Imagine, what Sports can do.

Well, what CAN it do? There are plenty of ways to be close to your favourite sport beyond watching it. What is happening behind the scenes? Which narratives are important to you? To some, the outfit worn before the game might be the reason they started watching Basketball. To others, it might be the watch-along by their favourite creator that pulled them into football. As diverse as the athletes performing at the highest level are, the points of contact for each sport eclipse that by miles. The brightest minds in the business are working daily to create more open doors and convey the emotions, stakes and entertainment of their own sport or brand to ever-changing and (hopefully) growing new audiences. GMPLN25 was a - successful, dare we say? - attempt to give some of the biggest visionaries, decision makers, and creatives a platform to show exactly that. Let’s see what they had to say!

Would you know what the fastest-growing video on YouTube was, that’s not a music video? Let us help you, so you can shine on Trivia Night: It’s this. It stands at 264M views right with production costs of 2B dollars for the development of the GTA VI being the word on the streets. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a Sports Club that did not use the release of the trailer (!) in some kind of way on their own handles. GTA has become more than a game - It’s a creator & community platform that lives and breathes… even adapting Shakespeare in the meantime. What we’re trying to say: Use tentpoles beyond sports.

But first, a little intro: In between Creators, Brands, AI, New Leagues, household sports and their unique stories, it’s easy to get a little lost. That’s why GMPLN25 focused on 5 major topics for the Digital Sports Media Landscape with concrete takeaways, trying to get a grasp on one of the most dynamic businesses on the planet. We defined the Gameplan, our speakers filled it with expertise and life.

A boxing legend fighting a YouTuber might sound like a gimmick to people who are not in the know. Netflix is, so it was them who streamed the fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. You might have heard of Cristiano Ronaldo, the footballer. Since this year you can also call him CR7, the creator and you would not be wrong. After creating his YouTube Channel, he reached 60M subscribers in a few hours, scaring even Mr Beast in the process (Check out Mateo Price’s keynote, it’s awesome!). The NBA had the Creator Cup, the NFL let Creators play Flag Football in anticipation of the Super Bowl. Aston Martin has their own Creator Collective on TikTok. And that’s just the beginning. There’s only one thing to say: Use The Full Range of Creator’s Skillsets to reach new audiences.

Everybody has their favourite TV Series, right? The feeling that you relate to characters, the anticipation of a new episode, the emotions when the stakes are high. The formula works in Sports, too. Juventus created “We The Next Gen”, a TikTok series following youth players on their own unique way to build a career in pro sports. The Kansas City Chiefs built a bespoke Content Studio with the distinct goal of reaping benefits of serialized content, a Ramen company is getting millions of views with emotional interviews while eating their noodles with people binge watching those. If you want to reach new audiences and an anticipation for content, focus on serial formats!

Pre-Season friendlies are nothing more than an afterthought. Try telling that to FC Bayern. Germany’s biggest club streamed a friendly against an amateur club with no real sporting value (It’s not the Champions League after all) and streamed it on multiple platforms: YouTube, their own TV Channel, BiliBili and more. 1,8M views on a game that would otherwise be a static graphic on Instagram (if that!) a few years back is nothing to sneeze at. New Leagues like the Baller League use a whole ecosystem of Broadcasters, YouTube, Twitch and Creators to reach millions of people on Mondays. Freestyle Chess is redefining what Chess is with Magnus Carlsen as the face and DAZN, Social, and traditional Broadcasters as the work-horse behind it. Various Outlets are a good thing, use it to reach new communities and perspectives.

Maybe the most dividing topic of our times. Seeing your most despised politician walking a runway as an animal on TikTok may be fun, but there is more to it. Our speaker Beshad Bezahdi created a podcast during his keynote. In one minute. And it’s real. Nuanced. On topic. Whether it’s Writing, Content, Research or Analysis, AI is here to stay. But the human part stays, or as Mateo Price said: “Use AI to enhance, not to replace creativity”. Try it, use it, but challenge everything.

Now that we have the hard part out of the way, it’s time to shine a light on the speakers. Julie Haddon, CMO of the National Women’s Soccer League, shows us how you can change from scrappy to professional, from surviving to thriving while filling stadiums with fans and making women’s football the talk of the town. Oh, and they have the most beautiful trophy in sports, that’s for sure. Did you get the feeling that HUGO BOSS is ever-present in sports? Well, it is and it’s because of Daniel Grieder, who took on the challenge of reviving a struggling fashion brand and kicked ass… in fashion. One colour found by chance, a naked David Beckham and a mere 140 billion impressions later HUGO BOSS might not remember what “struggling” means. But he should tell you himself.

A different struggle is what Stefano Battiston is facing: He has the task of building a brand new Formula1 team driving for wins starting in 2026. As the CCO of the Audi F1 Project he sees Formula1 as a cultural movement, or as he puts it eloquently in his interview with the awesome Lisa Ramuschkat: “F1 has global reach, but local impact” with over 40% of their audience being under 35 years old. Unlimited potential, and he is keen on “cooking the most tasty dish in F1”. Speaking of cooking: Phil Cook, the CMO of the WNBA - the fastest growing brand in sports in 2024 - just sold the media rights for the WNBA for 2,2 billion dollars. In his interview you get to know why he enjoys fans criticising coaches, why the walk to the locker room is more important than you might think and much more. Also, “The W” might be the coldest nickname of all sports leagues.

We hinted at AI and there is no one better to talk about it than Behshad Behzadi, responsible for creating Google Lens, now at the forefront of AI for Sportradar. Watch him, and you’ll get a grasp of the potential of AI in sports. In identifying potential of different kinds, Kat Marquez (Lead North American Sports Leagues, TikTok) and Mariah Rose (Creator and responsible for one of the most viewed content pieces after Luka Doncic’s shocking trade to the LA Lakers) are the people to talk to. Or as they put it: “Don’t Sleep on the Women!”

No self respecting Sports Conference could do without football. The Not-American kind, you know. Do you remember a football transfer or even rumour, that you did not get through Fabrizio Romano? The Italian with over 100M followers talks about his screentime during transfer windows (It’s nice to know that your own screentime is not that bad), his most exciting transfer story and in hindsight even told us where Thomas Müller will play. What a guy. 

The DFB (German Football Federation) is the biggest sports federation in the world with over 7 million members and 170k teams, but was a little behind in Media Things. No More: Holger Blask reinvented 125 years of German football tradition into a Media House, standard-defining digital content involving… Antonio Rüdiger's favourite Kebab place amongst others.

We don’t know anything about Mateo Price’s favourite Kebab (he has German roots, so chances are he is opinionated about that) but we do know that the strategic mind behind Mr. Beast is one of the best in the game: He shows us why low-level charity matches are a must-view for football broadcasters, how he is responsible for breaking 42(!) world records while filming the biggest game show ever and what is tenets of Digital Media are in the near future.

Nothing more to say, we let our speakers do the talking from now on and listen closely. Because after all those are the guys that really do Imagine, what Sports can do.