Forget the broadcast. Sports marketing starts after the final whistle.
In 2026, the FIFA World Cup will hit North America like never before—48 teams, three host countries, and billions of eyeballs.
But the biggest opportunity for brands? It won’t be in the stadiums. It’ll be in the scroll.
Today’s fans don’t just watch the game. They react to it, remix it, and revive it days later. The culture doesn’t move in real-time anymore. It moves in waves.
To win in this new era, marketers need to stop thinking like broadcasters and start thinking like participants in a long, (often) messy, decentralized ripple of cultural moments.
Sports marketing strategies: Past to present
To understand where we’re headed, it helps to know how we got here.
Era 1: Brands build athletes
Brands like Adidas and Nike helped define the early landscape by embedding athletes into tightly controlled narratives. Jesse Owens put Adidas on the global map in 1936. Nike’s partnership with Steve Prefontaine was not just about running shoes. It was about rebellion, authenticity, and attitude.
Era 2: Athletes build brands
Then came the Jordan era. The Air Jordan line didn’t just elevate Nike; it built an empire. Serena Williams, Cristiano Ronaldo, and others followed suit, forcing brands to mold themselves to the athlete’s story, not the other way around.
Era 3: Consumers build icons
Social media flipped the script again. Platforms like House of Highlights turned bite-sized moments into viral culture, often with fans driving the narrative. High school athletes became stars. Even ESPN had to evolve, shifting to TikTok-native content and creator collabs.
Era 4: Culture happens on delay
Now, we’re seeing another shift. Real-time viewership is down, but engagement with next-day content is surging. While 71% of all fans say live sporting events are their preferred type of sports content, this drops to 58% for Millennial and Gen Z fans, who often prefer highlights to full games. The NFL’s YouTube presence, Netflix’s “Drive to Survive,” and Fanatics’ collectible ecosystem all point to a post-live economy.
The Travis Scott x Jordan x Fortnite collab is a case in point. It combined sports, music, and gaming into a shared experience not bound by a broadcast schedule. The result? 12 million live viewers and tens of millions more through content, commerce, and community.
From highlights to habits: Where sports marketing goes next
The future of sports marketing is not about interrupting the game. It’s about becoming part of the rituals that happen around it. Live broadcasts may be waning, but the aftershocks of sports moments now ripple across digital culture for days. That’s where the new opportunity lies.
So, how should brands adapt?
1. Design for the delay
Rather than chasing real-time relevance, invest in content ecosystems that activate after the whistle blows. The 24–72 hour window post-game is now prime time for fan engagement.
Build playbooks for “post-game storytelling” like breakdown videos, creator collaborations, stat visualizations, or behind-the-scenes content timed to when fans are still emotionally engaged.
2. Co-create with cultural interpreters
Athletes are still powerful, but now they share the stage with creators, analysts, and superfans. The messenger often matters more than the moment.
Partner with a mix of athletes, commentators, and fan creators to seed content across formats. Prioritize relevance over reach.
3. Move beyond sponsorship to entanglement
Sponsorship slaps logos on moments. Entanglement weaves brands into the culture itself.
Forget the sideline signage and step into the storyline. The brands making an impact today aren’t just visible—they’re involved. That means co-creating with fans, building rituals around the sport, and showing up in unexpected, relevant ways.
Foot Locker’s approach to the 2024 Olympics is a blueprint. Instead of chasing the Games directly, we bet on the energy around it—tapping local communities, emerging creators, and unconventional media formats to connect with culture.
The same thinking applies to the 2026 World Cup. This is a chance to build participatory activations—fantasy league incentives, co-branded drops, interactive storylines—that live and evolve with the season. The goal isn’t visibility. It’s stickiness.
4. Think long-term cultural investment
Netflix didn’t just promote F1, they reshaped its narrative. Brands can earn long-term loyalty by creating serialized, platform-native stories.
Choose a sport, league, or athlete aligned with your values and commit to multi-season storytelling. Documentaries, creator-led content series, and athlete-authored formats are all on the table.
Next summer’s World Cup isn’t just a global sporting event.
It’s a pressure test for brands. To cut through, you need to think beyond airtime and into aftershocks. Design for the delay. Collaborate with creators, not just athletes. Think serialized, not seasonal.
