SBJ Unpacks: Broadcasts grapple with sheer scale of FIFA World Cup

Tonight in Unpacks: With 96 games in less than a month in venues spread across a continent, broadcasters are already deep in planning for not only the logistical hurdles of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup but also how to deliver those games for a range of audiences, reports SBJ’s Mary Gaughan.

Also tonight:

• How teams, leagues are using the 2026 FIFA World Cup to draw in new fans
• MLB’s sponsor roster hits 46 as 2026 season begins
• T-Mobile’s ‘robo ump’ deal finally paying off
• Op-ed: Can teams execute their mixed-use district promises?

Listen to SBJ’s most popular podcast, Morning Buzzcast, where SBJ’s Austin Karp, Alex Silverman, Bret McCormick and David Broughton chime in from the Business of Soccer event in Atlanta with a look at the progress for the Centennial Yards mixed-use district and highlights of the conference’s first day.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is poised to be the most expansive and logistically complex broadcast operation the sport has ever seen, as media companies prepare to cover a record number of matches across three host countries while tailoring coverage for a wide range of audiences.

Speaking at the SBJ Business of Soccer conference Thursday, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises SVP/Sports Content Miguel Lorenzo, Fox Sports EVP/Productions Judy Boyd and DAZN EVP/Global Content Quim Domènech discussed how broadcasters and streamers are approaching the tournament, which will unfold over 39 days across the U.S., Canada and Mexico in a panel moderated by SBJ’s Austin Karp.

Scale was the overarching theme — both operationally and editorially. Lorenzo said, “This World Cup will be the most logistically complex World Cup that’s ever been organized.” He noted that under the 48-team expanded format, broadcasters will get through an entire World Cup under the previous structure before reaching the tournament’s first rest day.

For Fox, Boyd said the event’s density underscores the challenge. “We have 27 consecutive days of matches ... of which 96 matches will have been played,” she said. “It’s a logistical massive plan that has to take place.”

Domènech, who noted DAZN has the rights to the tournament in Japan, Spain and Italy, described a different hurdle: building a customized international operation on a condensed timeframe. “We have started preparing the tournament, I would say two, three months ago, because it was a last-minute deal,” he said.

Crossing into streaming

The discussion also emphasized how the World Cup is becoming a showcase of the modern sports media ecosystem, with linear TV, streaming and social platforms all serving different roles. Fox plans to put 70 matches on Fox, including 40 in prime time on the East Coast, while also leaning on Tubi and Fox One as streaming outlets to reach younger, more diverse audiences.

DAZN is leveraging the flexibility of streaming, with continuous programming starting an hour before the first match and ending an hour after the last.

Telemundo is also taking a segmented approach to cater to a wide variety of viewers. Matches will air across Telemundo and Peacock, while Telemundo Deportes Ahora, the company’s 24/7 sports FAST channel, will focus on shoulder programming, including pre- and postgame coverage and analysis.

Panelists also emphasized both the challenge and opportunity of sustaining storytelling across a 39-day tournament. Lorenzo said Telemundo’s footprint of more than 100 owned-and-operated stations and affiliates will be key to capturing community-level stories across the U.S.

He added that Telemundo’s approach reflects the diversity of Hispanic viewers in the U.S., many of whom support both Team USA and a country of family origin. “Soccer is ingrained in our DNA and it’s a very communal co-viewing watching experience, watching it with family,” he said. He added that the network will localize broadcasts with talent that reflects specific fan bases to ensure the viewing experience feels native.

International echo

DAZN is facing a different version of that challenge, building coverage for Spain, Italy and Japan while also thinking beyond live rights. Domènech noted the company is planning a global show, “The Zone 48,” featuring creators from every country in the tournament to capture atmosphere, fan reaction and local storytelling around the event. Even in markets where rights are not held, he said DAZN sees an opportunity to own the broader conversation around soccer.

The panelists emphasized that this could become the most local World Cup yet, despite its global scale. Lorenzo pointed to Telemundo’s footprint of more than 100 owned-and-operated stations and affiliates as a key advantage in telling community-level stories across the U.S. Boyd noted the tournament’s natural fit within North America’s diverse, smaller, community-driven markets, where spontaneous fan celebrations and national pride are expected to shape the atmosphere in host cities. “Those are the stories that we want to make sure that we show on TV,” she said.

At the same time, broadcasters are leaning into personality-driven coverage to keep audiences engaged throughout the tournament. Fox recently added former soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimović to its World Cup talent lineup, a move Boyd said reflects the network’s approach to authenticity. “We want him to be him,” she said. “He doesn’t pull punches.”

With planning years in the making — and in some cases much less — broadcasters are entering the final stretch before kickoff. “Watching them play in the United States and hearing the U.S. anthem ... it’s going to be a special moment,” Lorenzo said.

