“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.
In the short term: An uncertain, Americanized World Cup calls for flexibility
Against this backdrop, the upcoming FIFA World Cup 26 tourney will call for both flexibility and sensitivity from brands.
We’re 100 days out from the biggest soccer tournament in history, with 48 teams competing across 80 matches, up from 64 matches in previous iterations. More than 40 of these will take place in U.S. venues, giving Fox huge sway over scheduling and primetime matches.
Bolstered by the Trump-era theatrics of the December draw, FIFA’s corruption allegations and potential ICE operations were already hanging over the event.
Now, an escalating U.S.–Iran conflict, stadium licensing debates, and as-of-yet unconfirmed ad formats, including commercialized hydration breaks, mean nothing is entirely predictable.
Remember when Budweiser, which paid $75 million to be the official beer of the World Cup in 2022, had to make a marketing U-turn after Qatari officials declared stadiums alcohol-free zones? Smart sponsors and marketers will be prepared for a similar level of chaos this time around.
Over the long term: LA28 cracks open new power dynamics
If we look further ahead to LA28, which NBCU is already promoting with help from Kate Hudson, another tug-of-war for influence lies ahead.
For the first time in the Games’ history, corporate sponsors are set to cover $2.5 billion of the privately-funded Games’ estimated $7.1 billion budget.
Those who have signed on to the highest domestic sponsorship tier so far include Delta, Honda, Starbucks, and Google. Airbnb, Coca-Cola, P&G, and Samsung are among the global partners.
The sponsorship parameters are changing, too. Intuit, for instance, is set to be one of the first companies ever allowed to keep a venue name for the Games, alongside Comcast Squash Center at Universal Studios and the Honda Center.
During past Games, in line with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) “clean venue” rules, existing corporate names for stadiums and arenas have not been used.
At LA28, the IOC is letting commercial influence spill beyond traditional ad slots. How far it will go remains unclear.
Judging by the controversy around LA28 chair Casey Wasserman’s historic email exchanges with Ghislaine Maxwell, and Hudson’s sun-soaked “California Dreamin’” cover, the next Olympics are shaping up as a full-on collision of entertainment and sport. It is Hollywood, after all.
Smart CMOs should start early on some “California Dreamin’” of their own, thinking about campaigns that can move fast and own the conversation.
But let’s get the World Cup out of the way first.
As Milano Cortina 2026 ends, NBCUniversal looks ahead to the Los Angeles Summer Games.
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