“Legendary February”—as NCBUniversal dubbed the bumper month that drew 250 advertisers across the Super Bowl, Milano Cortina 2026, and the NBA All-Star weekend—laid bare two realities.
First, and unsurprisingly, CMO budgets continue to pour into marquee sports moments.
Advertisers, including AB InBev, DoorDash, and OpenAI, all joined in last month’s festivities, chasing reach and cultural clout. They activated not just during broadcasts but via Big Game-adjacent gigs, NBA events and Olympics village pop-ups.
Second, the real competition is happening away from the podium. Sports have become an arena where brands, TV networks, governing bodies, and even the President compete for influence.
Marketers are wagering multimillion‑dollar budgets in a world where broadcasters hold the power and audiences are fragmented. This was clear at the Winter Olympics, where its Super Bowl adjacent timing let NBCUniversal upsell integrated ad packages, with roughly 70–75% of Super Bowl advertisers, including Starbucks and Michelob Ultra, bought in and around both.
On the politics front, the Super Bowl saw several brands, including Rocket Companies, Make America Healthy Again, and Hims & Hers, address the division in America. Most, however, played it safe with lighthearted ads and campaigns that spoke to culture.
Diplomacy was in shorter supply during the Winter Games in Milan. Team USA’s opening ceremony entrance was overshadowed by boos aimed at U.S. Vice President JD Vance, while women’s hockey captain Hilary Knight criticised President Donald Trump’s distasteful joke after her team’s gold medal win.
March Madness now looms. Then in June, the FIFA World Cup will kick off across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
Soccer’s big moment precedes smaller, yet still global events, like the Commonwealth Games (shout out to the host, my native city of Glasgow, Scotland) and the Asian Games in Japan. The ICC T20 World Cup 2026 and UEFA Champions League Final are also taking place before the summer.
And while it may feel distant, the road to the 2028 Summer Olympics is already well underway.
With a new funding model and more than $2 billion in sponsorship commitments secured, LA28 is shaping up to be the most commercially ambitious Olympics yet.
For advertisers investing in sport, the stakes have rarely been higher.
Broadcasters yield increasing power, while formats are evolving and naming rights are reshaping sponsorship economics. Elsewhere, geopolitical tensions, including the recent escalation between the U.S., Israel and Iran, continue to influence the broader conversation.
