Sport & Brand: Community becomes a currency in the sports business
At the Sport & Brand conference, more than 500 experts discussed community strategies, impact sponsorship, and digital revenue models—and reached a clear conclusion: Building genuine communities fosters lasting brand loyalty.
On April 27, experts from the Austrian sports business met at the Hilton Danube Waterfront Hotel in Vienna. The Sport & Brand Congress attracted a record number of more than 500 visitors. More than 80 experts discussed the most pressing issues in sports marketing on three stages and in ten specialist forums - and one answer was the common thread running through the entire day: the community.
Community as a strategic lever
This does not just mean the fan base, but an active network of fans, users and customers who interact regularly and identify with a brand, a sport or an athlete. According to the Experience Marketing Barometer 2026, community is currently the top trend for brand decision-makers. Only those who connect with people and appeal to them emotionally will remain relevant, according to the press release.
«The value of a sports organization is no longer measured by success alone, but by whether it succeeds in involving people in the long term,» said State Secretary for Sport Michaela Schmidt in her opening speech. Organizer Hans-Willy Brockes, Managing Director of ESB Marketing Netzwerk, put it this way: «Those who build and maintain this relationship in a targeted manner create more than just reach. It's about trust, loyalty and, ultimately, concrete business impulses.»
Athletes are increasingly becoming media channels and brand ambassadors in their own right. Olympic champion Janine Flock put it in a nutshell: «Nowadays, it's no longer enough just to be an athlete and successful; you have to actively place your stories and topics and communicate them authentically via various channels.»
From visibility to impact sponsoring
The various specialist forums at Sport & Brand showed how brand loyalty will work in sport in the future. Successful strategies go far beyond classic visibility: they rely on activating experiences, data-based approaches and consistent storytelling. Nicole Krieg, Head of Marketing and Communications Austria at Mastercard, referred to a recent study according to which 67% of Europeans wanted brands to show more commitment to their personal passions.
This is precisely where the five-year partnership between Mastercard and Sporthilfe comes in. What began in 2021 with the first presentation of the Para Athlete of the Year has continued to develop year after year. In 2026, the Mastercard Sports Academy was founded together with Sporthilfe to inspire and promote children and young people for sport. «It's not just about visibility, it's about relevance. Without local partners like Österreichische Sporthilfe, it is difficult for a global company like Mastercard to gain a local foothold and turn visibility into tangibility,» explained Krieg.
Sport & brand: tradition and digital innovation at SK Rapid
The importance of proximity to fans also became clear in the area of club marketing. Using the example of SK Rapid, David Stockinger (SK Rapid) and David Görges (Beyer Görges) showed how a modern, modular brand ecosystem could be created from an outdated system landscape with expired service provider contracts and inconsistent design. Care was taken to anchor the brand core deeply in the Viennese identity - a sports brand that uses its tradition as a source of energy and reaches its community in the stadium, city and digital space in equal measure.
Whether digital or analog: Brand loyalty is created where content is relevant, interaction is possible and fans see themselves as part of a larger whole. Hans-Willy Brockes summarized: «The future belongs to those who turn fans into a real community and communicate real values.»
Annual meeting of the Austrian sports industry
For more than a decade, decision-makers from sport and business have been meeting at the Sport & Brand Congress for an annual knowledge transfer. In 2026, participants included SK Rapid Vienna, Handball Ligen Austria, win2day ICE Hockey League, Sky Austria, Sturm Graz, NHL, Eintracht Frankfurt, Coca-Cola, ÖFB, Mastercard and Allianz.
Sport remains emotional, but is increasingly being managed rationally. Decisions are based on data, KPIs and clear business cases. The question is no longer whether to invest, but how efficiently.
More information at: www.sport-marke.at
