- The 2026 Sports Calendar is Packed
- Reach Sports Audiences With Various Intents
- Five reasons to choose OnAudience Sports data
- Need a custom Sports 2026 audience? Build it with AI Audiences
- FAQ
2026 is a sports-travel year. From global tournaments to league finales, fans won’t just watch, they’ll search, compare, book, and buy: tickets, flights, hotels, car rentals, merch, streaming packages, and “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences.
The opportunity is huge, but only if you can reach people at the right moment, when they’re moving from hype to making a decision.
That’s where Sports Events Audiences come in.
Turn Game-Day Hype Into Conversions
The 2026 Sports Calendar is Packed
Global events of 2026
| Dates (2026) | Event | Sport / Type | Location / Hosts |
| Feb 6–22 | Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics | Winter multi-sport | Milan & Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy |
| Feb 8 | Super Bowl LX | American football (NFL) | Santa Clara, California, USA (Levi’s Stadium) |
| Mar 6–15 | Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics | Winter para-sport | Milan & Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy |
| Feb 7–Mar 8 | ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 | Cricket (T20) | India & Sri Lanka |
| Mar 5–17 | World Baseball Classic 2026 | Baseball | Tokyo (Japan), San Juan (Puerto Rico), Houston & Miami (USA) |
| Jun 11–Jul 19 | FIFA World Cup 26 | Football (soccer) | USA, Canada, Mexico (48 teams) |
| Aug 21–Sep 6 | Women’s EuroVolley 2026 | Volleyball (women) | Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Sweden, Turkey |
| Sep 9–26 | Men’s EuroVolley 2026 | Volleyball (men) | Bulgaria, Finland, Italy, Romania |
Smaller events in the US of 2026
| Dates (2026) | Event | Sport / Type | Location |
| Feb 15 | Daytona 500 | NASCAR (motorsport) | Daytona Beach, Florida |
| Mar 15–Apr 6 | Men’s March Madness (NCAA Tournament) | College basketball | USA-wide (Final Four: Indianapolis, Apr 4 & 6) |
| Apr 3 & Apr 5 | Women’s Final Four (NCAA) | College basketball | Phoenix, Arizona |
| Apr 9–12 | The Masters | Golf | Augusta, Georgia |
| Apr 20 | Boston Marathon | Marathon | Boston, Massachusetts |
| May 2 | Kentucky Derby | Horse racing | Louisville, Kentucky |
| May 24 | Indianapolis 500 | IndyCar (motorsport) | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Jun 18–21 | U.S. Open | Golf | Shinnecock Hills, New York |
| Aug 23–Sep 13 | US Open | Tennis | New York City |
| Oct 11 | Chicago Marathon | Marathon | Chicago, Illinois |
| Nov 1 | TCS New York City Marathon | Marathon | New York City |
Sport events in other parts of the world
| Dates (2026) | Event | Sport / Type | Location / Hosts |
| Jan 12–Feb 1 | Australian Open | Tennis | Melbourne, Australia |
| Feb 5–Mar 14 | Guinness Men’s Six Nations | Rugby | UK/Ireland/France/Italy |
| May 30 | UEFA Champions League Final | Football (soccer) | Budapest, Hungary (Puskás Aréna) |
| Jun 29–Jul 12 | Wimbledon | Tennis | London, UK |
| Jul 4–26 | Tour de France | Cycling | Spain/France (Grand Départ: Barcelona) |
| Jul 12–19 | The Open Championship | Golf | England (Royal Birkdale) |
| Sep 7–13 | Solheim Cup | Women’s golf | Netherlands (Bernardus Golf) |
The sports events 2026 are not just events, they are predictable purchase windows for agencies and marketers that are setting up campaigns weeks before the events takes place. As people need to book flights, train/bus tickets, book hotels and get necessary items to cheer their teams or specific sport individuals.
Reach Sports Audiences With Various Intents
Most “sports fan” targeting is too broad to drive outcomes. The real performance comes from what people are about to do next, that is travel, buy, stream, or subscribe.
