Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN/WGR 550) - For some enthusiastic football fans, it may be a goal to one day visit all 30 National Football League stadiums before their time on this Earth expires. Whether it's going to see a game or just visit during the offseason, it may take many people several years to accomplish such a feat.
For one NFL YouTuber and content creator, that goal is being taken to a whole nother level.
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Green Bay Packers superfan and host of the sports podcast "Packast", Tom Grossi is on a mission to journey across the country to visit all 30 NFL stadiums in just 30 days time, with the goal of raising $100,000 to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. His "30-in-30" tour opened earlier this week Tuesday in Green Bay, Wisconsin and will conclude on June 28 in Inglewood, California at SoFi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Chargers and Rams.
"This was an idea that I had back in February, where all the best ideas happen: In the shower," said Grossi in an interview with WBEN. "There was an idea that I've had for doing short videos and showing up as different characters in front of some stadiums. That's kind of been back of the mind for a couple of years, and it kind of just hit me: 'What if I do all of them? And what if I do them all in 30 days?' I had the idea, but then actually trying to execute the idea is a very different beast."
Grossi says he spent two months planning the journey and planning the logistics of such a venture to visit all 30 stadiums and the people of those communities.
"What winds up happening is I pitched the NFL, they really liked the idea, they wound up helping me get a team to get on board just for a stadium tour, which I'm really happy and thankful for," Grossi said.
As of Thursday morning, Grossi had already raised more than $51,000 for St. Jude, and he says the momentum behind the initiative has been mind-blown and humbling.
Grossi has worked to raise money for several charities over his eight years creating content on YouTube, raising about $102,000 just last year alone for various organizations. Working with St. Jude has been something Grossi has wanted to do for quite some time, but it needed to take the right kind of event to make it work.
"Anytime that I do charitable endeavors, I really look into the charities to make sure the majority of money isn't going to marketing or anything like that. It's being spent on the cause they're promoting. And like any charity, St. Jude does do that, and they are one of the bigger charities," Grossi explained.
"The first big fundraising stream that I did back in 2021, it was an eight-hour stream that I just had an idea for to do for charity was for another organization called the Sunshine Kids Foundation. Similar to St. Jude, they work with families of children who are diagnosed with cancer or serious illness. They provide activities for children completely free of cost to the families, and kind of just try to return some normalcy back to their lives. And with St. Jude, I've always kind of had this envision of if I was to try and promote them and try to raise money for them, I wanted it to be a big event. And this truly is the biggest thing that I have ever done. Not just in terms of scope, but just in terms of trying to do it, because the logistics are so crazy. And I thought St. Jude would be a perfect organization for that."
As it turns out, Grossi's endeavors with his "30-in-30" tour caught the attention of Del Reid, founder of the Buffalo-based company 26 Shirts. That's when the wheels were set in motion for a partnership to not only help St. Jude, but also support Reid's 26 Shirts.
"A fellow Bills fan pointed out to me, Eric, he mentioned to me this guy, this Packers fan had a pretty cool idea to raise money throughout the month of June. I looked him up and was like, 'Wow, that's really cool,'" said Reid of his connection to Grossi. "I sent him a message just kind of randomly and said, 'Hey, I heard about this thing you're doing to raise money for St. Jude, and if you need any help from me at all, I think it's great what you're doing. Let me know.' And then he replied back and he said, 'Actually, I'm familiar with your brand. One of my [moderators] is a huge Bills fan, and he sent me some of your shirts.' That was kind of cool that we were already a couple of steps on the conversation, and I didn't even know it."
In the end, it resulted in a shirt design available at 26shirts.com with the logo of Grossi's "30-in-30" initiative. For each shirt purchased through 26 Shirts, a $5 donation will go towards St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
"It's just a really unique opportunity for us to partner with someone from another fan base who is interested in giving back," Reid said. "It's just a really cool opportunity, and we love to support his efforts of trying to raise money for St. Jude."
"I know that 26 Shirts does some awesome community work. They not only have incredible designs and an incredible art team, but their proceeds, a lot of it is going to help local families, local businesses, etc.," Grossi added. "They were one of those guys that I would have loved to reach out to and work with."
