SBJ Unpacks: How MLS plans to cash in on World Cup

Tonight in Unpacks: MLS has had eight years to prepare a plan to capitalize on the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. Now that we’re on the cusp of global soccer’s biggest event, MLS is ready to unleash marketing efforts at both the team and league level to make the most of this unprecedented opportunity, as SBJ’s Alex Silverman reports in this week’s magazine.

Also tonight:

• Guggenheim: MSG Sports split would close share price discount
• NBA attendance steady at All-Star break
• NBC continues finding afternoon Olympic success
• Op-ed: Media companies must embrace the era of athletes as creators

Listen to SBJ’s most popular podcast, Morning Buzzcast, where Abe Madkour discusses the resignation of MLBPA’s Tony Clark just months ahead of pivotal CBA talks, the FIFA World Cup pushing U.S. Soccer to a record revenue projection, Netflix’s first foray into MMA showcasing its pursuit of big, buzzworthy events and more.

Shortly after FIFA awarded the 2026 World Cup to the U.S., Canada and Mexico, MLS Commissioner Don Garber promised the league would be ready to take full advantage of the first men’s World Cup on home soil since MLS was founded.

“Rarely do people have an opportunity to have eight years to have a defined moment, and we know where we’ll be and what our league will look like eight years from now,” Garber said in 2019.

That eight-year runway has indeed been transformative. At 30 teams, MLS is nearly a third larger than when the World Cup was awarded, and now has a presence in 24 of the top 30 media markets across the U.S. and Canada. Nine new soccer-specific stadiums have opened, with three more in development. Franchise valuations have surged into the high-nine — and in some cases, low-10 — figures, and the signing and retention of Lionel Messi has redefined what many thought was possible when it comes to attracting elite global talent to the league.

Now, with the pieces in place and the World Cup just months away, MLS and its clubs are investing tens of millions of dollars in marketing aimed at amplifying the potential impact of the World Cup on North American soccer and ensuring they are among the direct beneficiaries.

“We think this is, without question, the largest single sporting event ever, and the greatest opportunity we’ve had to engage people that are more willing to consider Major League Soccer as a way to spend their time,” said Camilo Durana, MLS’s executive vice president of properties and events.

Financial commitments

MLS marketing efforts around the World Cup fall into two buckets: a central, league-led promotional campaign and market-specific activations by each of the league’s 30 clubs.

At the league level, Durana said MLS will put forth the “greatest marketing spend we’ve made as a league in any single calendar year” to capitalize on the World Cup. During board of governors meetings in 2025, MLS leadership presented prospective plans and called on each franchise to make a direct contribution.

“We did put forth a plan about six months ago and discussed it with all owners, all club presidents, and got unanimous approval to proceed with investment,” Durana said.

MLS characterized its World Cup-related promotion as “a significant, eight-figure marketing investment.” Multiple sources said each club is committing between $500,000 and $1 million toward the centralized effort, which would put the total spend between $15 million and $30 million.

That investment does not include plans that each of the 30 clubs will execute locally. The Chicago Fire, for example, expect to spend more than $2 million on local World Cup activations beyond their contribution to the league-level effort.

“Normally, we try to have a very distinct, direct ROI on all of these initiatives,” said Dave Baldwin, president of business operations at the Fire. “In my tenure here, this is the one that has probably leaned the most heavily into larger brand-building versus a direct, immediate ROI. If we can break even on this but we welcome tens of thousands of new fans to the Fire ecosystem, then that’s something that’s great for us.”

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Scheduling considerations

With MLS considering a change to the European soccer calendar over the past few years, there was hope in league circles that the new schedule could be implemented immediately following the conclusion of the World Cup this summer. While MLS owners did ultimately agree to the seismic change, it won’t go into effect until the summer of 2027.

As such, MLS has built its final spring-to-fall schedule around the World Cup. While the league has taken short breaks during the early stages of past summer World Cups (the 2022 edition in Qatar was held in winter after the MLS season), this year’s schedule includes a seven-week hiatus from May 25 through July 16 that will see the league go dark for the vast majority of the tournament.

