The audiences are more accessible. The TAM has never been bigger. And the position of sports at or near the center of culture around the world is clear. In 2026, the aperture is wider than ever for sports and digital/social, so teams must focus on impact with the metrics. The ‘so what’ as a colleague of mine likes to say.
There was once a time when organic reach with one’s followers was 15-25%, but now no reach is guaranteed. But the path to reaching and engaging audiences is simple — create good content that your desired audience will enjoy.
That has changed the equation. Virality is a dime a dozen nowadays, relatively speaking (random accounts go viral on TikTok every day), but creating metrics that matter, building deep relationships, and cultivating (and participating in) engaging communities are where the strategy and the ‘so what’ lie.
Last year, I wrote about a variety of subjects for the sports industry to consider in 2025 (in-game social, community management, micro-communities, niche content, creator strategy 3.0, content franchises, +Experiences, generative AI, games, drops, Live, and much more. Many of those topics and concepts covered last year remain relevant a year later.
But as 2026 kicks off, I want to try something different, quick-hitting sparks that’ll hopefully provoke internal or external conversations or new approaches. The so what and the opportunities in plain sight, if developed intelligently.
Pulling from my day job, I’ll start with ten tips about how to approach data analysis, data-driven strategy, and storytelling more effectively. Then, I’ll highlight ten areas ripe with opportunity, building on behaviors and paradigm shifts playing out as the new year begins.
I’m no expert, and I’m hopeful any prognostications will not be 100% correct (you’re not taking bold swings then!). But the value of these columns is to think about what you’re not thinking about, ask the next-level questions, and stimulate compelling conversations to strive for greatness in 2026 and beyond.
Mean/Median/Max
You might remember those terms from middle school (elementary school?) math class, but it’s important in any job these days to understand and appreciate the difference between the three. Each tells a distinct, data-based story about performance over time and benchmarking, and each can be spun or misconstrued if not dealt with objectively and comprehensively.
Mean is the good ‘ole average. You may think about average reach, average engagement, average engagement rate, etc. — and that’s fine. But don’t be blind to the fact that the same average can be achieved in a lot of ways, and tells a different story. One super-viral post can frost over weeks of subpar performance, or evenly distributed base hits can add up. Which brings us to…
Median. You remember median? The middle number. This is only useful (imo) across a large enough data set. If your median is significantly different than your mean, it means you may be bottom-heavy or top-heavy. It may obfuscate your big home runs (or vice-versa), though (which average an account for), which brings us to…
Max. What does peak performance look like? Is it getting higher every year? All of this stats talk is why I’m a fan of a moneyball approach to metrics. Would you rather be Luis Arraez or Kyle Schwarber? You can end up at the same average engagement/reach, but I’d rather have a higher slugging percentage, even if the batting average is dicey. This all leads to…
Ask the hard questions
Celebrate your increases. Rally around the stories that put performance in the best light. But don’t run away from the hard questions — run towards them. Is that high engagement rate because of lower reach? Did the metrics go up mainly because of a record-breaking performance or something out of your control? That’s fine! But acknowledge it and maybe even compare it to the last analogous predictably high performer. Red team your best data performance stories — what are the factors that drove it besides you and your staff being great at your job? And vice-versa, where was incremental value created where it would be unexpected?
It’s not always easy to be honest and ask the hard questions, but it’ll present a clearer picture and uncover greater insights. Which brings us to…
Ask the next questions
Your numbers are crushing it. Benchmarks are getting surpassed, the highs are higher and the lows are, well, higher. That’s great, but so what? Do the five whys (originated at Toyota) or something like that. Ask why — why did performance improve, why will that ‘success’ matter, etc. etc. This isn’t just about retrospective, but forward-looking, too. It forces one to get deeper into the heart of the matter and think beyond the silo of the day-to-day tasks or departmental job. Don’t turn every finding and insight into something bigger than it is, but ask those next questions about what it means, why it matters, and what action could or should be taken next. And always keep in mind…
Context matters
Nothing happens in a vacuum. There are factors that can enhance, diminish, or dilute performance. Metrics for success, in definition and scale, can differ depending on resources, circumstances, and even vibes. The team with engagement metrics through the roof can get there from the team being unexpectedly great (yay!) or unexpectedly awful (fans are pissed) — that fans are actively interacting is almost always a good sign, but there’s a different story playing out in each case, and, for some brands and businesses, that can mean everything. Similarly, be careful with comparison. An organization with endless resources is probably going to be able to churn out more and bigger metrics than one operating super-lean (but not always, and that’s why context matters and can tell a richer story!). A player receiving thousands of photos from his/her team may end up posting team content more often than another player receiving only a few pics throughout the year. A month-over-month comparison may look different if the team played X more games in that month compared to another month, or one season had a huge trade and free agent signing and one didn’t. This isn’t about excuses, it’s about understanding the full context and not leaning into vanity metrics with no meaning, which leads to…