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaching, organizations and leagues look to take advantage of the growing excitement to create lifelong fans of the sport in all leagues. MLS Chief Marketing Officer Radhika Duggal, Canadian Soccer Media & Entertainment CEO and CPL Commissioner James Johnson and Gotham FC Chief Business Officer Ryan Dillon spoke on their marketing plans ahead of the World Cup in a panel moderated by SBJ’s Alex Silverman.

Below are highlights from the panel.

On how each organization plans to measure interest and impact during the World Cup

Duggal: “We are focused on two metrics. First, brand interest, and the second is viewership across our platforms. ... We can focus on measuring brand interest essentially through a third-party survey. ... We’re going to market with our clubs, 31 marketing engines together with the same message. We are going to market with our partners and our sponsors. Again, same message to bring soccer and the World Cup excitement and connect that to our players and our clubs.”

Johnson: “What we’re after is, No. 1, with the structure that we have in place, we really want to build the commercial engine for the sport in terms of sponsorship, both national team and also league merch and also licensing and also our media properties. ... Our second focus is on breaking into the mainstream. And the third is really positioning both the national teams, and also the league, to really be the vehicle that drives the interest in the sport, particularly with the new fans that we think will come on board after the World Cup.”

On marketing challenges alongside the World Cup

Duggal: “This year, I think every brand, every club, every league is going to be challenged to break through in an incredibly cluttered media market. ... But then again, thinking about that connected ecosystem, how do we pull every single lever at our disposal to make sure people have eyeballs on that creative?”

Dillon: “We think about the week of the World Cup final, which we’re playing. It’s going to be the most commercial period in the history of New York City. Our view has been what can we do that nobody else can deliver, which is actually bringing our product into New York that week. And so that’s our unique differentiator. ... But beyond that, I think awareness continues to be a challenge for us. So, we think about where we are in our growth stage.”

On the Canadian Premier League’s data strategy to track current and prospective fans

Johnson: “The opportunity in Canada is we have a really high participation number. There are 700,000 players that play week in, week out. And we know that after hosting a World Cup, you tend to see a 10% to 15% lift in participation numbers. We’ve recently renewed our deal with Canada Soccer, and one of the core assets in that deal is that we will be given access to the national registration system. ... It’s first-party data. It’s not only people, but it’s also people that love the sport because they’re playing it.”

On messaging to soccer fans versus consumers

Duggal: “The best-kept secret is that we think that consumers of soccer are different from consumers of workout equipment, who are different from consumers of bank accounts. ... Some of the incredibly focused lessons I’ve learned and how you communicate to those people, targeting matters the most. That matters in soccer, that probably matters in workout equipment, and that probably matters in bank accounts. Targeting is first and foremost. Reach the right consumer. Then what you say matters. How you communicate with that person, the message, the next best action. What are you asking them to do? That matters second.”

MLB heads into the new season with 46 official sponsors, the biggest lineup in recent memory.

The list includes eight first-year brands and new categories, such as prediction market exchange (Polymarket) and home search, home rental (Zillow).

Chevrolet, the league’s official automobile since 2005, was replaced by Ford. LoanDepot (a sponsor since 2021); Mattress Firm, Charlotte’s Web (CBD) and Dairy Queen (each since 2022); and BlueForge Alliance (submarine builder, since 2024) also did not return to the fold this season.

Gallo’s Mark West Wines brands fill a category that had been vacant since the end of the 2023 season, when Constellation Brands did not extend what had been a four-year partnership for its Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi label.

Starting with Wednesday’s debut of the MLB season on Netflix, you’ll be subject to considerable technospeak regarding the new automated ball and strike challenge system, aka ABS or Roboump.

Realize you’re in the marketing geek subsection here, where bits and bytes will always be secondary to brand fits and property rights. From our entrenched vantage point at the intersection of sports and commerce, longtime MLB sponsor T-Mobile’s activation of those rights is what’s engrossing here. T-Mo, now America’s No. 2 cell carrier, got those ABS rights some three years back, and it had to wait for the system to wend its way through baseball’s political machinations and technological tribulations before it could leverage them from a marketing perspective.

New private 5G networks for servicing ABS have been installed at every MLB venue except Toronto’s Rogers Centre.

It’s too early, and we’re not remotely qualified enough to pass judgment on the technology backing ABS. What we’ve seen of the branding is a “wow” on its own. Through new marketing deals with 21 teams (seven of which were already fully sponsored by T-Mo), the carrier will brand those teams’ ABS challenges with its familiar magenta logo in-stadium and on local broadcasts. Those 21 team alliances will give T-Mo its largest local presence since signing on as an MLB sponsor in 2013.

