#sports-marketing

#sports-marketing

Visa's 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign is less about advertising around soccer and more about positioning itself as infrastructure for the tournament's temporary global economy. The company's "Tap In" campaign - fronted by actor Jason Sudeikis (famous for playing Ted Lasso) and soccer stars Lamine Yamal and Erling Haaland - arrives at a moment when brands are recalibrating how they approach big sporting events.

As always, the teams have given us a wide variety of visual experiences to enjoy. There are spoofs galore ( the Rams adapted the "Napoleon Dynamite" opening credits and even included a newspaper called the Los Angeles Hard Times; the Las Vegas Raiders produced a new version of "Step Brothers" starring quarterbacks Fernando Mendoza and Kirk Cousins; the Kansas City Chiefs took on the QVC shopping network).

“If you can work anywhere, why not work from America’s No. 1 ball park?” said Scotty Muirhead, San Diego’s poster child for remote work on Instagram on Wednesday. He told his 40,000 followers to buy tickets for the 1 p.m. game and grab seats in section 324. “Bring your laptop, glove, and whatever helps drive shareholder value,” he posted. “Dress code: corporate up top, San Diego beach day below.”

Yeti's logo is simple: just its name written in an all-caps sans-serif font, placed within a rounded rectangle. But to speak to new consumers, they're getting rid of the one element that gives it brand recognition. In a new campaign created in collaboration with Wieden+Kennedy Portland, Yeti deleted the "Yeti" in its logo to make room for other four-letter words, like "Hike," "Surf," Golf," "Fish," "Hunt," and "Snow."

Since its release in early March, the song has soundtracked nearly 150,000 videos on the platform. For Nimino, that doesn't just mean more exposure for his music. It means money. A lot of the sports-world accounts that have used his track are businesses-Atlético de Madrid, the "Men in Blazers" podcast, Major League Baseball, the LPGA, and the Philadelphia Eagles-that accessed the song via TikTok's growing Commercial Music Library (CML), which ensures artists are paid when their music is used commercially.

Several private equity firms and Hollywood power players have expressed interest in buying parts of Casey Wasserman's music and sports management firm after it abruptly went up for sale.

The red sign with big black letters read 'Runners welcome. Walkers tolerated.' It sparked a wave of displeasure among some in the running community, a group Nike has been working to strengthen its relationship with.

It's insane. Never thought I'd have a beer. Never thought I would drink a beer, honestly. Now I have one. White's brew stands as one of the featured libations in Sam Adams' new 'Our City. Our Beer' lineup - with Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet, former New England Patriots wideout Julian Edelman, and Boston Bruins legend Zdeno Chara also getting their own beers as part of the brewery's announcement.

Audacy continues its focus on sports as a productive venue for advertisers. Following up its study titled Audio and Podcasts: Best Venues for Consumer Engagement in Sports, the company now announces a webinar event on March 23 at 2pm ET. As with the previous release, 'avidity' will be discussed as the most important currency in sports marketing.

FIFA will allow broadcasters to go to commercial breaks during hydration breaks, the Athletic reported last week. A FIFA spokesperson confirmed the changes to Fortune. While more frequent ad breaks are not likely to surprise many viewers based in the U.S., it's a significant departure from how commercials have traditionally featured in soccer elsewhere.

Sport has become a powerful tool for global brand engagement, enabling companies to build deeper connections with audiences in an increasingly fragmented media landscape. Real-time data and immersive fan experiences allow brands to create personalized interactions that resonate across diverse markets and demographics.

At that point, [the Islanders] viewed themselves as kind of a failed franchise that had not won a Stanley Cup in a decade and was coming down from this period of great success, said Nick Hirshon, the author of We Want Fish Sticks, which chronicles the Islanders' controversial rebranding, and a journalism professor at William Paterson University. And now the Rangers just won the Stanley Cup in that market, the Devils were on the up, and up, so maybe the Islanders could not afford a brand new arena or new players, but they could make some money by unveiling a new jersey.

New Balance is one of the world's fastest-growing sports brands. It has already taken a chunk out of Nike's trainers market worldwide with reported growth 19% in 2025 with revenue of over $9bn, according to figures in CNBC. It is now targeting the world of football and the brand that once adorned the shirts of then Premier League champions Liverpool is increasingly popular with some of the game's best players.