The Thing About Views
‘View’ counts can be deceiving. Or, at least, they tell only partial stories. In sports ticketing, the industry often talks about FSEs (full season equivalents). You could get to 5 FSEs through sundry paths. One full season ticket and eight half-seasons, a few quarter seasons and a hodgepodge of miniplans, etc. etc., you get the idea. Similarly, there are innumerable ways to think about, say, a six-minute video. The viewers that watch only a quarter of the video matter, so do those who watch the whole thing, and everything beyond and in between. But here’s to taking an FSE-approach to videos to more effectively understand success (among many other ways to slice and dice watch time and trends!). There’s another level to this, too, which is…
Audience matters
Sometimes, oftentimes, who you reach matters as much, if not more, than how many. Audience goals go beyond the highest numbers and once you understand, you can operate on a higher level of strategy. I’d rather my podcast reach the 100 thought leaders in sports business than 1000 random people, for example. The goal of every post, every platform, every strategy is not always to reach the biggest audience, but the biggest right audience. Sometimes that means everybody. Super Bowl ads are valuable for a reason. But some businesses and brands may only care about reaching parents, high wealth individuals, students, Hispanic audiences, subsscribers, non-subscribers, etc. etc. Your audience goals require more nuanced measurement and thinking. As do…
The Unmeasurables
Some of the most valuable impact is simply not measurable. And that’s okay. We can’t measure how often a fan randomly thinks about the team or brings them up in casual conversation. It’s difficult to measure content driving someone from liking to loving a team or player, the degree of emotion and identity one feels. It’s hard to measure a fan or partner perceiving a team’s dedication to a community initiative or project, even if they don’t engage with your content about it. This list can go on and on — and I’d say it’s well worth your time to brain dump and document all the things you cannot (or believe you cannot) measure, and in turn understand the correlations for those meaningful unmeasurables. But also have your eyes open to…
The forgotten measurables
We’re drowning in data, but it’s helpful to consider what you’re not measuring, too. One of the most useful analysis sessions to do periodically is to consider what things you know that you don’t know (as confusing as that sounds). That content that’s flopping on organic social media may be crushing in your app, on paid social, or email. How is the growth and/or virality of your athletes or even your sponsors (especially endemic sponsors) being considered, if at all? Are you keeping track of the composition of your audience over time and across platforms and posts? What’s happening to your contests and sweepstakes when it comes to clicks, conversions, and down-funnel activities and revenue? We can, and do, measure a lot, but there’s also a lot we cannot or do not. But that also ties a bit into…
Compounding measures
We talk a lot about connecting dots and stacking wins. But don’t just talk about it, put it into practice when evaluating results and drawing out actionable insights and plans. When you’re growing or succeeding in one area, it can (and, really, should) lead to success in connected areas. Organic content strategy can success can inform and improve paid strategy. Growth rates beget growth rates — don’t just focus on the growth percentage of X metric, but compare it to the rate of growth from last year, are you accelerating or decelerating in a given area? Are you connecting metrics and tactics so that crushing it one area will lead to crushing it another? Ask more questions about where and how you’re compounding; there are outsized wins and more comprehensive stories toe realize. And that very much leads to…
Know the real goals
The goal is not to rack up engagements. The objective is not reach for the sake of reach. It’s about engagement rate or driving views and shares. That’s all great, but it is critical to understand what we’re trying to do here. That’s how to advance a career, too, learning about revenue streams, data-driven decision-making, and identifying opportunities to drive short-term (and long-term!) goals that are meaningful to the business. Ticket sales (and the various types of ticket sales and ticket buyers), merch revenue (and all its tentacles and variations), sponsorships (again, all the nuances and categories and impact results), community initiatives, new fan development, brand goals, and the list goes on and on. That’s why it’s not about being a sports fan (though that can help!)), but a fan of the business of sports. A student of the ‘so what’ of it all.
A bonus # 11 — Follower counts
Having seen multiple thought leaders and columns all talking about the present and future of followership, it’s more important than ever to consider what follower count and a follower means in 2026. The number of followers for a given account still matters (many can’t quit those optics), but it’s also true that follower count has never mattered less. What can and should replace follower count? What matters more? We’ve talked about hte intangibles, but from a pure data perspective, what’s a good measure of the health and viability of a given account on a platform? Could you look at the aggregate reach or engagement of the last 15 posts, the rolling average or median engagement for the last 30 days or 90 days or 365 days, or perhaps the number of unique accounts, or number of accounts as a percentage of followers, etc. etc.? When you stumble upon an account whose content catches your eye or is growing (in whatever sense), what would you want to know beyond their follower count?
