The NFL runs on tight deadlines. Every kickoff and Super Bowl demands that millions of fans get flawless live video, stats, and fantasy features, whether they’re on iPhones, Xboxes, or connected TVs.
In this episode of React Universe On Air, Mike Grabowski talks with Michael Blanchard (Director of Engineering at the NFL), about how React Native became the backbone of this high-pressure, multi-platform ecosystem.
Michael shares his journey from web engineer to leading NFL’s engineering teams across nfl.com, three mobile apps, a cross-platform video player, and a suite of connected TV apps. Together with Mike, he explores the NFL’s migration strategy, the transition from Haul/Webpack to Metro and Expo, and the cultural shifts that helped merge web and native engineers into one collaborative team.
You’ll learn:
➡️ Why the NFL went full Greenfield (twice)
➡️ How NFL+ shaped their second rewrite
➡️ Lessons from moving from Haul/Webpack to Metro
➡️ How Expo SDKs gradually replaced community libraries
➡️ How GitHub Actions + EAS Build reshaped their CI/CD pipeline
➡️ Strategies for handling 20–30 PRs daily in a monorepo
➡️ How React Native powers mobile, web, and multiple connected TVs
➡️ What cultural shifts enabled true cross-platform collaboration
Catch more React Universe On Air episodes 🎧 https://clstk.com/4gp8Cw5
Sign up for our newsletter ✉️ https://clstk.com/4mfmRof
Follow us on X 🐦 https://x.com/callstackio
Chapters:
00:00 Welcome to the React Universe
01:35 Meet Michael Blanchard from NFL
03:03 NFL's digital presence and platforms
04:24 React Native in NFL's mobile apps
08:32 How React spread across all platforms
11:47 Collaboration between web and native teams
18:11 Technical decisions regarding different platforms
23:48 V2 of NFL's flagship app
25:14 Choosing migration strategy
30:10 Maintaining more product versions
34:33 Adopting Expo
42:10 Modernizing CI/CD
46:48 Team structure and workflow at NFL
53:29 Final thoughts
What really happens when React Native’s core contributors gather behind closed doors?
In this episode of React Universe On Air, recorded live at React Universe Conf 2025, host Łukasz Chludziński sits down with Joel Arvidsson, Jay Meistrich, and Thibault Malbranche to unpack the hottest debates and wisest insights from the Core Contributor Summit.
They dive into:
➡️ How the cooperation between consultancies, big organizations like Meta or Microsoft, and OSS contributors looks like
➡️ 2025 as the “year of stability” for React Native
➡️ The promise (and pain) of React Native for desktop apps
➡️ Flipper’s decline and new community-driven DevTools
➡️ Whether React Native 1.0 is just a marketing label or a true milestone
➡️ How agencies and individuals balance open source with client work
➡️ Practical advice for engineers who want to contribute and join the conversation
Chapters:
00:00 Welcome to the React Universe
01:21 Meet our guests: Thibault Malbranche, Joel Arvidsson, Jay Meistrich
02:33 What is Core Contributor Summit
04:02 Meta vs. community usage of React Native
07:19 Year of stability & tooling challenges
09:00 Surprise session: React Native for Desktop
16:10 Concrete outcomes vs. planting seeds
21:02 Open Source dynamics & collaboration
27:30 React Native 1.0
33:45 Future directions & getting involved
36:50 Final thoughts
Catch more React Universe On Air episodes 🎧 https://clstk.com/423vF9D
Sign up for our newsletter ✉️ https://clstk.com/3Kb23kM
Follow us on X 🐦 https://x.com/callstackio
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Observability & OpenTelemetry in React Native
Many React Native apps ship without full observability. The result? Blind spots in performance, crashes, and user behavior once your app is in the wild.
In this episode of React Universe On Air, Łukasz Chludziński sits down with Jonathan Munz (Senior Software Engineer at Embrace) and Adam Horodyski (React Native Expert at Callstack) to unpack how OpenTelemetry can bring structure and clarity to mobile monitoring.
They break down why mobile observability is harder than observability on backend, what the OTLP protocol enables, and how to instrument React Native apps without locking into a single vendor. You’ll also hear how community-driven tooling like React Native OpenTelemetry and the Embrace React Native SDK can simplify setup and improve data portability.
You’ll learn:
➡️ How observability and OpenTelemetry work together
➡️ The 3 core OpenTelemetry signal types for mobile
➡️ Why mobile instrumentation is more complex than backend telemetry
➡️ How OTLP improves interoperability between tools
➡️ Where auto-instrumentation is still missing in React Native
➡️ The role of Embrace and open-source libraries in reducing setup overhead
Check out episode resources on our website 📚 https://clstk.com/4104nAF
Catch more React Universe On Air episodes 🎧 https://clstk.com/45EWnYe
Monitor what matters in your React Native app with Callstack’s help 🤝 https://clstk.com/3HoM3KI
Sign up for our newsletter ✉️ https://www.callstack.com/newsletter
Follow us on X 🐦 https://x.com/callstackio
Chapters
00:00 Welcome to the React Universe
01:07 Meet our guests
03:07 Defining observability and OpenTelemetry
04:32 Signals in observability
11:57 Challenges with observability in React & React Native
16:04 Standardization and OpenTelemetry protocol
18:08 Embrace and Open Telemetry
21:29 Future of OpenTelemetry in mobile
27:23 Exploring React Native OpenTelemetry
29:54 Community involvement in OpenTelemetry
37:34 Real observability in React Native
46:41 Future of React Native observability
50:40 Hey, listeners, here’s what we want you to do
54:46 Conclusion and final thoughts
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Monorepo Architecture with Nx
Should you be afraid of monorepos? Not with Nx. Tune in and learn how to scale apps without scaling pain.
In this episode of React Universe On Air, Łukasz Chludziński chats with Jordan Powell from Nx to explore what it really takes to build and manage a monorepo at scale. From dependency graphs to distributed CI tasks, they break down how Nx helps teams stay fast, focused, and frustration-free. Whether you're just getting started with Yarn Workspaces or running into CI bottlenecks, this episode gives you the strategies and context to go further with less overhead.
Key learnings
➡️ The difference between monorepos and monoliths
➡️ How Nx graphs improve selective builds and testing
➡️ What “ownership rules” mean for large codebases
➡️ How distributed task execution saves time in CI
➡️ Why better DX equals better business outcomes
➡️ Real-world patterns for React Native and full-stack monorepos
Catch more React Universe On Air episodes 🎧 https://clstk.com/44Bj51X
Get your React Universe Conf 2025 tickets 🎟 https://clstk.com/4nFqTZ1
Sign up for our newsletter ✉️ https://clstk.com/3TrnIGH
Follow us on X 🐦 https://x.com/callstacki
00:00 Welcome to the React Universe
00:42 Meet Jordan Powell from Nx
02:42 The joy and pain of testing
04:03 Understanding monorepos
06:52 The origins of Nx
09:41 Developer experience and its business impact
12:10 Nx vs. other tooling and a closer look at its features
21:07 Getting started with Nx
25:27 Collaborating on projects
28:00 Assigning ownership and scoping projects
29:30 Managing dependencies in a monorepo
31:16 Handling multiple framework versions and migrations
32:40 Real-world examples of large-scale monorepos
36:10 Distributed task execution with Nx Cloud
39:08 Efficient testing in a monorepo
42:55 The Future of Nx with AI integration
47:27 Conclusion and final thoughts
React Universe On Air is your go-to podcast about building cross-platform apps with React and React Native, featuring practical lessons, forward-looking ideas, and talks with industry leaders.
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