That decision is in part logistical, as five MLS venues and 13 MLS markets will host matches, with many more clubs lending their training facilities to visiting national teams. Furthermore, with the expansion of the competition to 48 teams, the number of MLS players participating — and thus unavailable to play in MLS — will be greater than ever.

The league’s key strategic decision is to resume play on the World Cup rest days between the semifinals and final with a slate of six high-profile rivalry matches. Two matches on Friday, July 17, will air on national TV, including Nashville SC vs. Atlanta United on the main Fox broadcast network.

The hope is that with sports fans’ attention fully focused on soccer, some will remain tuned to World Cup broadcasters that also carry MLS matches and give the league a shot.

“We’re working with our partners at Fox, we’re working with Apple TV, we’re working with Bell [Media (Canada)] to point people to this restart and put our best foot forward with some of our most exciting matchups,” Durana said. “It’s a coordinated approach that is designed to make sure that as people are engaging with the sport, considering the next step in their soccer journey, that Major League Soccer is front and center and we’re doing it in a coordinated way.”

Inter Miami, which MLS often features in showcase windows, is notably absent from the restart slate. Messi is expected to be with defending champion Argentina deep into the World Cup, making his availability during that period uncertain.

MLS will immediately ramp back up in the week following the July 19 World Cup final, with all 30 teams playing on both the Wednesday and Saturday after the international competition wraps. All-Star festivities are scheduled for the following week at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, with the annual Leagues Cup competition, featuring Liga MX clubs, set to begin the first week of August.

Marketing and media

Much of the league’s eight-figure World Cup investment will fund a marketing and media campaign developed in coordination with ad agency Ogilvy. New creative was developed to roll out at key moments throughout the year, including the start of the season this month and coming out of the World Cup in July.

Throughout the World Cup, the league will invest in localized broadcast spots on Fox affiliates in select club markets, featuring customized creative tied to the MLS restart campaign. MLS’s big national advertising outlay, however, will be focused on the semifinals and final.

“In addition to the league’s national campaign, we will have local versions of that running in local markets,” Durana said. “So, similar voice, similar tone and acting truly as a single entity, which we believe is really important, and it’ll help us reach more audiences with more consistency.”

League brass isn’t yet ready to share details of its World Cup creative, which is now in post-production, but it is expected to hammer home the idea that viewers who have enjoyed watching the World Cup have an outlet to continue their journey into soccer fandom through MLS.

“We are super bullish on it,” said Tom Penn, CEO of San Diego FC. “I think the actual campaign is ‘A+’ excellent. The creative is cool, the tagline is cool, the messaging is clear, and I think it does a nice job of us reminding anybody who’s interested in the World Cup that we have high-quality live soccer here in America.”

Host cities

The investment and tactics deployed by each MLS club in its respective market will vary widely, which makes sense given the different circumstances across the league. Exactly half of the league’s 30 teams play in World Cup host markets, while the other half will be the primary drivers of World Cup activities in their regions. Some franchises are focused on driving immediate attendance increases coming out of the World Cup break, while others have longer-term strategic aims.

In host markets like New York and Houston, MLS clubs are working directly with local organizers to draft off the excitement of the World Cup and leaning into the league’s hospitality sales partnership with On Location.

Brad Sims, president and CEO of NYCFC, said the team is spending at least three times more than it ever has on marketing this season, with the aim of driving business at its new Queens stadium, Etihad Park, which will open next year.

NYCFC will be among the most engaged clubs in the On Location partnership. While clubs will earn nominal sales commission on any packages they sell, Sims sees World Cup hospitality as a lure to reel in potential premium ticket buyers and corporate partners for the club’s forthcoming stadium.

“From my standpoint, it’s a tool to have conversations, especially in a market like New York, trying to talk to C-level people,” Sims said. “Companies that are spending significant amounts of money to entertain their own clients and employees at World Cup matches that are New York-based would naturally be great prospects for us for Etihad Park.”

The club will also have a significant presence within fan festivals put on by the New York New Jersey Host Committee, most notably the Fan Zone at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, which is adjacent to the new stadium site.

