ITV News
Singapore scores: Sportel Asia is back and ready to play ball
The sports media world’s biggest dealmakers are heading to the Lion City for two days of rights, revenues and relentless networking
SINGAPORE: Singapore is lacing up its boots. Sportel Asia returns to the Orchard Hotel on 24–25 March 2026, and the city-state, already a byword for slick connectivity and breezy deal-making, is bracing itself for an onslaught of broadcasters, rights holders, tech firms and the sort of people who can sell you a streaming package before you have finished your kaya toast.
The who’s who reads like a fantasy league of sports media. BeIN Sports, Fox Sports Australia, Warner Bros. Discovery, the Premier League, FIFA, the Bundesliga and World Rugby are among the confirmed names descending on Singapore. They are not coming for the hawker food, though that is a bonus. They are coming because Asia’s sports media rights market is growing fast, and nobody wants to be left offside.
The conference summit opens with a session bluntly titled “Sports Media Rights in Asia: Landscape, Challenges & What’s Next”, which, in fairness, covers rather a lot of ground. BeIN Sports APAC managing director Mike Kerr, FIFA director of media partnerships Jean-Christophe Petit, and Culver Max Entertainment head of content acquisition Shishir Gupta will be among those taking the podium. The session will be led by Shoto Zhu, chief executive of Sponsorforce, a man presumably well versed in the art of the pitch.
The programme swings between the tactical and the topical. Sessions on streaming piracy, the commercial clout of women’s sport, European football’s Apac land grab and the perennial holy grail of personalisation sit alongside a deep dive into Australia and New Zealand’s booming sports media scene. There is even a slot on K League and South Korean club football’s push to turn domestic drama into international content gold.
Sportel Asia executive director Agnès Marsan made no bones about the stakes. “Asia is projected to significantly increase its sports media rights value by the end of the decade,” she said. Participants are flying in from India, Japan, China, Malaysia, South Korea, Vietnam and beyond, proof, if any were needed, that the region has gone from emerging market to main event.
Singapore, of course, was always going to win this fixture. It offers neutral turf, world class infrastructure and a timezone that splits the difference between Europe and the Pacific Rim. For two days in March, it becomes the centre of the sports media universe, and everyone in the business knows it.
Game on.
