SPORTEL Monaco 2026 unveils its conference programme on the new global sports ecosystem

MONACO: Sport has stopped being just sport. Media, technology, data, investment, brands and fan engagement are now so tangled together that the only sensible thing to do is put everyone in one room. SPORTEL Monaco 2026 has revealed its conference programme, titled “The New Global Sports Ecosystem”, with leading executives from across the industry set to examine how these forces are transforming the way sports content is created, distributed, monetised and experienced. The announcement was made on 6th October 2026.

The conference takes place on 19 and 20 October at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum, as part of SPORTEL Monaco (19 to 21 October). The line-up spans broadcast, investment, leagues, digital, technology, brands and entertainment, and includes Bruin Capital, YouTube, SURJ Sports Investment, LALIGA, AWS, IMG, JioStar, Deltatre, ViewLiB, Qualcomm, Revolut, Diageo and other global sports leaders. Through keynotes, masterclasses, panels and client case studies, the programme will explore the trends shaping the next phase of the sports business: AI, direct-to-consumer, new distribution models, remote production, data-driven fan experiences, live sports betting, sponsorship, women’s sport and esports. At its heart is a question every rights holder is asking: how can sports organisations create and capture value as audiences fragment and the traditional boundaries between media, technology and entertainment keep disappearing?

Business tech dominates the masterclasses. In “The New Global Sports Ecosystem”, Jeff Roth of Bruin Capital, Hillary Mandel of IMG and Peter Bellamy of Deltatre, led by Imran Yusuf of SportBusiness, will explore the rapid globalisation of digital, changing fan behaviours and how investors are identifying and evaluating emerging opportunities across the evolving sports value chain. Roth, ahead of the conference, said: “In a world where media consumption has become so fragmented, leagues and teams have had to become much more direct-to-consumer businesses. They’ve had to really focus on customers in the way an e-commerce business would, but the path to growth just isn’t as simple as traditional media rights being linear and moving up and to the right. You have to invest in new areas, grow internationally and follow where the consumer wants to go.” It is a neat summary of the whole programme: the old playbook of ever-rising rights fees is giving way to something more entrepreneurial.

AI will be a major theme, with the industry moving beyond experimentation towards practical applications across content, audiences, operations and commercial strategy. “Defining Your Corporate AI Strategy”, one of two masterclasses led by Ken Kerschbaumer of SVG, will examine how AI is reshaping sports media, from content creation and fan engagement to monetisation and operational efficiency, while considering the continuing importance of human creativity and editorial judgement. The panel features Danny Townsend of SURJ Sports Investment, Prashant Khanna of JioStar, Marcin Serafin of Live Park (Ekstraklasa) and Paola Marinone of BuzzMyVideos, who will share their personal experiences and vision for the future.

Production gets its turn too. The transformation of live sports production during major events, including the Olympics and the recent World Cup, is proving that remote production does not mean lower quality. The masterclass “The Future of Production: ‘Which Way to Go?'” features Lowell Conn of Protocol Sports Marketing, Sarah Jakob of LiveU, Carlos Silva of TNA Wrestling and Dominik Scholler of Bundesliga Media GmbH, moderated by Will Strauss of SVG Europe. It will look at how organisations are using new ways of working to improve efficiency and control costs. The final masterclass, “Live Sports Betting: The Technology, Data & Fan Experience”, brings Adrian Gatt of AWS and Steve Carter of Bolt6, led by Kerschbaumer, to examine the opportunities and challenges facing sportsbooks, rights holders and fans, including scalability, latency, integrity and regulation.

The marquee name is Javier Tebas, the LALIGA president, whose keynote interview, “LALIGA’s Next Frontier: New Broadcast Models, Formats and Challenges”, will offer insight into how the league is approaching innovative distribution models, strategic partnerships and content development, while addressing piracy, audience fragmentation and the changing media landscape. A second headline keynote, from Mediapro, will be announced shortly.

YouTube features prominently, with three sessions on the platform’s growing role in sports distribution and fan engagement. In “The Value Multiplier: Making YouTube Fundamental to Your Distribution”, Jonny Keogh of YouTube and Scott Melvin of The Overlap will examine how the platform can provide global reach, diversify revenue streams and support the next generation of sports fandom through creator-led storytelling. “Reaching the Next Generation of Olympic Fans” features Jason Wachs of YouTube and Srinath Sripath of the IOC, who will explore how the Olympic Games are navigating an increasingly dynamic media ecosystem. In “LiveMode, YouTube, and the Next Era of Live Sports Broadcasting”, Pedro Pina of YouTube and Thiago Tourinho of LiveMode, moderated by media expert Evan Shapiro of ESHAP, will give insight into how LiveMode broke World Cup broadcast records and how creator communities and brand partnerships drive modern fan engagement and influence the future of live sports distribution.

