You can’t take the drama out of the control room, but you can take the chaos out.
Sport is the most universal language in the world, and that’s one of the reasons I deliberately make time for it. I’m already planning ahead for 2026, as it promises to go down in history with the FIFA World Cup, Winter Olympics, Paralympics, and countless other sports events to look forward to.
2026 will also be a year of rapid technological evolution as major events draw massive crowds, with expectations so high that even Duplantis can’t clear them. The technology is already here, so it’s only a matter of embracing innovation. These are the changes I see in 2026.
1. Pre-game: reduce chaos in the control room
Sports games are my favourite kind of unscripted drama. You can’t take the drama out of the control room (if you lose, you lose), but you can take the chaos out.
This requires great tools, and you’d be surprised how many show producers are hesitant to adopt this. That strikes me because the cost of error is immense.
That’s why I think studio automation will become a necessity for sports broadcasters in 2026.
We might see AI agents creating a library with lower thirds from every player on the team sheet within seconds, and suggesting the corresponding lower third with every substitution. The producer only has to approve it with one click. And just like that, every viewer is informed.
Studio automation handles the unexpected effortlessly, reducing chaos in the control room.
2. Live game: as if you were there
In 2026, we’ll see an immense increase of studio shows around live sports. There is a huge demand for sports broadcasting and streaming, so chances are high that all kinds of media companies are scaling up to multiple (or even dozens of) studio shows about the same game, but with different studio guests and in different show formats. And the best part? Adding another studio can be done in one hour with studio automation.
But dozens of shows? I can hear you calculate the amount of technical staff a broadcaster would need for all these live shows. That’s where the beauty is. Studio automation covers most of it, enabling one single operator to just spacebar through the show without compromising on quality.
Because fans at home are being spoiled, and they’d like to keep it that way. They’re keen on seemingly having a second pair of eyes and ears with replays displaying multiple angles, close-ups, statistics, curated highlights, interviews, offside goal lines, graphics and clever (PiP) sportscasting. I often hear that you see more on TV than when attending in person, and that’s the true merit of continuous technical innovation in today’s sports broadcasting.
3. Post-game: story-centricity serves what you prefer
Large-scale sports events create a certain fear-of-missing-out, so many first-time-viewers find their way into their broadcast or stream. For me, the true art here lies in tailoring your output to each and every different audience you’d like to serve. Whether you format your sports recap in a short reel, podcast, blog, push notification, or something else: handle it the story-centric way.
The same sports game is being fragmented into millions of content pieces, so use this as an advantage to adapt the narrative over and over again for every channel you own. You’ll see user engagement growing organically once you invest in speaking the platform’s language. Your subscribers will thank you, and isn’t this also what advertisers are looking for?
Editorial teams are looking for this as well: managing every asset in a single platform. This reduces duplicate effort, and allows them to free up time to get started with the next content piece that lets the audience relive the game, the tension, the teamwork, the sportsmanship, the victory.
These are the trends I see shaping the sports broadcasting industry in 2026, and I’m sure they can take us to the next level. Would I bet on this? As Head of Sales of a studio automation company, you could say I do so.
So it’s up to broadcasters to adopt innovation in order to reach technical superiority. I’d definitely watch that.
The pole position hasn’t been taken yet.
So this is your cue.