In Houston, the Dynamo and NWSL sister club the Dash are seeking to turn Shell Energy Stadium into a climate-controlled extension of the official FIFA Fan Festival in the city’s East Downtown neighborhood. On days when the facility isn’t being used as a “matchday-1” training site for teams playing at NRG Stadium, it will serve as a team-controlled activation zone and match screening area. The team is also offering rental of two large indoor clubs for corporate hospitality.

Jessica O’Neill, president of business operations for the Dynamo and Dash, said the club is also doubling its typical marketing spend this season. The MLS team has increased attendance by 18% over the past two seasons, but still ranks toward the bottom of the league in average turnout. The organization sees opportunity in promoting both teams as affordable, family-friendly options all season long for the millions of fans who won’t attend World Cup matches. This includes offers like $99 family packs with four tickets plus $40 in concessions credit, as well as expanding its value menu with items such as $5 beers.

“We know after the tournament there’ll be obviously the opportunity to convert those who were paying a lot more attention during the tournament, but we want to be able to see that happen in advance of the tournament,” O’Neill said. “Houston is a city where people are already clamoring for information and connectivity around how they can be associated with or celebrate the World Cup because it’s top of mind.”

O’Neill also views the period between the last World Cup match in Houston on July 4 and the resumption of the MLS season as a prime opportunity for the club to hold events like concerts and friendly matches at Shell Energy Stadium, as well as watch parties for later rounds where fans can sit on the pitch.

Non-host cities

In non-host markets like Chicago and San Diego, MLS teams are renting out large event spaces for free, tournament-long soccer celebrations with the hope of attracting tens of thousands of fans throughout the World Cup. Both Recess in Chicago’s West Loop and Fit Social on San Diego’s Mission Beach will offer fans the big watch party feel of a FIFA fan festival in a host market, but with the Fire and San Diego FC at the center of the experience.

“If you’re in one of these major World Cup markets, it’s harder to do something impactful that is meaningful,” Penn said. “In our case, we feel like it makes a ton of sense to do something more aggressive and more impactful that can build our momentum. You don’t have to compete with the local host committee to put on events. You get to take that mantle.”

Both clubs will have opportunities through their events to capture fan data via signups, giveaways and other experiential activations. The locations will also serve as the backdrop for World Cup live shots and other programming by local broadcasters, with players, coaches and other local celebrities making appearances.

“We’re putting up four giant video boards, we’re spending roughly $500K on the AV to make this the best sporting experience, soccer experience in Chicago,” Baldwin said. “As you think about fans that are excited about soccer and are looking for something social to do and have some discretionary income, this is a great way for us to engage with them, then offer them ticket specials for the games coming out of World Cup and then hopefully eventually have them become fans of the Fire and season-ticket holders.”

Penn said San Diego FC is also one of many MLS clubs that plans to offer a “first match on us” ticket promotion coming out of the World Cup.

Eight years in the making

MLS was on an upward trajectory well before FIFA’s annual congress in 2018, but much of the heightened investment in the league over the past eight years has been driven by the promise of the 2026 World Cup in North America. New team owners, sponsors, Apple and even supporters have come on board with the expectation of a generational lift in the popularity of soccer in North America — and, in turn, of MLS itself.

The pivotal moment is now just months away.

MSG Sports’ announced plan to explore a potential split, dividing the Knicks and Rangers into standalone companies, was welcomed by shareholders, with the company’s stock price rallying more than 13% on the news.

In a statement explaining the plan, MSG Sports CEO James Dolan said it “would provide each company with enhanced strategic flexibility, its own defined business focus, and clear characteristics for investors.” It might also grant new insights into league-specific finances. The transaction, which has no official timeline for completion, is subject to league approvals.

In a new research note, Guggenheim analysts agreed with Dolan’s expectations while focusing on another important element of the deal: Valuation.

MSG Sports’ market cap has long trailed public estimates of what the Knicks and Rangers would be worth in a private transaction. That was the main focus of Boyar Value Group’s Jonathan Boyar when he first proposed the MSGS split in an open letter to Dolan last June: “The persistent gap between private market values and public market pricing is no longer just a missed opportunity -- it’s a failure to act in the best interest of shareholders.”