T-Mo also has exclusivity on national broadcasts, such as Netflix’s Yankees-Giants season opener on Wednesday night. All U.S. broadcasts will say “powered by T-Mobile” on the first challenge (including the nine teams below), and all challenges of the 21 clubs under T-Mobile sponsorships will carry the branding.

Teams not in that T-Mo circle (generally those with large Verizon or AT&T sponsorships) are the Dodgers, Mets, Rays, Blue Jays, Phillies, Braves, White Sox, Cardinals and Nationals.

As hype-averse as we are, when T-Mo Director of Sports Sponsorship Mike Gendreau termed the activation of these rights a “transformational moment,” we’re in accord.

“The model we want for every partnership is integrated relationships around real network integration,” he said. “This allows us to put our network at center stage in an important MLB innovation, and it’s something we’ve been working on for years, so yeah, we’re eager for launch.”

T-Mo and MLB used Google’s cloud-based Statcast, which tracks latter-day metrics like exit velocity and pitch spin rate in all MLB parks, as a model.

However, the incursion of technology onto the playing field, brought to mind the Sony Hawk-Eye “line to gain” virtual measurement within NFL games, adopted last season, and also a byproduct of a league sponsorship. Sony’s version is unbranded; which do you think is the better value for a sponsor?

With the introduction of ABS, MLB is looking for greater accuracy and fan engagement. As for T-Mo, one of MLB’s largest and most tenured sponsors? “We’re listening for fan response, of course,” said Gendreau. “We also want to know if this will be moving the needle for us, as far as perception of our network preference and quality.”

We’ll be even more impressed if T-Mo can find a way to integrate its ABS “ownership” into the annual HR Derby, where there are no balls and strikes.

When she looks back, Claire Rafferty thinks she may have enjoyed playing soccer outside of England. A former left back for Millwall, Chelsea and West Ham who appeared for both the English and Great Britain national teams, her career was centered in the greater London area.

A chance to play in the U.S. — “anywhere in the sunny side of America,” she joked — or potentially Australia would’ve been welcomed, but neither was really achievable. “That lack of network, lack of visibility, lack of transparency, kept me in the UK,” Rafferty told me.

Rafferty is now working to give all of those support mechanisms to today’s footballers at international marketplace TransferRoom, where she has been a driving force behind the platform’s newly launched women’s marketplace. Officially kicked off at the end of February, the TransferRoom women’s marketplace has accumulated approximately 50 clubs worldwide as clients in 20 days, Rafferty said, adding its first league deal recently with the USL Super League.

As to how it works: Teams that sign with TransferRoom receive a full squad list that shows crucial info like current contract terms and projected transfer valuations for every player. Teams can go into that list and make players available (from short-term loans up to permanent moves), which then becomes visible for other clubs on the platform as a launch point for negotiations.

The marketplace will start adding agencies into the mix in April, Rafferty said, giving teams a centralized communications hub that avoids the badgering of various channels (email, WhatsApp, etc.) that have often led to massive outreach from player reps at all angles. TransferRoom doesn’t share pricing information publicly because subscription fees vary based on the choice of service and the size of agencies and clubs.

Rafferty, a senior customer success manager, advocated steadily for this feature in her four years at TransferRoom “not just because I love women’s football, but because I believed it had the potential, and what we already had in place had the potential, to totally revolutionize women’s football.”

Over 10,000 deals in men’s soccer

TransferRoom has grown into an essential tool in international men’s football, building out relationships with approximately 800 clubs, 130 leagues, and 600 agencies. The platform recently eclipsed 10,000 verified deals across the world on the men’s side. Those international tethers are a boost to Rafferty’s efforts. She estimates that she’s spoken with more than 200 clubs during the three-month buildup to the official launch of the marketplace.

Data around women’s sports — whether it’s related to this marketplace, athlete biometrics or advanced analytics — often starts at a nearly blank slate because foundational research, for the longest time, focused on men or information just didn’t get the same record-keeping treatment. That speaks to the essential effort Rafferty sees ahead: providing clarity and true value for all the parties involved to keep lifting the sport.

“There’s lots of different nuances,” Rafferty said. “Clubs have very differing internal infrastructures, so that also is difficult to navigate. Some have more layers, some have less. Some have a manager doing the recruiting, doing the planning, doing the booking,

“Every single club you speak to is unique. However, the challenges are quite consistent.”

Community benefits agreements (CBAs) have reached an inflection point, and most teams haven’t recognized it yet. For decades, CBAs functioned as political mitigation tools — negotiated late in the approval process to offset construction impacts, address game-day labor concerns and secure buy-in long enough to break ground. That model worked when stadiums were single-use assets operating 15 to 20 days annually. But it fails when applied to sports-anchored, mixed-use districts where people live, work and raise families year-round.

