Born and raised in Atlanta, Internet personality Davis Dodds grew up attending Atlanta Hawks games at State Farm Arena. Now, he'll be part of a first-of-its-kind NBA schedule release.
Dodds is hosting a 24-hour Twitch livestream at the arena that began at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday to announce Atlanta's 2025-26 schedule. NBA teams can announce their upcoming season's schedule at 3:15 p.m. ET on Thursday. This marks the first time an NBA team has collaborated with a creator on an all-day livestreaming platform.
Hawks CEO Steve Koonin handed over the keys of State Farm Arena to Dodds at 8:50 p.m. on Wednesday, and the content creator moved in for 24 hours.
"First of all, there will be adult supervision," Koonin told ESPN on Wednesday. "Second of all, he's a wonderful person who we have full trust and he'll kind of feel like the kid from 'Home Alone' a little bit in this giant arena by himself at four o'clock in the morning."
Dodds, 25, boasts over a million subscribers on YouTube, 700,000 followers on Instagram and reached 10,000 subscribers on Twitch last month. He's part of the content creation group AMP, which also includes popular internet personality Kai Cenat.
He is following a loose agenda for the stream that will be flexible for last-minute changes. Atlanta-based rapper 2 Chainz is set to stop by and record a track with Dodds, the content creator said. The Hawks have also teased surprises.
"We're just going to have as much fun as possible and kind of show all the different elements of the arena. We're going to make some music in there," Dodds told ESPN. "Obviously, do a lot of hoops, [a] dunk contest. I think just having friends around and having as much fun as possible will make it go by fast, because who gets to even live in an arena for a day?"
And, most importantly, there's a plan for sleeping.
A bedroom is set up for Dodds right behind a basket to sleep on stream.
"I'm personally a little freaked out about the idea of sleeping in the arena," Hawks' director of social media Katie DuPre told ESPN. "But I think it'll be at least a cool story. But yes, thankfully, he worked sleeping into the schedule."
DuPre is part of a group of Hawks personnel that will also be in the arena, including members of the social media and marketing teams. Normal building security is stationed, too.
But, for the most part, the arena where Trae Young throws lobs is going to be transformed into Dodds' playground.
He has free rein to visit the locker room to make music or the premium space player clubs for snacks and beverages. Though concession stands are closed, "a lot of food" will be ordered, according to DuPre, including Chick-fil-A for breakfast.
Dodds admitted that the amount of space will be a challenge, expressing concerns about whether he'll be able to get through everything he has planned. Dodds -- who gained notoriety for his NBA 2K content -- has familiarity with State Farm Arena. He rented the venue last year for the music video of his track, "4 U" which featured T-Pain.
DuPre said it'll look "pretty true" to a standard Hawks game, but the setup still had difficulties.
"We have a tremendous amount of real estate. Over 700,000 square feet and it's not really designed for residential occupancy," Koonin said. "So figuring out both logistically how he can be comfortable and he can also produce a 24-hour stream ... But for the most part, we're going to leave it to his fertile imagination and see what comes off it."
On a July 29 stream, Dodds made a deal with his chat once he hit 10,000 subscribers that he would host a 24-hour stream and decided on State Farm Arena as the venue.
He has never hosted a stream this long, but once he settled on the idea, Dodds reached out to the Hawks to gauge interest. Koonin's first thought? "Let's do it."
"I mean there was no hesitation. I hope I don't live to regret that statement," Koonin joked.
Initially, the franchise held discussions about a 90-second video reveal, according to Koonin. However, the question became: why can't it become something bigger?
DuPre said the Hawks always love working with local content creators, and Dodds sharing his love for the franchise made them realize this was the perfect time for them to team up. Everyone didn't know about Dodds' platform, though.
"I wasn't that familiar, but I've taken a very intensive class in watching a lot of Twitch and watching his group and talking to people and, his sensibility I think is an NBA sensibility," Koonin said. "Fun, he's a reverent, he's unique and he's wildly entertaining."
Dodds' idea inspired Atlanta to hook the schedule release to it, which Koonin emphasized has become an NBA holiday.
Once the Hawks can announce their schedule, Dodds will be just over 21 hours into his stream. Atlanta's schedule will be unveiled sporadically with clues and hints.
The Hawks' social media team is covering the stream like a live game. They'll clip highlights and post them across their platforms to amplify the stream as much as possible.
It's all part of a plan to continue to build generational fans.
"He's true to Atlanta like us. His audience is perfect. We are always trying to find new ways to touch with the next generation audience," DuPre said. "We feel like Davis' audience really fits that and is perfect."
