NFL schedule release videos have become the Super Bowl for team social media departments as every team pulls out all the stops with animated specials, celebrity cameos, comedy skits, and so much more. But for the Indianapolis Colts, their schedule release video wasn’t quite ready for primetime.
The Colts’ original schedule release video was a Minecraft parody. However, after just a short time online, the video was deleted from the team’s social media account. It was downloaded and then shared elsewhere, though, so you can see what was in the original version.
That’s fine, I downloaded the Minecraft schedule release for the Colts 🤷🏾♂️. pic.twitter.com/JJdSPkJIKN
— CLew 🏈🏀⚾️🥊 (@droppedballspod) May 15, 2025
The Colts then shared artwork parodies in a thread of tweets for their schedule announcement.
really good schedule art
(a 🧵 by @nba_paint)
—
week 1 vs. dolphins pic.twitter.com/Y0LCq6ry7w— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) May 15, 2025
So why did the Indianapolis Colts delete their Minecraft inspired video? Well, there are a few theories…
First, the video features a parody of Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill as a literal dolphin being arrested by the Coast Guard, playing into some of his legal troubles. While schedule release videos often contain clever jabs, maybe this hit too close to home.
Second, the Los Angeles Chargers also released a Minecraft parody for their schedule release video. And frankly, it was just way better. The Chargers have continually produced the best, funniest, and most original videos and it could be reasoned that the Colts just folded because their version is of lower quality.
Third, and most likely though, is the fact that the Chargers video had a disclaimer of permission from Microsoft to use Minecraft content while the Colts video did not.
Usually it’s the NFL trying to dish out the copyright infringement, but it’s very likely that once the Colts realized that they didn’t have a partnership with Microsoft like the Chargers did that they decided to play it safe and pull the video. And maybe next year, all the social media departments in the NFL should get together so that two teams don’t show up to the 2026 schedule release party in the same outfit.
UPDATE: The Colts have released a statement citing both the Microsoft issue and the Tyreek Hill clip as their reasons for pulling the video.
Statement from the Colts: “We removed our schedule release video because it exceeded our rights with Microsoft and included an insensitive clip involving Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill. We sincerely apologize to Microsoft and Tyreek.”
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) May 15, 2025
About Matt Yoder