Why NFL star receiver Tyreek Hill is retiring to launch an esports business

Tyreek Hill is a Super Bowl champion, has played in the Pro Bowl seven times, and was named to the NFL’s 2010s All-Decade Team. But the 29-year old’s passions these days are leaning more towards esports than traditional ones.

Hill, who’s currently a wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins, has announced his plans to retire from the NFL when his contract runs out at the end of the 2025 season. Even more shocking for fans, though, is what he says he plans to do next: video games. Or, more specifically, he wants to launch an esports franchise. 

“So I really want to get into, like, the gaming space,” Hill told Sports Radio 810 in Kansas City, Missouri, on Wednesday. “I really want to get huge in that, and that’s kind of what I’m doing right now. I’m using my platform, creating a gaming team, which isn’t launched yet. It should launch by the end of this month. I’m going to just sign, like, different content creators, different athletes. I just been working that, talking to different sponsors.”

Hill is already honing those gaming skills. For the past month, he has been streaming on Twitch as he plays Fortnite (and he’s a decent player).

To some, the switch to gaming might appear to be a pretty drastic career change, but Hill has been a full-throated gaming fan for some time now.

“Gaming is a part of who I am,” he told Soul Runner Gaming earlier this year. “I’ve been gaming ever since I was a kid. I try to make it a part of what I do, and I try to fit it inside of my schedule. So, during the week, I stream Mondays and Tuesdays, but if it’s a bye week, I’m playing every day.”

Beyond his Twitch time, Hill also has a podcast and a YouTube channel with over 930,000 subscribers that features everything from game streams to workout videos to pranks.

Hill’s hardly the only person who wants to make a living streaming video games and being a content creator. Ironically, children growing up today are more interested in being influencers than sports icons. A Harris Poll study of 3,000 kids found that 30% ranked being a YouTuber as their top career dream, higher than athletes, astronauts, and musicians. 

Hill may face some challenges in esports. Viewership of game streams has been on the decline for the past few years. Streamlabs’ Q3 2022 Live Streaming Report (the most recent one available) shows viewership across all platforms is down 19% compared to the year prior, and was down slightly from the previous quarter. Even FaZe Clan, which was once the pinnacle of esports companies, is facing a possible delisting these days. 

Hill is a legend in the NFL. He was traded to the Dolphins last March, signing a four-year, $120 million extension that made him the highest-paid receiver in the NFL. Before his move to the Sunshine State, Hill was a dominant player with the Kansas City Chiefs, helping the team reach the Super Bowl in 2019 and 2020. 

That said, his time in the NFL has not been without controversy. In 2019, the Chiefs suspended Hill after he was named in an child abuse investigation, which included audio. Three months later, the NFL announced it could not conclude Hill had violated the league’s personal conduct policy, so the suspension was lifted. (Hill had steadfastly denied any charges of abusing his son.)

Prior to his joining the Chiefs, Hill was charged with domestic violence, receiving a three-year probationary sentence after punching and choking his then-eight-week-pregnant girlfriend in December of 2014. Fans initially protested the Chiefs’ decision to draft him.