The sports market is becoming more globalized, diverse and collaborative. These trends are leading sports marketing to become more diversified, fan-focused and interactive.
These are the conclusions of a new report, The 2025 State of Sports Marketing, released recently by Canvas Worldwide. The report, sponsored by Brand Innovators, was presented at the recent Cannes Lions advertising festival, to underscore the new priorities for sports marketing.
Sports remains a universal language, noted Paul Woolmington, Canvas CEO. A prime test of this trend will be the FIFA 2026 World Cup, played in the US, Canada and Mexico—three countries “currently experiencing significant political tensions,” he notes.
The evolution of sport is opening new opportunities – from the internationalization of the NFL and soccer to the emergence of F1 in the U.S. and the exploding popularity of women’s sports with all kinds of audiences. Sports marketers are meeting the challenge with an increased focus on data-driven decision making, a more inclusive pitch to the fan base that recognizes their integral role in brand building, and a recognition of the place of sport in cultural conversations.
“The opportunity is to participate in cultural moments of genuine significance – to be part of conversations that matter,” Woolmington writes. “The responsibility is to approach these moments with authenticity and respect, recognizing that we are guests in a sacred space.”
An $862 Billion Market
The global sports market is expected to grow to $862 billion by 2023, a steady 7% annual growth rate. This will be driven by a number of changes in audiences and in their relationship with sports, the report notes. Television—which remains the main conduit for sport consumption—has adapted to many changes, from the growth of women’s sports to the emergence of Formula 1 racing in the U.S. At the same time linear TV has adapted to many technological changes, including the emergence of streaming, but more are coming.
Sports, and especially live events, offer the best opportunities for “engagement unmatched by anything else that can be paused or binged,” according to the report. But the economics of the segment are becoming disruptive to television as a whole. The market for sports media rights is in flux, and the rising costs are in turn reshaping sports content, transforming both advertising and entertainment aspects of sport.
The report quotes analyst Brian Weiser of Madison and Wall who estimates sports rights costs to grow nearly 8% annually over the last two decades and will continue growing by 7% annually through this decade. This creates an “unsustainable dynamic,” he concludes. Based on those estimates, by 2029 sports rights will take up more than half of programming spending across TV networks, streaming and local stations. That could affect their spending on non-sports content, widening the existing divide between sports and entertainment programming.
Sports also has to contend with fragmented attention from audiences, according to the report. It cites statistics from Deloitte that show 77% of fans are multitasking while watching sports on TV.
“This multiscreen, multiplatform engagement has made sports marketing more complex, but also more rewarding for brands, as they develop innovative ways to tap into the spirit of communities,” the report notes. Traditional sports sponsorship models are giving way to more targeted and bespoke approaches, including direct relationships with athletes, now that players have gained more control over their name and likeness (NIL).
Technology and social media are sharply altering the way that leagues teams and players are interacting with the public. Even as sports marketers are making increased use of data and technology, so are fans, who now have multiple channels to consume sports content and connect with their idols and one another.
“The culture of sports is ever more increasingly driven by tech,” says the report. It notes that fans’ ability to dive into sports metrics can only enrich their experience and engagement, while sharing it on social media deepens the fandom. This could be the most profound transformation in the way that sports organizations connect with audiences, according to the report.
“This new dynamic presents exciting questions about the myriad ways we experience athletic competition and fandom and the marketing that supports it,” the report warns.
Sports Trumps Nationalities
While “the evolution of sport as a global business carries a distinctly American accent,” the model has been adopted worldwide, Woolmington writes. Rather than simply exploring the same practices, sports marketers are adapting practices with cultural relevance and building “more genuine fusion between sporting traditions, creating new hybrid forms that honor local cultures, while engaging global audiences.”
The report zeros in on the success of the NFL overseas, as well as the growth of Formula 1 racing in the US – and the rise of women’s sports everywhere. F1 has demonstrated the ability to rake in sponsorships as it expands in the US, with the average sponsorship value rising to $5.08 million from $2.87 five years ago. Conversely, the NFL has expanded internationally, with a $150 million deal with Netflix and record audiences at exhibition games abroad, all supported by a concerted push on social media, where the league has built an audience of 2 billion followers with 1,500 weekly content posts.
And while soccer has always been popular outside the U.S., it has experienced a surge thanks to events such as the signing of superstar Lionel Messi by Miami. The sport is expected to explode in the US in 2026, as North America hosts the FIFA World Cup.
“The transformation of soccer’s media presents in America reflects broader changes in sports consumption,” says the report, singling out the success of Apple TV’s MLS season pass as an example.
U.S. media and sponsors have embraced soccer, whose audiences skew more demographically diverse by age and ethnicity, the report notes. Women’s soccer, driven by the success of the US national team, has been “a vital dimension of the sport’s evolution in America.”
Women’s sports in general have created a wealth of opportunities for marketers. “Major brands are escalating their investment in women’s sports, recognizing the unique opportunity to connect with engaged audiences,” the report concludes.
Sports as the New Town Square
All of these developments are increasingly connected by technologies that allow fans to engage, whether in person or electronically. Technologies improve the in-person experience at events such as the Paris Olympics or the US Open, even as the viewers at home can get a more immersive experience. The report notes that NBCU, which broadcast the Paris games, achieved record-breaking engagement and the highest ad revenue in its history using technology to add more immersive layers to the fan experience; the company is looking forward to building on that success during the 2026 Winter games in Cortina.
Anticipation is building for many events scheduled in 2026, including the World Cup and Winter Olympics, but the report notes also a sense that sports is in a transitional moment. It notes many known quantities in sport are close to retirement, including Messi, the LA Lakers’ Lebron James and Olympic gymnast Simone Biles; while young talent such as tennis players Coco Gauff and Carlos Alcaraz are still proving themselves.
Meanwhile, the confluence of sports and media continues, as witnessed by the Taylor Swift Effect in the Super Bowl and the rise of sports figures and WAGs as social media influencers. “These aren’t isolated incidents but rather symptoms of a larger phenomenon: the emergence of sports as our modern town square, our shared cultural nucleus,” the report notes.
This is why brands need to make sure to leverage opportunities to become part of the storytelling of sport, the report concludes. They have to continue adapting and driving to these changes and keeping alert to opportunities and challenges as the sports world continues to evolve at a pace.
“Sports has transcended traditional role as mere athletic competition to become the defining cultural touchstone of our time,” the report concludes. “This transformation is reshaping not just how we experience sports, but how brands engage with audiences across a progressively borderless world.”
