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The U.S. is having its moment in mega-sports events. The region just co-hosted the 2026 FIFA World Cup across the United States, Canada and Mexico, and it’s now turning its attention to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Back to back, these are the two biggest sporting properties on the planet landing on the same continent within two years of each other: a perfect moment for brands to market to consumers in memorable ways.
The problem? The traditional, single-event sponsorship playbook is looking a little dated. With social media putting a broadcast studio in every pocket, consumers are drowning in content. Gone are the days where brands can rely on “one and done” tournament campaigns to hold anyone’s attention. A thirty second commercial can’t compete with the algorithm feeding people an endless scroll catered specifically for them.
Marketers are already rewriting their strategies, using the 2026 World Cup as both a proving ground and launchpad for LA28. The tournament delivered more than $15 billion in revenue for FIFA and a record 38.9 million average viewers for the final on Fox, and that momentum is leading straight into Olympic planning, according to AdWeek. Smart brands are taking advantage of this interest by meeting fans across every channel and in every format, delivering their message not once or twice in the same format, but consistently and creatively enough to make it stick (without creating consumer fatigue). Think freeway billboards, airport ads, social media ads, commercial breaks, activations, and more.
Host markets, and Los Angeles especially, have a real advantage here. They’re gearing up to host the second globally watched mega sporting event in two years, which means brands can build a multi-year runway instead of two disconnected campaigns. What other country has been handed that kind of opportunity?
The strategy work brands put into the 2026 World Cup is now feeding directly into their LA28 planning, helping them move away from passive logo placement and toward ongoing integration into fans’ everyday lives. They’re planting seeds that grow into deeply rooted ideas that connect with consumers, rather than trying to force a quick connection in a six week sprint.
Forward-thinking brands are already writing multi-year agency briefs. They’re testing messaging, capturing data and evaluating media channels from the World Cup through the rest of this year, all in the service of a sharper 2028 strategy. Research from Kantar backs this up: FIFA generated roughly $2.7 billion in sponsorship and marketing rights revenue over the 2023-2026 World Cup cycle, and brands spent an estimated $1.4 billion on World Cup-related advertising in the U.S. alone, with nearly 7,000 brands advertising around the event in some form. That’s a crowded field, and Kantar’s data suggests that simply buying sponsorship rights isn’t enough. The brands that stood out treated their sponsorship like an entire culture, not just advertising.
Coca-Cola is the case study everyone is pointing to. Its World Cup activation, which spanned more than 180 markets, generated over 60 billion digital and social impressions and helped drive the company’s strongest quarterly volume growth in 17 years, excluding pandemic recovery.
So what’s actually working across the major channels?
Linear television still matters, but the real growth is happening in CTV, through dynamic ad units and shoppable TV experiences. Brands are using these formats to capture streaming audiences during high-traffic sporting windows, especially audiences that have largely abandoned appointment viewing on traditional broadcast.
The stiff, transactional corporate spokesperson is on its way out, replaced by athletes speaking directly to fans. Social media has turned athletes into celebrities, with the kind of parasocial familiarity people used to reserve for pop stars and movie stars. That familiarity, paired with the community work many athletes lead through their own foundations, makes them credible spokespeople in a way a scripted ad representative could never be. This is backed by hard numbers, too. According to PwC, the global sports sponsorship market is projected to grow from $63.1 billion in 2021 to $109.1 billion by 2030. The Business of Fashion’s case study on sports marketing points out that a growing share of that spend is flowing toward athletes building lasting, collaborative partnerships with brands rather than one-off endorsement deals.
In a world where most life happens online, in-person experiences stand out more than ever. For the LA28 Olympics, this is especially true for host metro areas like Los Angeles. Brands have an opportunity to build accessible fan zones and micro-events for the millions of fans who want to be part of the celebration but either can’t afford or don’t want stadium tickets.
Brands have to react to viral moments in real time. Even a slightly delayed response can be too late. This also means leaning into the broader creator economy to reach casual sports fans who couldn’t care less about the point spread but do care about lifestyle, fashion, food or comedy. Anything that connects to culture beyond sports, whether it's a viral trend, meme, or new survey data.
If there’s one “secret ingredient” driving outsized results right now, it’s women’s sports. This isn’t a corporate responsibility checkbox, and consumers can tell the difference between authentic support and a marketing tactic. Women’s sports have become a genuine growth driver for mainstream brands, tied to a real emotional element: fans want to see the category recognized, respected and talked about, and they feel an affinity for the brands that show up for that.
The numbers make the opportunity clear. According to research from The Trade Desk Intelligence and GoodQues, 72% of women's sports fans consume sports content daily. Women’s sports fans also spend 32% more time on podcasts than the average American, which makes long-form audio prime real estate for brands looking to build depth with an audience. And 71% of this audience watches live sports primarily via Connected TV, making CTV the leading channel for reaching them.
The playbook is straightforward: advertise on women’s sports channels and platforms now. Show up authentically where these fans already are. Then, when the bigger stage arrives, your presence in women’s sports will feel earned and genuine, rather than opportunistic. It will already make sense to the viewer.
The 2026 World Cup was one of the best things to happen to brands with real ambitions for the LA28 Olympics. It served as a dress rehearsal, a data-testing ground and a two-year head start rolled into one.
Brands that want to make a big impact across this double mega-event moment in the U.S. need to move past outdated, siloed campaigns and build comprehensive strategies that work across platforms and sectors in tandem. That’s what builds both algorithmic reach and lasting cultural authority.
Ready to build your brand’s runway to LA28? See how Bolt PR helps brands turn cultural moments like these into earned media coverage, social storytelling and community activations that build lasting authority.
Not sure where to start?
Contact our team to start the conversation around a customized marketing campaign dedicated to your personalized business goals. From PR to content creation and digital marketing, you tell us how far you want to take your brand, and we’ll do the rest.
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