As Grossi enters Day 4 of his 30-day venture, currently in Detroit, he has some donation-based incentives that he has planned for some of his trips. This includes a special incentive when he arrives in Buffalo on Sunday, where he would jump through a table outside the stadium in Orchard Park. That goal was set for $50,000 in donations by the time he arrived in Western New York.
Grossi admits he wanted to jump through a table anyway in his time in Buffalo, saying it seems like a rite of passage.
However, it has so far been the fan meetups that have been Grossi's favorite part about his tour. With not being able to get out enough, Grossi has been overwhelmed by how much he has been recognized among football fans, and surprised with the turnouts of his public gatherings.
"To come out here and to have 40-50 people show up during a work day or at night at a random local business to help support them has been incredibly surreal and humbling," he said. "And just getting to hear people's stories, and people have driven over four hours to be here and be a part of this, I think it really just speaks to the community.
"The fact that we've put out zero content, in terms of 30-in-30 yet, and yet we've raised so much money, it's a special community and I'm so grateful for it. It's one that I've worked really, really hard to try and foster, so I'm just excited because we've left enough flexibility to kind of just go where the day takes us. Because at the end of the day, I'm trying to capture the essence of the city, the fans and the people. If I can even just scratch the surface on that and present that to the world, it's a success."
Growing up in the Eastern portion of New York State near Albany, Grossi admits he hasn't gotten out to Western New York much over the last several years. He was last in Orchard Park during the 2006 season to see his Packers play the Bills at Highmark Stadium, a game in which Buffalo came away victorious.
"The Bills are kind of that AFC team that you always root for," Grossi said of the team. "If there's any organization that reminds me of the Packers, it's the Buffalo Bills. It's the small town feel, it's the parking in people's driveways, it's tailgating in people's houses. That's what I love. ... I think we're gonna start hitting our stride when we get to Buffalo on Sunday, and we're gonna see what everything's all about."
So other than the Bills and "Bills Mafia", what else does Grossi know about Western New York?
"First of all, it's massive. It's funny because people who don't know Upstate, there's people from Long Island who say Upstate is just 20 minutes North of [New York] City," he said. "But Western New York, I've got to be very honest with you, it comes down to just the charity and openness of the people. I think there are times some places in Western New York kind of get a bad rep, especially from people from the City, which is like, 'There's nothing up there, there's no culture, there's not all these fancy restaurants or anything.' That's just not the case. So I think just being able to put a spotlight on a community that, one, is so deserving of it, but also is just so much more than what they're perceived as, that's the goal here."
When Grossi arrives to Western New York, fans will have a couple of different chances to meet the popular NFL YouTuber and content creator.
"We're gonna do a meeting up in front of the stadium, and it'll be announced on socials," Grossi detailed. "I'm going to try to do it the day before. We're flying by the seat of our pants right now, because there's travel delays and all that great stuff. But all the information will be either on YouTube, or it'll be on any of the social media."
In addition, Grossi has been taking part in, what he calls, "in real life raids," where he will show up to a small local business, encourages fans to meet him there, and it ends up helping support the local community.
"I've been streaming, people show up, and we support that local business. I've been hanging out for 2-3 hours to do these fan events," Grossi said. "I know Sunday, not a ton of people will be working, it's not typical work day. But I wanted to give people and opportunity, whether they were at work for the first one or they had other obligations, they'll be able to attend both. So there will be two events in Buffalo, one in front of the stadium, and then later it will be a random small business that we choose to support."
Grossi encourages anyone to donate and help support the "30-in-30" initiative by either purchasing one of his shirts from 26 Shirts, checking out any of his "30-in-30" videos with a direct link people can click on through YouTube, or by by checking out his social media pages, @tomgrossicomedy.
In addition, Grossi will be doing a special giveaway to the person who donates the most amount of money after his 30 days on the road. The person who donates the most amount of money will receive two tickets to their favorite team's home opener.
"There's plenty of ways to donate, and I appreciate it," Grossi said. "I also want to say, if you're unable to donate, because times are difficult - I totally get that - sharing it helps so much. If we are going to get the attention of these teams, if we're going to get the attention of this greater space, it's going to come down to the people in the community to just share it. That's the goal, and we'll just see what happens."