accompanying “American American Player of the Year” is handed out to the best American player in English Football. The first awards show will be seen on NBC this coming Sunday following the Premier League Finals and will be hosted by Robbie Earle, Rebecca Lowe, and Men In Blazers’ Roger Bennett. The winners will be announced and both will give their acceptance speeches on the show, directly addressing the American Premier League audience.
“For decades, the United States has seemed like the Final Frontier for Football, like Space was for Captain Kirk,” said Men in Blazers Co-Founder Roger Bennett. “Over the last decade, that has changed. The sport is surging. The audience is passionate and knowledgeable, and this award is both a reflection of their surging interest, and how seriously the Premier League teams and players take our fanbase. It is our hope this award will become the Ballon D’or for a U.S. audience, and are thrilled to partner with NBC Sports who have been such a driver of the growth of football in this nation as we continue to champion the growth of the sport in the U.S. on every level to the biggest audience possible.”
The finalists and winners were selected by thousands of fans across the nation. MiB will also debut the women’s “American Football Awards” this fall after the World Cup and conclusion of the NWSL season, with a unified, platform coming in 2024.
The “American Football Awards” continues Men in Blazers expansion as a leading pop culture, sports and entertainment platform. In March, MIB significantly added to its content lineup with talent and shows that now include: “Here We Go” with Fabrizio Romano, “The Road to the Cup” with Becky Sauerbrunn, “VAMOS” with Herculez Gomez, and “Men in Blazers Live and Dangerous” with Sam Mewis on Twitch leading the Women’s World Cup 2026 programming, in addition to the widely followed and successful original MiB content.
What started as a weekly TV Show (now in its 9th Season with NBC Sports) and Podcast has become a 24/7 flourishing multi-voiced, digital integrated media network serving every aspect of global football – both men’s and women’s – with a full slate of programming and talent across a variety of channels including a co-production partnership with Twitch.
All of this comes ahead of what will be an even bigger window of exposure for football interest and growth in the U.S., with the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the 2024 Copa America and the 2026 World Cup also held in North America and the continued interest in both the business and consumer engagement with MLS, the NWSL, US Soccer, and other emerging properties. Men in Blazers partnered with Twitch prior to the 2022 Men’s World Cup, executing a strategy that fused “sidecasting” games live with celebrity guests by day, live “theater shows” by night, all streamed LIVE on Twitch, combined with a daily cascade of podcasts. The format nominated for Sports Emmy, had a total of 6M unique viewers across the 44+ hours of live streams throughout the tournament.
The content was amplified, cross-platform on social to create a 24/7 narrative accompaniment and drove unprecedented numbers for Men in Blazers and partners — reaching #4 across all Sports podcasts in the USA throughout the time-period.