Personalisation and free streaming follow. In “Personalization and Storytelling in Live Sports”, Kish Patel of Dolby OptiView will explore how technology can reshape engagement, retention and monetisation. “Local Fans, Global Reach: How Free Streaming Is Expanding the Sports Experience”, moderated by Keith Bedford of Wurl, will discuss how free ad-supported streaming TV is giving teams, leagues and media companies new ways to strengthen local connections while reaching fans around the world. AI and automation also feature in “Highlights 3.0: The Next Era of Live Content Is Human-Led, AI-Accelerated”, where Volodymyr Boiko of Epic Clips explores the evolution of broadcast-quality highlights produced within minutes of the live moment.

Immersive tech takes centre stage as well. Phil Ventre of Pixotope and John Murphy of BBC Sport will discuss “From The Studio to the Live Game, How Advancements in Graphics Technology are Reshaping the Present & Future of Live Sports Production”, examining how XR and virtual production can create new commercial opportunities, including sponsorship and in-game revenue. Carrying on the theme, the XR Sports Alliance presents “Learnings from the FISE World Series Immersive Project”, about the world’s largest annual urban and action sports festival, with partners Charles Edwin Rolot of HBS and Jose Somolinos of Accedo, moderated by Patrick Costello of Qualcomm.

Elsewhere, Lawrence Bowden of Deltatre and An Dang Duy of World Athletics will share how together they are “Reinventing the Athletics Experience: Broadcast Graphics, Data and Digital at the Ultimate Championship”. The challenge of distributing live events globally and reliably is addressed in “The Role of DTC Digital Infrastructure in Global Event Distribution”, featuring Manik Bambha of ViewLiB, Gibran Khan of FISU and Victorien Tixier of ScorePlay. The programme also goes behind the scenes with Chandradev Bhagat of Grey Matter Entertainment for a sports documentary, “Beyond Competition: How Grassroots Sport Can Transform Communities”, about India’s largest rural sports festival and the extraordinary challenges of filmmaking in its most raw and immersive setting.

Esports returns to the agenda as the industry looks to build sustainable global properties and connect with new generations of fans. In “Beyond the Broadcast: How Esports Is Expanding the Global Sports Audience”, Mohammed Alnimer of the Esports Foundation, Bertrand Amar of NEO (New Esports Org.) and Patrick Maitrot of Warner Bros. Discovery, led by Giovanni Aquilanti of SPORTEL, will share insight on the growth of the Esports World Cup (EWC) and the Esports Nations Cup (ENC) and how broadcasters, platforms and rights holders can work together to create new value. SPORTEL’s popular “Pitch Perfect Innovation Contest” will bring together a selection of SPORTEL newcomer companies, among them BuzzMyVideos, Epic Clips, Media Distillery, Pixotope, ValkaAI and Wyplay, each with a creative or innovative solution to showcase in a three-minute pitch followed by two minutes of questions from judges, to win prizes and prestige alongside other emerging innovators.

Marine Picoulet, executive director of SPORTEL Monaco, said: “SPORTEL Monaco has once again confirmed its place as the intersection of sports media and tech which is evident in the largest programme to date of client case studies between tech providers, leagues, broadcasters and industry partners and confirms how key tech is to the evolution of the business of sports media. We are very pleased to welcome several major organisations for the first time to the programme alongside some traditional and startup innovators, proving that SPORTEL’s diverse programme provides a platform for all players from across the ecosystem to communicate their latest partnerships and solutions.”

Brands get their own track. New this year, on Monday 19 October, is a dedicated CMO Brand Programme in partnership with Qualcomm, a founding member of the XR Sports Alliance, created for the SPORTEL community to connect with senior brand decision-makers. Marketing executives Ashish Babu of TCS, Rory Miller Cheevers of Revolut, Paddy Carberry of Guinness and Diageo and Garret Ponder of Qualcomm will join a behind-closed-doors panel, “Brands & Sport: harnessing the full value of sponsorships in the age of Tech, Data & Total Video”, moderated by Imran Yusuf of SportBusiness, exploring how brands and sports properties can create value for one another and how that relationship is evolving. A second lunch panel, “Brands and Sport: Rethinking the Role of Sponsorship in the Age of Media, Technology and Content”, moderated by Stéphane Corbule of RTL AdAlliance, will explore how brands evaluate sports partnerships, from global rights versus local relevance and teams versus leagues to data versus emotion and exposure versus engagement.

On Tuesday 20 October, the popular Women’s Lunch networking event and panel, in collaboration with AWS, will tackle “Women’s Sport: From Momentum to Market – What Will it Take to Unlock the Next Wave of Growth”. Moderated by Fiona Harold of AWS, the panel features athlete Elizaveta Bracht, Danny Townsend of SURJ Sports Investment and Frank Leenders of FIBA, who will debate what it will take to move women’s sport from a compelling growth story to a mature and investable market.

The analysis is simple. Sport’s money is moving from a handful of broadcasters to a crowded field of platforms, creators, investors and brands, and the people who can explain that shift are all heading to the same quay in Monaco. A programme that puts a league president, a venture investor, a streaming giant, a betting technologist and a women’s sport panel under one roof is a fair map of where the business is going. The full conference programme is available at sportelmonaco.com/programme.