This hotline is essentially a giant, collective 'thank you' from fans everywhere. We want to remind them that they are seen, they are celebrated, and they have the full support of a country that is incredibly proud of them.

Swansea's owners have explained the influx of celebrity investors by saying it is part of their vision to raise the club's profile so they can generate more revenue, allowing them to invest more in the squad while staying within profit and sustainability rules.

We want to build occasions. We want fans to be able to make plans. We believe consistency of schedule is really important to helping fans engage further with their favorite club or our league,

Nike unveiled the Team USA collection on January 28, and it's been having a moment on social media as athletes don the gear at the games. Between January 30 and the February 6 opening ceremony in Milan, conversations on X mentioning ACG and the Olympics increased by 273%, data analytics firm PeakMetrics told Business Insider. Google searches for "Nike ACG" also spiked during the first week of February, then hit a new peak this week with the Olympic Games underway, according to Google Trends.

If you thought Sprite was just sitting on the sidelines, think again. The iconic beverage brand is making a major statement in the basketball world with a brand-new collection of limited-edition cans that celebrate both NBA teams and the rising stars of Unrivaled women's basketball. This isn't just another marketing play: it's a full-court press that honors local fandom, basketball culture, and the athletes pushing the game forward.

While Super Bowl LX pits the Pacific Northwest against New England as the Seahawks and the Patriots take the field, another region of the U.S. will get its 30 seconds of fame. Tecovas -the cowboy boot brand that surpassed $300 million in sales last year-is debuting its first-ever Super Bowl ad to try to expand its audience in its 10th year of business.

Personalization is a tried-and-tested way to boost engagement while gathering valuable information about existing audiences - and is proving to be a key driver for the sports industry, says Rawnet's Harry Daniel. For brands looking to score with digital marketing, personalization is a winning long-term business strategy. Personalizing the user experience (UX) via websites and apps keeps fans engaged and enhances brand loyalty. It can help brands to grow, by extending their reach to new users and unleashing untouched opportunities for victory.

We've managed to increase this value by 40% in recent years in terms of visibility returned to partners. But the most interesting aspect is that at the Creator Lab everything becomes an IP, designed from the outset to be associated with a brand.

Yet rights holders are also meant to protect the value of their products-a value that's currently being chipped away by an endless stream of clips, highlights and post-game interviews. All this churn comes at the expense of creativity, social media talent - and, fundamentally, consumer engagement. The result is the enshittification of sports marketing. Let me explain. So much for creativity

"Dougan joining Kettering put us on the back pages but also the front pages with this shirt, this initiative,"

In this playoff season, I try to shut my eyes to products featured in commercial time-outs. You've seen them? The cryptic medicines to treat unspecified ailments? The pickup trucks and beer brands that signal ruggedness and romantic success. Or more tempting, the gooey-delectable double-cheese-pepperoni pizzas with yet more cheese stuffed in the crust. But one other caught my ear for novel English usage. Namely, the new infinitive "to fan."

There was a funny tweet we saw once that said something like "the haters said I couldn't do it, and they were right". This year's Winter Classic had a lot of haters. "How dare it be at a baseball stadium with a retractable roof in the Sunshine State," the hockey purists cried as they complained about it not being in a blizzard in -30 degree weather (you know the type that makes your beverages freeze on contact).

After a three-year hiatus, Cheez-It has officially brought its mascot Prince Cheddward out of retirement in time for this year's Citrus Bowl. As sports marketing gets more crowded, Cheez-Ithopes its revived brand mascot will drum up enough fan nostalgia to drive more sales. "He's a fan-favorite asset who helps us stand out without needing to 'out-spend' or 'out-shout' anyone," said Cara Tragseiler, senior brand director for Cheez-It. It's increasingly necessary for brands to find new ways to break through the noise.

Shortly after Iowa State's win in the 2024 Pop-Tarts Bowl, Cyclones receiver Jaylin Noel, in a celebratory mood, went to grab the game's trophy to lug it home. But this trophy is different from any other and, as such, required Josh Price, an engineer who helped build the thing, to deliver some safety instructions. Noel wasn't interested. "He was like, 'It's a freakin' toaster, man,' and ran out of the room," Price said.