Guggenheim suggested MSGS shares would need to trade at an 84%-94% premium to be in line with third-party estimates of the teams’ values. Public markets have historically undervalued sports assets relative to private deal values, and Guggenheim’s research note suggested MSG Sports’ enterprise value is also suppressed by combining disparate assets.

According to Guggenheim analysts, “the separation of the Knicks and Rangers would likely help close the [sum-of-the-parts] discount consistently embedded in shares, offer more strategic flexibility, and likely increase optionality around minority partners,” suggesting the potential for a team-specific minority stake sale.

Earlier this month, Citi raised its price target for MSGS and also noted that a minority deal could help close the gap between the company’s enterprise value and third-party estimates. MSGS leadership has historically been open to the idea of a minority sale, though COO Jamaal Lesane downplayed anything imminent on a recent earnings call.

“We are cognizant of recent reported transactions in the marketplace, and those transactions serve as confirmation of our belief that these are scarce, valuable assets. We don’t think that value is appropriately reflected in our current stock price,” Lesane said. “We would never rule out the possibility of a minority stake sale, but, as I said, we have nothing to report at this time.”

Braves offer an example

Boyar’s activist letter also argued that splitting the teams would make it easier and more tax-efficient to sell one of them in its entirety. Industry sources have suggested the same, even though Dolan has been emphatic in the past about having no desire to sell. Similar speculation followed the Braves when Liberty Media spun the team off in 2023 as its own publicly traded company.

At the time, Liberty President & CEO Greg Maffei said going public would provide “greater transparency, greater information flows and a focus just on the performance of the team and our real estate opportunities at The Battery.” Company leadership had also made it clear that the team was undervalued as part of Liberty’s broader holdings.

The Braves, which trade on Nasdaq, currently have a market cap of some $3B, roughly in line with public estimates of what the team would sell for in a private transaction.

The Dolan family is no stranger to the value of spinoff transactions. It spun MSG out of Cablevision in 2010, split MSG into MSG Sports and MSG Entertainment in 2010, and split the Sphere out from the latter in 2023. “Historically when a MSG/Dolan company initiates a process like this there is follow through action,” per Guggenheim’s research note.

The NBA drew 14.8 million fans prior to this year’s All‑Star break, according to an analysis of official league data, including 106,372 fans across six neutral‑site games. The league’s average attendance through 814 games played prior to the All-Star break was 18,078 -- flat compared to games played through last year’s break.

The Clippers, despite a roller‑coaster season, have recorded the biggest year-over-year attendance increase to date in Year 2 of the Intuit Dome (+10%). The Hornets are also faring well (+6%), boosted by their recently completed $245M Spectrum Center renovation and a surge in performance (they won nine of their last 10 games before the break) that has put them in position to end their nine‑season playoff drought.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Wizards (who recorded the league’s lowest average attendance in the 2024‑25 season) and the Grizzlies have the lowest average attendance this season.

Across the full 2024‑25 season, the NBA averaged 18,147 fans per game.

Other notable highlights:

• The NBA is on pace to exceed 22.3 million fans in total attendance for the third time.
• Nine of the 30 teams have sold out every home game: the Celtics, Cavaliers, Warriors, Rockets, Heat, Thunder, Suns, Spurs and Jazz.
• Nearly 97% of all available seats have been sold so far this season, which has happened only three times previously across a full season.

Viewership for the Milan Cortina Olympics is up big from Beijing four years ago. Not only are the time zones a little better for U.S. audiences, but NBC is once again deploying a strategy of combining “Milan Primetime” numbers (2-5pm ET) with the traditional focus of U.S. viewers, which is that 8-11pm ET prime-time window. It was a strategy first deployed during Paris two years ago.

Given that NBC Sports now shows all events live, the move makes sense -- and advertisers certainly seem to be on board with the reporting.

But I wanted to see if the share of audience seen in “Paris Primetime” (2-5pm ET) was reflected in what we’re seeing in “Milan Primetime.” The short answer: It’s essentially the same breakdown, meaning a good chunk of viewers are finding live events on NBC/USA/Peacock in those afternoon windows.

