What single moment or pattern from this year’s Super Bowl best captured how the sports industry is changing?
The brands that won treated the Super Bowl as a cultural ecosystem – not a 30-second media buy. With more than 20 clients activating across Super Bowl week, the clearest takeaway was that impact no longer hinges on a single 30-second spot. The biggest winners were brands that activated before kickoff, during the game across social and earned media, building sustained momentum rather than betting everything on one moment.
Just as important was how effectively brands blended sports and culture. The Super Bowl now extends far beyond the field of play. Dairy Queen’s “Taylor and Swift” campaign is a strong example. By tapping Jets quarterback Tyrod Taylor and Bears running back D’Andre Swift to promote the Taylor and Swift Halftime Feast and new Chicken Strip Party Platters, the brand inserted itself into a broader cultural conversation with a wink.
The result, for a non-official NFL sponsor, was engaging content and widespread coverage across People, USA Today, and a range of sports outlets, reaching entertainment audiences alongside fans planning their Super Bowl Sunday parties.
This marks a structural shift. The Super Bowl is no longer a sports broadcast – it is a cultural marketplace that rewards participation, not just presence.
What can we learn from the NFL’s approach to content and influencers?
The NFL has completely reorganized its media center around the modern media ecosystem. The league has long been an early adopter of emerging platforms, and this year that commitment was unmistakable. TikTok had a significant on-site presence, Threads was highly visible inside the media center, and the influencer footprint was unmatched, spanning creators from lifestyle names such as Alix Earle to sports-native voices like Bussin’ with the Boys. Even 15 colleges had credential media outlets on site, reflecting how sports content creation is more accessible and wider-reaching than ever before.
Equally telling was how brands approached the moment. Those that prioritized bold, visually compelling experiences effectively fed social algorithms and, in turn, dominated the channels of high-profile creators. Brands that understood how content travels won disproportionate attention.
Perhaps most symbolically, the term “Radio Row” now feels outdated. What was once a broadcast and radio hub has become a cross-platform creator marketplace, where podcasts, athlete-led media, digital networks, and social-first outlets sit alongside traditional broadcasters.
The Super Bowl has evolved into a content engine designed for distribution across every modern platform.
For brands, this shift means that activating around the Super Bowl requires an international lens, particularly for companies with global ambitions, as the audience, media, and cultural impact now extend well beyond U.S. borders.
What does the visibility of women’s sports during Super Bowl week say about broader cultural momentum?
The visibility of women’s sports during Super Bowl week reinforced a shift that is no longer emerging, but now mainstream.
The influence of women’s sports showed up across the ecosystem, from fan engagement and media coverage to onsite activations. NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman was front and center throughout the week discussing the league’s upcoming season and NFL crossover with team owners like Eli Manning and Bryce Young. League One Volleyball brought talent to the media center and hosted a special event in celebration of its newly announced San Francisco-based club. USA Football also utilized its women’s flag football roster as spokespeople for the growing sport ahead of LA28 throughout the week. Even women’s sports brand TOGETHXR got in on the fun, debuting a custom “EVERYONE WATCHES WOMEN’S SPORTS” shirt in Spanish — “TODO EL MUNDO VE DEPORTES DE FEMENINOS” — and presenting it to J Balvin at the NFL’s celebrity flag football game.
As audiences continue to grow and crossover, and as cultural relevance deepens, brands already investing in women’s sports now face a clear opportunity — and expectation — to tap in. The next phase of growth will come from showing up consistently across major cultural tentpoles, including moments like the Super Bowl, where influence, attention, and fandom converge.
What learnings from the Super Bowl apply to the sports year ahead, from March Madness to the World Cup?
The core lesson is simple: moments are bigger, louder, and longer than ever and brands must operate accordingly. The Super Bowl reinforced that major sporting events are no longer confined to a single broadcast window. They are multi-week cultural platforms where conversation begins well before the event and extends well beyond the final whistle. That dynamic will apply directly to March Madness and, in particular, to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The first half of 2026 will be one of the most significant periods for global sports in history.
One of the biggest misconceptions in sports marketing is that brands must be official sponsors to have a meaningful ROI of participation. While official partnerships provide scale and access, they are not the only path to impact. The Super Bowl showed that brands willing to lean into culture, timing, and creative storytelling can break through without official logos on the field.
That lesson becomes even more relevant as we look toward the World Cup. It will be one of the largest global events ever hosted in the United States, yet many American marketers are still approaching it cautiously or too late. Brands that wait for the official whistle risk missing the broader cultural runway that makes these moments powerful.
The opportunity ahead is clear. Treat tentpole sporting events as cultural ecosystems, not media buys. The brands that build sustained narratives, tap into creators, and activate across the modern media ecosystem before and beyond the event will outperform those that rely solely on sponsorship rights.
The Super Bowl was the signal. 2026 will separate the culturally fluent from the culturally invisible.
The 2026 Super Bowl confirmed a structural shift: in modern sports, reputation moves at the speed of culture – and culture no longer lives in a single moment.
