SBJ CAA World Congress of Sports 2026: Sports Rebuilt as Entertainment

I spent a few days in LA this week at the SBJ CAA World Congress of Sports, and there’s a lot to unpack, but one thing that kept coming up repeatedly: sports are being rebuilt as an entertainment business.

Los Angeles was kind of the perfect backdrop for that conversation: World Cup, Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Weekend, Olympics.

Everyone kept referring to this “once-in-a-generation” run of events. But what was more interesting was how they’re being approached.

Not as games, but as cultural moments. Multi-day, city-wide, content-driven experiences.

There was also a bit of a split in the conversations around streaming platforms. On one side, platforms are more disciplined, selective, and smarter about rights. On the other hand, there’s way more content being made than ever.

Docuseries, behind-the-scenes, athlete-led stuff... everyone is chasing deeper engagement, which basically means more content, faster timelines, and global audiences.

One thing that stood out to me, especially from a music perspective: music is becoming less of a “moment” and more of a system. All this storytelling needs it, and it needs it fast. Pre-cleared, flexible, ready to go.

Same thing in-venue. Teams are building these always-on environments: LED, live edits, DJs, hosts, and constant engagement. The game is still the center, but everything around it is now designed.

And music and sound are a big part of that. Not just big tracks, but stings, loops, transitions, energy shifts, and crowd prompts.

Globalization came up in pretty much every session, too. Leagues are expanding; events are scaling internationally. From a creative standpoint, that’s tricky. You need things that feel local but also travel. In music terms, it’s less about finding the track and more about having the right palette to work with.

Sports is growing in three directions at once: content, experience, and global reach. Music sits inside all of it, even if it’s not always the thing being talked about.