5G Stadium
Open the game- Brand
- Verizon
- Year
- 2021
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- In-Game
Objective
Pandemic restrictions meant Super Bowl LV would be the least-attended in NFL history, and Verizon — the league's official 5G partner — wanted to give fans a way to feel present at the game without gathering them in one place. The campaign doubled as a real-world demo of 5G Ultra Wideband's speed and low latency at a massive online event, and a way to reach young gamers directly instead of through TV spots.
Solution
Players open Fortnite and drop onto an island built as a Fortnite-style replica of Raymond James Stadium, its silhouette recognizable from outside. Inside, they walk through a 50-person lobby, locker rooms, and suites before heading out to a reworked field lined with waterfalls, a sideline beach, and a pirate ship hanging over midfield. From that hub, players can warp into five other versions of the stadium, each centered on its own minigame — a hoverboard race, a tag-style chase, and other football-inspired challenges. A session simply ends when the player leaves the island, and during Super Bowl week NFL players and Twitch streamers ran their own live matches across the same map.
Results
More than 40 million visits to the island between February 1–9, 2021, the window it served as Fortnite Creative's official hub; 3 million viewers watched the Twitch broadcasts of NFL players and creators playing on the stadium; and the campaign drew 3.6 billion impressions overall, making Verizon the most-talked-about brand on Twitter during the Super Bowl.
- 1
The game launches as an official island inside Fortnite's Creative Hub during Super Bowl week (February 1–9, 2021), offered to all players on entry rather than requiring a code search.
- 2
Players load in outside a stadium modeled as a recognizable replica of Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, host of Super Bowl LV.
- 3
Inside, a shared lobby holds up to 50 players at once and functions as a social hub where NFL player avatars, such as DeAndre Hopkins and JuJu Smith-Schuster, appear in scheduled slots for players to approach and interact with.
- 4
Players can wander through behind-the-scenes areas of the stadium not normally seen by fans, including locker rooms, VIP suites, and a merch shop, each rebuilt as its own zone.
- 5
On the field, the setting shifts from a straight stadium simulation to a Fortnite-styled environment, with waterfalls pouring from the stands, a beach along the sideline, palm trees, rock formations, and a pirate ship suspended over midfield.
- 6
From the hub, players branch into five additional versions of the same stadium, each reskinned into a separate football-themed game, including a hoverboard race around the stadium and a last-player-standing obstacle course (deathrun), plus hidden extras players can find by exploring.
- 7
Non-players can follow along as spectators: on February 2 and 5, 2021, live broadcasts on Twitch and the @Verizon account showed NFL players and Fortnite streamers competing on the island, hosted by Desus Nice and The Kid Mero.