Okay, so that was the data geek part of this post. I’ll try to keep part two shorter. It’s more akin to a strategy, tactics, or (sigh) trends look at 2026. It’s good to see a lot of musings from 2025 come to fruition, or be mentioned now in 2026 trends and predictrions post I’ve seen. If nothing else, if you read the below, I hope it conjures up thoughts and ideas, and stimulates compelling conversations. So, consider:
A face for the team
Real people are more engaging than brands, in case you haven’t heard. And I’ve loved the idea of a team face or quasi-host for over three years, and got the chance to speak to one of the pioneers in this space, Aviv Levy Shoshan a couple of years ago (excellent interview!). Someone who is good on camera and can develop a relationship with fans/followers such that it feels like a friend, just one with incredible access to your favorite team. We’ve seen some teams make moves in this direction, and I hope to see more.
Next-level creators
Ngl, this was also mentioned, in some form, in last year’s column. First, it should be said that there are talented creators in-house everywhere right now, they’re just creating for the team or league’s channels (though some do some fun BTS on their own accounts, too). Most creator activations are one-offs (partly the nature of the maturing creator economy), working with a talented artist or someone who’s more an influencer, to invite them to a game or collaborate on a single content piece. What would it look like to make a creator strategy an all-in, year-round strategy? More teams can hire mature, growing creators full-time or near full-time to create for their own accounts and the team’s. Or, heck, identify or cultivate a young talent and foster their presence, through access and collabs. There’s something to be said for the growth of cross-pollinating partnerships, too (we’ve seen a little of this). I’m not a creator economy expert (I know a guy!), not even close, but there’s even more to be done in the space and I’ll be psyched to cheer it on. Speaking of….
Global local content correspondents
Teams are increasingly national and global brands. They’re trying to develop and engage fans around the country and around the world, growing the relationship with those alreayd coming into the fold organically and expanding the base further. I spoke in the last podcast interview of 2025 about localization with IMG’s digital leader Lewis Wiltshire (watch/listen!) and indeed some properties are working through agencies to help with localized content and accounts. Many European football clubs have native speakers living and working in the team’s home cities in Spain or England or Italy or Germany, etc. Others have seen fan clubs or supporters club pop up organically (or through the team officially). There’s opportunity to turn those flames into conflagrations, establishing more direct relationships with creators on the ground, providing them with content (where applicable), showcasing the fandom in their country, activating around exhibition tours, flying them to major domestic or international events, connecting them with athletes, athlete hometowns (where applicable), partners, and local influencers. There’s a lot that can be done by having boots on the ground part of the team’s operation and org chart officially, and I’ll be psyched to see what can happen in this area. A good segue to…
Co-creation to the nth degree and democratization of content
In conversations with experienced thought leaders in the greater sports space, the phrase ‘democratization of content’ or something like it has come up several times. It seems like every time we’ve seen a league or sport loosen the grip on content, to whatever degree, it has resulted in more engagement, more reach and views, more fandom, and more revenue. The number of eager, talented creators multiplies by the day; how can we open up the barriers (where possible, vis a vis media rights) to enable these creators to get their hands on content and do their thing with it. Remixes and edits, hype videos, commentary and analysis, etc. etc. There have been some agreements here and there, particularly for YouTube channels to create and disseminate endless compilations (‘Best alley-oop dunks of the 2024-25 season’ or something) in exchange for a revenue share or upfront fee. But there is a vast, growing ecosystem of creators who are eager to create and, in turn, grow your brand and fandom. We just have to harness it.
Content production houses for athletes
It was something of a throwaway comment, but certainly revelatory, at the late 2025 Sports Business Journal Intercollegiate Athletics Forum when South Carolina Athletic Director Jeremiah Donati loosely estimated that 50% of the Gamecocks in-house content team’s work could go toward NIL activities for athletes. That’s not even a trend, but more likely just the new paradigm in major college athletics. What could this look like in the pro space? There’s been some activity around letting athletes use podcast studios, or the like, for their content production needs. But what’s the next phase of this, the next level? The partnerships and contracts likely need to evolve a bit to put in-house content teams to work for athletes content for the athletes’ own channels and partners, but there is a ton of value to give and take there. It may not get there in 2026, but it’s an interesting space to watch as the majority of athletes will soon have some content strategy (and one beyond posting Getty Images or AP photos)
Background content
A couple of mindblowing stats to kick off this section — the number of hours that podcasts on YouTube were watched on TVs hit 700 million hours in October 2025, an increase from 400 million hours October 2024. 300 million more monthly hours of video podcasts on TVs in a year! The second stat is from a YouTube video (one of many) that just shows a burning fireplace for 10 hours straight — now has nearly 200M views, growing about ~ 50M views per year (with a rising growth rate)! There’s a demand for background content or background noise for TV sets, whether to accompany someone while they’re working at home or just hanging out or engaging in household chores or reading or whatever. Those are a lot of hours up for grabs. Podcasts are one route that many are already investing in (including Netflix!), but it’s also intriguing to consider what your version of fireplace 10 hours or 3+-hour podcast could be. I’ll save my long list of ideas for another post, but this is a fun one to brainstorm, and the data seems to suggest there’s some smoke here.