Over the first seven days of Milan, the afternoon windows have averaged around 39% of NBC Sports’ reported total audience delivery numbers. During Paris four years ago, over the same seven days, those afternoon windows averaged around 41% of the audience.

The biggest portion of the Milan audience watching live came on Day 1 (Feb. 7), as 47% of NBC’s audience that day came in the 2-5pm window. That was also the same percentage that watched Day 1 in the afternoon window in Paris two years ago.

The percentage of audience watching Milan in the afternoon window has subsided a little since that opening weekend, with no reported window yet crossing 40%. Paris had a short drop like that as well, but then it had a number of times in Week 2 when half of the audience (or more) were watching the afternoon window.

One particular area where the afternoon window is going to help NBC is with Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game. Sources tell SBJ that the network’s Olympic coverage was averaging around 10 million viewers in the quarter-hour before the NBA telecast started, and the NBA was able to hold a good chunk of that last quarter-hour. And that wasn’t even where the NBA peaked, as that was closer to two hours into the All-Star Game broadcast.

When the PWHL dropped the puck on its inaugural season on New Year’s Day 2024, the women’s hockey league financed by Dodgers majority owner Mark Walter had only a handful of corporate partners. Large crowds and good vibes from the start helped change that. By the end of Year 1, the league had brought more than 40 brands on board.

But heading into the league’s third season in 2025-26, PWHL EVP/Business Operations Amy Scheer decided to bring in outside help to grow the league’s sales reach, particularly with U.S.-based brands.

The league has entered a multiyear agreement with Oak View Group, making the firm its exclusive sponsorship sales partner. The deal marks OVG’s first major foray into women’s sports deals.

That decision is already paying off.

Global Industrial Co., which has agreed to a multiyear, league-level sponsorship, would never have been on the PWHL’s radar as a potential partner. But the Long Island-based industrial supplies company has a longstanding relationship with OVG, selling supplies for the more than 400 venues the firm manages and serving as a marketing partner. In 2024, OVG brokered a deal for the firm with UBS Arena and the Islanders, which includes the NHL team’s ice crew using GIC-branded gear to clear the rink.

“They sell shovels and ladders and trailers and all those things, so they felt like that was a really authentic, unique integration,” OVG President of Global Partnerships Dan Griffis told SBJ.

When OVG began working with the PWHL, Griffis approached GIC SVP and CMO Lisa Armstrong about a similar partnership with the women’s pro league. Under the deal, the firm becomes the PWHL’s official industrial supplies partner across North America. Ice crews for the Vancouver Goldeneyes, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, N.Y. Sirens and Seattle Torrent are now known as the Global Industrial Ice Crew and use branded shovels, bins and carts.

“It’s not even a category that we were ever thinking about, and to bring someone in a nontraditional category has such high value,” Scheer said. “OVG just helps us expand our growth and our reach.”

Terms of the PWHL-GIC deal were not disclosed, but the average length of PWHL league-level deals is three years.

Opportunity ahead

Griffis sees massive opportunity to help the PWHL reach what he calls “aggressive revenue goals,” estimating that there is more than $10 million in “incremental sponsorship” in the market for the league and its teams. OVG is in the market with the opportunity to serve as a jersey patch sponsor for the league’s four U.S. teams, which it values at around $3 million a year.

A key part of OVG’s remit will be helping the league grow its U.S. sponsorship revenue to catch up to the business it’s driving in Canada. Griffis estimated about 65% of the league’s sponsorship revenue comes from Canadian partners.

“The main purview when we had our initial discussion was really helping us build and grow our partnership portfolio in the U.S.,” Scheer said.

The Winter Olympics could serve as an accelerant. With PWHL stars driving the U.S. women’s squad to another gold medal match, Scheer and her team are in Milan hosting current and prospective clients during the Games. Griffis said OVG is helping facilitate meetings.

A key development for the league would be striking a national media rights deal in the U.S., which Griffis estimates would increase the value of U.S. sponsorship inventory by 50%. All of the league’s games stream on YouTube in the U.S., and the league has also pieced together a combination of RSN and over-the-air deals that it says combine to reach 100 million homes. Scheer remains determined to find “a rights deal that we feel comfortable with and values our league properly.”

