Marshawn Lynch Joins Live to Talk Charity, Football
On a very special episode of Digital Trends Live, DT’s live morning show, host Greg Nibler was joined by Marshawn Lynch, running back for the Oakland Raiders (and formerly the Seattle Seahawks, with whom he won the Super Bowl in 2013). Over the course of a freewheeling discussion, they talked about Lynch’s charitable foundation, Fam1st Family Foundation, his mobile network Beast Mobile, and a new football league where fans control the teams.
The Fam1st Family Foundation is a charitable organization that Lynch founded along with fellow NFL players Josh Johnson and Marcus Peters. They launched Fam1st in Oakland, but Lynch says “To be honest with you, it started in Oakland, but everywhere I went, it traveled with me.”
The organization’s goal is to help disenfranchised youth in the Oakland area.
“For people that grew up the way I grew up, and/or worse, it gave them an opportunity to go ahead experience some of the finer things in life,” Lynch explains, “which is being able to attend a football camp that you didn’t have to pay for. Most of the [stuff], when I was growing up, you had to pay for all of that.”
In addition, Beast Mobile, the mobile network that he owns a stake in, is working with Fam1st on the Phones for the Homeless initiative, which is working to provide smartphones and three months of service to homeless people on the West Coast. If you want to donate to Phones for the Homeless, follow the link below.
Donate now
Finally, Lynch talked about the Fan Controlled Football League (FCFL), a new sports league that enables fans to directly participate in the management of teams, whose games are streamed on Twitch. It’s essentially Twitch Plays Pokemon, except instead of a video game, viewers will be managing actual, flesh-and-blood people. Fan purchase fan tokens, which are recorded on — you guessed it — a blockchain to ensure transparency and security, and fans can spend these tokens to vote on decisions regarding roster moves and even in-game play calls. Given how many football fans still grumble about the Seahawks’ decision not to run the ball in Super Bowl 49, this is a chance for them to prove their own coaching skills.
Digital Trends Live airs Monday through Friday at 9 a.m. PT, with highlights available on demand after the stream ends. For more information, check out the DT Live homepage, and be sure to watch live for the chance to win occasional prizes.