More social events (and places?)
We’re all looking for social outings. For experiences to post about on social media, and opportunities to get together IRL. The games are one attraction and event, but teams have vast databases from event attendees (most often attending with friends or family) with disposable incomes, and also have expertise in event production, promotion, and monetization. Sports teams are ultimately entertainment companies; the biggest ticket is the media rights of the show, of course, but they also host millions of event attendees every year. What other events, within but also beyond the game days, can teams host, co-lead, or collaborate on (with partners, influeners, creators, etc.)? This could lean in a more premium direction — wine and cheese and speciality food tastings, art exhibitions, and the like, but the opportunity is vast — local collectibles showcases (collectibles are all the rage!), fashion shows, speed dating, student events, more frequent casino nights and carnivals, pop-up coffee houses, TED-like talks, concerts of varying size, live action shows or plays, and the list goes on. They’re of course renting out their huge venues for traveling shows, but the opportunity in events can be those meant for groups in the hundreds or low thousands, supplementing the games and major events meant a packed stadium or arena.
More mascot, owned IP and character building
The rising value of mascots has been a trend for a few years now. There are mascots who generate massive value and even direct sponsorships, and new teams are making the mascot reveal a big part of the brand building. We’re seeing more mascot collaborations, whether special events across a city or league, or celebrating a mascot’s “birthday.” Mascots are, generally, truly team-owned IP, less shackled and more flexible than most potential content initiatives. What could the next level look like for mascot-led content, including but beyond TikTok skits? Could a team create (or collaborate on) kids-first content that could be the first choice on the iPad and YouTube for parents over Ms. Rachel or Cocomelon or another rewatch of the same episode of Bluey? How can teams leverage their IP, their powerful brands (including parents who want to create mini fans out of their kids), built-in distribution channels and partnership networks, and creative production capabilities to build content and characters and original music/songs? It could be kids-first, it could be adult animation (or non-animation, it could be anime — with AI and recommendation-driven feeds making experimentation less resource-intensive and faster and easier, the opportunity is there.
More prediction-style platforms and games
One of the earliest easy wins in sports social media was the start of the prediction contest. For the hockey world (where I came up), it wasn’t long before pretty much everybody had some variation of a prediction contest, most often guessing which player would score the first goal. (We also tried a ‘Beat The Streak’ game to predict an anytime goal scorer for consecutive games, a la the ESPN contest of the same name). Now, it’s clear 2026 is the year of the prediction, with prediction markets continuing to penetrate sports (and well beyond sports). Many teams have already continued to stand up some sort of prediction games, as they make for good sponsor assets for sports gaming and wagering partners, so expect 2026 to only offer more growth and more opportunity and even innovation in the prediction space, by and in partnership with teams and leagues. Could we go from first goal scorer to also, leveraging some advanced data, top MPH speed of the game? Or funny money-based parlays outside of the $$ wins and losses for the actual gaming platforms and prediction markets? It’s a slippery moral slope, but there’s no doubt prediction platforms, in some form, will be ubiquitous in 2026.
Interest group ambassadors
The internet is shrinking. Well, kinda. There are places for the most esoteric of micro-communities and fan segments everywhere, not to mention the bigger, less esoteric communities. Reddit continues to find new life, while Meta’s Threads (as I was anticipating!) seems to be evolving to something more like Reddit, with its expansion of communities-based features (but, noting that Threads still wants to be somewhat timely). A lot of teams are finding success in activating within these communities, whether through content, collabs, or even mini events and theme nights. How can teams and leagues identify and create ambassadors within these interest groups — power users, moderators, influencers, et al. who can be active liaisons and open up opportunities for unique, value-add content, collaborations, and conversations? This also goes along with another mini trend (not called out in the list above) of elevating and creating content with day-to-day employees within an organization — have the lead grass maintenance person talk about their job with a horticulture community, the team’s nutritionist talk food, the organization’s massage therapist demonstrate what you could do at home — and work with leaders within these interest groups to make these collaborations a success (and potentially cross-sponsorship opportunities). A theme of this column, like localized ambassadors and more ongoing creator relationships, can play out with interest-driven communities and groups, too.
If you made it all the way to end, good on you! You have the same energy and enthusiasm for this space as I do. Message me and let’s connect if we haven’t met before. Let’s have a great 2026!
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