NFL Mascots Join Forces with American Heart Association to Promote Youth Physical Activity

The National Football League has launched a new initiative featuring six team mascots as inaugural NFL PLAY 60 Ambassadors to combat sedentary behaviors among children. This program expansion represents a significant development in the 19-year partnership between the NFL and the American Heart Association, focusing on getting children physically active for at least 60 minutes daily. The mascot ambassador program adds recognizable characters from communities nationwide to bring a game-day atmosphere to health promotion efforts.

Rooted in the American Heart Association's physical activity guidelines, NFL PLAY 60 supports evidence-based research showing that active students learn better, focus more, think more clearly, and perform better in classroom settings. Nancy Brown, chief executive officer of the American Heart Association, emphasized that collaborating with NFL mascots brings scientific guidelines to life in an engaging way that helps children develop healthy habits for reaching their full potential. The program works alongside the Association's school programs including Kids Heart Challenge and American Heart Challenge to provide comprehensive resources for physical activity both at school and at home.

The 2025 season NFL PLAY 60 mascot ambassadors include Freddie Falcon from the Atlanta Falcons, Gumbo from the New Orleans Saints, Rampage from the Los Angeles Rams, Rowdy from the Dallas Cowboys, Sir Purr from the Carolina Panthers, and T-Rac from the Tennessee Titans. These ambassadors will encourage children throughout the school year with exercise ideas, promote healthy habit choices, and build excitement through team spirit. The program also includes educational components such as Hands-Only CPR instruction, with Damar Hamlin, Buffalo Bills safety and cardiac arrest survivor, featuring in an introductory video for the CPR training component.

Students who complete the Hands-Only CPR instruction through Finn's Mission will receive entries for a chance to win two tickets to Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Additionally, five participating schools will receive $10,000 fitness equipment makeovers. Parents and school administrators can access program information through the American Heart Association's school resources portal at https://heart.org/schools. The NFL PLAY 60 mascot ambassadors are also featured in the NFL PLAY 60 Exercise Library at https://www.nfl.com/play60/exercises, which contains two-to-three minute on-demand exercise videos from all 32 NFL clubs.

Every student participating in Kids Heart Challenge can access the NFL PLAY 60 Family Challenge, encouraging families to prioritize wellness together through creative movement activities. The exercise videos serve as valuable resources for parents, teachers, and caregivers during inclement weather, classroom refocusing breaks, or daily fitness intervals. Comprehensive information about NFL PLAY 60 resources remains available online at https://heart.org/NFLPLAY60, providing ongoing support for the initiative's goal of helping children accumulate 60 minutes of daily movement.