Here’s my take on sport in 2026. It’s shaped by time spent on various inputs: consumer data, cultural signals, conversations within sport – and the work of our research team in pulling it all together.

I’ve tried to avoid big predictions or familiar clichés, so what follows is a view of six small, compounding shifts already under way in how sport is being found, felt and valued.

They’re interpretations of evidence already visible and of what they currently mean for global rights holders. That’s why I’ve deliberately laid them out in a straightforward, almost formulaic, way. If nothing else, I hope you find some of it valuable and informative.

1. Attention will be actively protected

Observation
Recent research shows 58% of consumers experience moderate to extreme stress every day, with two in five feeling under constant pressure. In sport, our SportOnSocial analysis reveals how this translates directly into behaviour: a declining tolerance for long, repetitive or overly complex content, with a sharper drop-off if formats are deemed too demanding or cluttered.

Insights

The sports landscape has long been assumed to sit in the realm of ‘escape’, yet in our overloaded world such a position can no longer be taken for granted.

• When life feels like this, people actively protect their attention.
• Fans simplify their choices, cut back on noise, and avoid anything that feels like effort.
• They filter sport rather than disengaging from it.

Takeaways for rights holders

Clarity, comfort and effortlessness will win. Low-friction experiences will grow. Sports that are hard to understand, hard to follow, or hard to access will struggle. Design for ease. Simplify formats, schedules and digital journeys. Strip out friction and clutter.

• Attention cannot be assumed; it’s earned through respect for people’s time and mental energy.
• Simplify formats, schedules and digital journeys.
• Strip out friction and clutter.

2. Machines will mediate discovery

Observation

We see this everywhere, e.g. Mintel’s Anti-Algorithm trend which highlights growing frustration with opaque, feed-led discovery. Similarly, McKinsey indicates that AI overviews, conversational search and Agentic tools are rapidly reshaping how people explore and make decisions.

Across sectors, brands are reporting 20–30% drops in website traffic as users get answers without having to click through.

Insights

Sport is increasingly discovered through systems that interpret, summarise and recommend. Such models can explain sports, rank athletes and shape first impressions.

• If these systems don’t clearly understand your sport, your sport won’t show up. Or worse, it will show up incorrectly.
• For most rightsholders, this influence is happening accidentally rather than intentionally, so here’s the opportunity: search isn’t dying, it’s multiplying.

Takeaways for rights holders

• Clarify your story.
• Keep your rules, personalities and purpose simple, consistent and easy to interpret – for individuals and for the machines that increasingly shape discovery.

A useful test: ask an AI to explain your sport, or to rank the most complicated sports to understand. If yours appears near the top, you have work to do. Because if AI can’t clearly explain why your sport matters, many potential fans won’t find it at all.

3. ‘Real’ beats ‘perfect’

Observation
Across social media, the shift towards ‘real’ is well-documented. Euromonitor’s Fiercely Unfiltered trend is shifting towards raw, honest expression. SportOnSocial data mirrors this in practice: behind-the-scenes, personal and in-the-moment athlete content consistently outperforms highly produced output, particularly with younger audiences.

Insights

In a world of optimisation, sport’s rough edges can be advantageous. They don’t need to be staged or sanitised. They do need to be honest.

• Human imperfection becomes more valuable as digital experiences become smoother and more synthetic.
• Fans aren’t interested in polish; they connect with struggle, personality and vulnerability.

Takeaways for rights holders

In a world of filters and optimisation, honesty (well most honesty) is becoming a competitive advantage.

• Protect authenticity.
• Create space for messiness and emotion in storytelling.
• Stop sanding off the rough edges that make sport feel human. They are increasingly the source of trust and relevance.

4. Sport can fill the emotional gaps of modern life

Observation

History shows that during periods of economic and technological disruption, sport’s role expands. As industrialisation created the weekend, sport filled it. As society secularised, sport became a ritual. Today, McKinsey points to rising anxiety, a stronger focus on wellbeing, and a growing desire for meaning and balance in daily life.

Insights

As work and daily life become more abstract, automated and transactional, people gravitate towards experiences that feel physical, shared and emotionally grounding.

• Sport offers something few other categories can: unscripted drama, collective release, moments that cut through daily noise.
• People don’t look for more content when under pressure. They look for moments that help them feel connected: to each other, to culture, to something bigger than themselves.
• When sport creates those moments, it becomes less something you simply watch and more something you return to, build routines around, and weave into everyday life.

Takeaways for rights holders

Sports that understand what they offer emotionally – and how that appears in culture and everyday life – will remain essential, not optional. Are you a release, a ritual, a cultural moment, a shared habit?

• Be clear about the emotional role your sport plays in people’s lives.
• Design formats, experiences and storytelling around that role.
• Purpose matters, but not as a statement.
• Clarity of emotional value will determine whether sport stays central or becomes expendable.

5. Athletes are a primary driver

Observation

GWI consistently shows greater trust in individuals than institutions, especially among the young. SportOnSocial data illustrates how athlete-led content drives disproportionate discovery and engagement; yet, structurally, most rights holders still treat athletes as amplification tools instead of the primary entry point into a sport.

Insights

• For younger audiences, athletes are the entry point into sport.
• Athletes are how fans discover competitions, understand culture and form emotional connections.
• Teams and leagues are increasingly found through players, not the other way around. The disconnect isn’t in fan behaviour – it’s in the response of rights holders.

Takeaways for rights holders

The organisations that enable athletes to be visible, human and consistent will earn disproportionate cultural relevance.

• Empower athletes as storytellers. Provide them with guidance, support and trust.
• Treat players as your sport’s front door. For the next generation of fans, that precisely what they are.
• Don’t just launch an athlete programme. Own it … resource it … deliver it at scale.

6. From reach to preference

Observation

McKinsey projects continued low growth and cautious consumer spending across major markets. GWI highlights a widening gap between stated interest and actual behaviour, particularly when choice feels overwhelming or effortful.

Insights

Right holders have spent years optimising reach (to their detriment in some cases) The next phase is about earning preference – moment by moment, touchpoint by touchpoint.

• In a crowded, low-growth environment, scale without quality creates fatigue, not fandom.
• Fans tend to disengage quietly. A confusing app? A cluttered broadcast? A generic feed? Over time, tolerance wears thin.
• What looks like declining interest is often declining patience with poor execution

Takeaways for rights holders

Experience quality is now a direct driver of loyalty, trust and long-term value. In low-growth environments, poor execution quietly destroys brands long before metrics reveal it.

• Audit the full fan experience end-to-end – broadcast, digital, social, in-venue.
• Remove friction and fix the basics as small failure compound rapidly.

Some final thoughts

Collectively, these trends highlight a fundamental truth: sport in 2026 will depend on the amount it produces and more on how well it understands its role in people’s lives.

Gaining attention is harder to earn; discovery is increasingly mediated; authenticity matters more than mere polish; athletes are emerging as the primary driver; experience outweighs scale; sport’s emotional value rises under pressure.

None of this suggests reinvention but it does necessitate intent. Without it, many sports risk drifting away from relevance rather instead of purposefully shaping their own futures.

Get in touch to discuss how we can help make your sport more relevant in 2026.