In case you missed it in this week’s magazine, I dove deep into the world of college football contracts and whether they’re actually functioning as designed.

The answer: Sort of.

The agreements are effectively endorsement contracts in which athletes are signing over their NIL rights to schools for potential marketing dollars. There are plenty, however, who hoped they might curb player movement or operate as pseudo-employment contracts that could help with rule enforcement. That hasn’t been the case.

“These contracts were not meant to provide bonus structures, or if you didn’t show up for a meeting, you’re fined,” Nebraska AD Troy Dannen said. “That’s not what they’re about, and there’s wish-casting from many that these were full-blown employment contracts, and that’s not what they are.”

One thing that has come up in my conversations is the increased desire for standardization, or lack thereof, in the language in these contracts. The Big Ten is the only league with one standardized revenue sharing template that can be tailored to account for different state laws and other legal matters, but others are starting to take notice.

Sources told SBJ the subject was likely to come up during ACC winter meetings earlier this month. The idea has also gained support among a handful of SEC ADs.

General counsels representing the Power Four conference offices — who’ve had constant communication throughout the House settlement process — have also had lengthy discussions about a possible cross-conference, Power Four-centric standardized template. Nothing is imminent, but a P4-wide standardized template might help some of the poaching issues going on today.

Now, is it a perfect fix? Not necessarily.

“We’re not really reinventing the wheel. We’re just kind of putting it on a different car,” said Will Hall, a Florida-based attorney at Jones Walker, of revenue-sharing contracts and their similarities to endorsement deals. “Nike would never let you also be in a Reebok commercial. ... But the balance that schools are trying to strike is, how do you take that type of contract, and can you enforce it the way you would an employment contract or an NFL contract?

“I don’t think you really can.”

The traditional hierarchy of sports media is being flattened, and athletes are at the center of this shift. For decades, leagues produced the games, broadcasters paid for the rights to air them, and athletes were the “talent” showcased within those rigid ecosystems. Athletes could make extra money by appearing in commercials, but they had only rare opportunities to create their own content.

The media landscape surrounding this year’s Super Bowl and the cycle of international competition at the Winter Olympics makes it clear that hierarchy doesn’t hold. Top players are no longer just participants in the league’s story. They are the authors, distributors, and primary beneficiaries of their own media empires.

For media companies and rights holders, this should be seen as an opportunity to expand deeper into other channels, like social media, to get more personal with audiences and to deliver engagement for brands. To capture this value, however, the industry must rethink how it sells, positions, and monetizes content across a fragmented, multichannel world.

The Super Bowl as a proving ground

The Super Bowl today serves as the annual proving ground for athlete-owned content. While the linear broadcast remains the crown jewel, a parallel economy plays out on adjacent content from gaming to social platforms and even other broadcast networks. Athletes are utilizing the weeks leading up to the Big Game to launch behind-the-scenes docuseries, livestreamed podcasts, and real-time social commentary that attracts blue-chip advertisers who may be priced out of a $7 million, 30-second TV spot, or want to stretch their investment in new ways.

Consider NFL stars such as Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill. Kelce, through his New Heights platform, has transformed from a star tight end into a global media personality. His show doesn’t just provide “sports talk”; it provides a lifestyle gateway for brands that range from traditional CPG to high-end fashion. Tyreek Hill’s Soul Runner brand and his YouTube and social presence allow him to speak directly to a Gen Z audience.

For a media company, the opportunity here isn’t just to sell a commercial break during the game. It is to create a distributed advertising model. A broadcaster can sell a primary sponsorship in an ad pod, but they must also provide ways for that brand to follow the athlete into their individual channels. By creating co-branded “social extensions” or integrating athlete-led segments into the official broadcast, rights holders can capture a larger share of the advertiser’s total wallet. This often means collaborating directly with leagues and their athletes, an approach that is still being tested and developed.