In district-scale development, CBAs reflect how teams and their ownership groups will function as long‑term community actors. Teams must incorporate meaningful community benefits early and, more critically, bring in the financial and operational resources to deliver these commitments over time — or face heightened legislative scrutiny and diminished public trust.

The limits of traditional CBAs in district-scale development

Early CBAs assumed a simple relationship: Teams and fans arrive for games, generate temporary disruption and otherwise remain largely absent from neighborhood life. Agreements focused on construction-period jobs, traffic management, event-day labor and discretionary community investments. These made sense for facilities hosting a set number of games annually with limited ancillary activity.

Modern sports districts integrate fundamentally different land uses, combining residential development, office space, hotels, destination retail, restaurants and public plazas operating 365 days a year. Team owners become landlords, major employers, public-space managers and quasi-municipal actors exercising governance over daily neighborhood functions.

If sports districts are to function as true neighborhoods, teams must design their CBAs to anticipate governance requirements and support the neighborhoods’ needs over time. Traditional CBAs that treat agreements as charitable packages or game-day safeguards are simply not equipped to meet the ongoing responsibilities these neighborhoods demand.

Three jurisdictions demonstrate the range of modern CBAs

Three recent deals illustrate how teams and jurisdictions are taking differing approaches to district-scale CBA negotiations.

Kansas’ agreement with the Kansas City Chiefs is structured as a more traditional, facility‑centered CBA. The term sheet includes charitable contributions, payments into a community impact fund restricted to sports facilities and youth programs, and workforce commitments framed as “commercially reasonable efforts.” Commitments related to mixed-use development, including affordable housing reservations, appear separately under anticipated future development.

Washington, D.C., established requirements for the CBA before negotiations even began on the Washington Commanders’ proposed RFK campus. The D.C. Code required that the Commanders’ CBA commit at least $50 million over 30 years across five prescribed categories. The law also established an oversight entity and authorized additional funds for displacement prevention, blight revitalization, small business support and public health programs — pairing mandated benefits with institutional infrastructure to enforce them over time.

In negotiations for the Kraft Group’s Everett stadium project, Massachusetts made community benefits procedurally inseparable from economic development approvals. A provision added to the state’s Mass Leads Act required the Kraft Group to secure CBAs with the cities of Boston and Everett before the stadium project could move forward, identifying formal mediation timelines and mandating binding arbitration by December 31, 2025, if no agreements were reached. The agreements, both finalized by the statutory deadline, secure hundreds of millions in direct payments, permanent per-ticket revenue sources, environmental mitigation efforts and significant infrastructure improvements.

What teams miss: The operational complexity

While the approaches taken by D.C., Kansas and Massachusetts illustrate different mechanisms by which teams and local governments are negotiating district-scale CBAs, they expose a critical gap. None of these jurisdictions required teams to demonstrate operational capacity before approving multidecade commitments. This gap — between statutory frameworks and on-the-ground execution — is where most CBAs struggle to deliver on their promises.

District-scale CBAs create long-term obligations that most teams are not yet organized to manage, including multidecade financial tracking, workforce hiring and retention verification, affordable housing compliance, community fund administration and public space activation beyond ticketed events. The challenge isn’t including these commitments in CBAs; it’s building the operational and financial infrastructure to deliver them.

One less-than-obvious commitment illustrates this gap: extended-hours child care. If teams allocate a child care commitment in their CBAs — and they should — they need to be prepared to offer on-site facilities, nontraditional hours, affordability indexed to district wages and sustained operating subsidies — and maintain these operations for decades.

These same operational and financial considerations apply across stormwater management needs, firehouse proximity, public school enrollment impact, federal affordable housing compliance and traffic-calming strategies. Every CBA line item carries long‑term operational consequences and community effects.

From my experience administering D.C. labor policy, I saw how workforce infrastructure failures cascade. When teams don’t build the internal capacity required to deliver their obligations, community members disengage, local tenant businesses struggle and district activation and revenue projections suffer. Teams ultimately return to legislatures for relief — only now, legislative goodwill is spent and community trust is eroded.

Why this matters for teams considering district development

Sports districts create multidecade relationships between teams and legislatures where future negotiations around lease amendments, tax incentives, infrastructure funding and jurisdictional support are all but inevitable. Teams that anticipate and allocate operational capacity can create genuine community partnerships that compound in value through district activation that drives revenue beyond game days, workforce stability that attracts quality tenants and institutional credibility that unlocks future development opportunities.

Tiffany Cruz Oates is a director in Secretariat’s Global Sports Consulting practice, advising on sports venue development and public-private partnerships. She previously served as general counsel of the District of Columbia Department of Employment Services.

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