Beyond the field: The Olympic momentum

The Winter Olympics is full of individual athletes, which will create a surge in athlete-brand partnerships that extend well beyond appearances in commercials. Olympic athletes often live in a unique media cycle with peak visibility for two weeks, followed by a long tail of individual brand building, but with social media and long-tail streaming content, they can easily create months or even years of exposure.

Media companies can take advantage of this by shifting their inventory planning from “event-based” to “narrative-based.” After the Winter Games, fans remain invested in the personal journeys of the athletes and become fans of the Games. Rights holders should be looking to partner with these athletes to host exclusive digital series or have them star in new content that can be sold to advertisers as a continuous engagement play. This allows broadcasters to maintain high CPMs long after the closing ceremony by leveraging the athlete’s personal distribution network to drive viewers back to the broadcaster’s owned platforms.

Rethinking the commercial model

To maximize the value of the athlete-as-a-brand, media companies must evolve their backend operations. Monetization in this new era requires a shift in three key areas:

• Unified inventory management: Broadcasters can no longer afford to manage linear, streaming, digital and social inventory in silos. If an advertiser wants to “own” the presence of a specific star athlete, the media company must be able to package the TV spot, the social media takeover, and the streaming mid-roll into a single, transparent contract — and collaborate with a variety of data and media partners.
• From talent to partner: Rights holders should act as the infrastructure. Broadcasters have the production capabilities and the high-level sales relationships that individual athletes often lack. By offering “production-as-a-service” to top-tier talent, a media company can ensure that the athlete’s content remains high quality and, more importantly, that the media company retains a seat at the table for the advertising revenue generated by that content.
• Data-driven positioning: The true power of athlete-driven content is the data. When a fan follows an athlete on social media or subscribes to their podcast, they are raising their hand as a high-intent consumer. Media companies must get better at aggregating this first-party data to show advertisers exactly how an athlete’s individual reach complements the broad reach of a league broadcast.

Legendary February is the start of a new athlete era

The rise of the athlete media brand is an invitation for advertisers, media companies and athletes to innovate. When an athlete wins, the league wins, and the broadcaster wins, provided they have the agility to sell across the entire ecosystem.

As we move past the Super Bowl and into a year filled with global sporting milestones, the organizations that will thrive are those that embrace an athlete’s voice and start building the commercial frameworks that amplify it. By integrating athlete-driven content into the heart of their commercial strategies, media companies can turn a fragmented landscape into a unified, high-value marketplace that serves fans, brands, and the stars of the show alike.

Dave Dembowski is CRO at Operative, a media consultancy and solutions company.

• The WNBPA’s latest labor proposal shaved the revenue gap between players and the league by roughly $200 million, multiple sources confirmed to SBJ’s Tom Friend, with both sides also aware that a resolution on player housing is the other crucial pathway to a deal.
• SBJ’s Rachel Axon and GMR Marketing held a roundtable of corporate sponsors and Olympic leaders, focusing on what they’ve learned about activations and operations during the Winter Games and how the movement is positioned heading into LA28.
• U.S. Soccer is poised to present a fiscal 2027 budget projecting record revenue of $397 million, driven largely by this summer’s FIFA World Cup in North America, writes SBJ’s Alex Silverman.
• Silverman also notes that MLS signed fintech company Chime as the presenting sponsor for its annual All-Star Game in a multiyear agreement, filling a void left by Target’s departure after the 2024 season.
• Legends Global will be the food and beverage provider at the Browns’ new Huntington Bank Field when the $2.4 billion stadium in Brook Park opens in 2029, reports SBJ’s Bret McCormick.
• In the wake of MLBPA boss Tony Clark’s resignation Tuesday, the spotlight falls on Deputy Executive Director Bruce Meyer. SBJ’s Mike Mazzeo offers a primer on the union’s lead labor negotiator, who’s seen as the most obvious successor for Clark.
• Sports betting platform Novig raised a $75 million million Series B round as it awaits Commodity Futures Trading Commission approval to transition into a prediction markets platform, writes SBJ’s Rob Schaefer.
• Schaefer also notes that Franklin Sports is entering padel with the launch of the “Duracore Padel Ball” and a multiyear deal to become the official ball of the Pro Padel League.