OnAudience Sports Events Audiences are built to help brands and agencies plan like performance marketers: reach the right intent group, match the message to the moment, and scale with privacy-first segments.
1) Live Event Participants
These are the highest-intent fans, the ones most likely to attend in person and spend like travelers.
What they do (and buy):
- Build trips around match dates and venue locations.
- Search and book tickets, hotels, flights/trains, and car rentals.
- React fast to urgency: “limited seats,” “price increase,” “last availability”
Best for: ticketing platforms, airlines, hotel groups, OTAs, ground transport, event packages, premium experiences, agencies helping these to set up proper campaigns with results.
How OnAudience data helps: Activate this group when they’re in planning mode, then re-engage closer to the event with price-drop, upgrade, or “last chance” messaging.
2) Sport Interest
Your scalable reach layer from casual followers to dedicated fans with consistent engagement beyond the final.
What they do:
- Follow teams, players, leagues, and multiple disciplines.
Consume news, highlights, previews, and results. - Engage across the season (not just peak moments).
Best for: sports retail, consumer electronics, QSR/CPG, lifestyle brands, betting/DFS (where allowed), subscription offers and agencies helping these to set up proper campaigns with results.
How OnAudience helps: Build always-on reach with segments that stay active throughout the season, then boost intensity around key matches and finals.
3) CTV Watchers
Sports audiences who primarily consume via Connected TV from live broadcasts to highlights, recaps, and analysis.
Why they matter: CTV is where attention is high but conversions often happen later on mobile or desktop.
Best for: streaming + telco bundles, sports subscriptions, retail drops, app installs, brand-to-performance campaigns.
How OnAudience helps: Reach CTV-first viewers on the big screen, then retarget cross-device with sequential messaging to move them from “watching” to “buying.”
4) Past Sport Events
The collectors, nostalgia fans, and “history lives here” buyers who engage with legacy moments.
What they buy into:
- Memorabilia, keepsakes, collectibles.
- Anniversary drops and limited editions.
Milestones, legendary matches, documentary-style content.
Best for: collectibles/merch, limited editions, content launches, museum/venue experiences, brand collaborations.
How OnAudience helps: Identify people who stay engaged after the final whistle and target them with timed launches, limited drops, and storytelling-led creative.
Five reasons to choose OnAudience Sports data
- Up-to-date high-intent 300+ Sports audience segments
Built for real activation use cases when you are trying to reach your audience at each step of the funnel (prospecting, retargeting, sequential messaging), not just broad “sports fans” labels.
- Global coverage across 200+ countries
Ideal for international tournaments and sports-travel demand. With OnAudience Sports Events Audiences you can reach fans planning trips, tickets, stays, and experiences across markets. - Privacy-safe, high-quality data capabilities
Designed to work in a privacy-first world, with strong standards around data quality and brand-suitable activation. - Own taxonomy and data standards for consistent planning
A unified segment structure makes it easier to plan, compare, and scale campaigns across DSPs, regions, and event calendars without messy naming gaps. - Proprietary in-house technology for full data control
More transparency and flexibility in how segments are built, maintained, and optimized supporting better performance and long-term reliability.
Plus: AI Audiences for custom sports segments in seconds
Need something specific (e.g., “fans traveling to host cities” or “CTV-first viewers researching tickets”)? Turn a brief into a tailored, activation-ready audience, fast with AI-Driven Audience Builder.
We distinguish on the market from other companies providing seasonal and general audiences with our data scale: +25B devices, +50B profiles, +3,900 segments across categories, including Sports.
Need a custom Sports 2026 audience? Build it with AI Audiences
Not every campaign fits a standard label. If you need something specific like:
- “Fans traveling to host cities”.
- “CTV-first football watchers who also research tickets”.
- “Baseball fans engaging with World Baseball Classic pool cities (Houston/Miami)”.
Use AI Audiences to create tailored segments fast — free, and ready to upload.
FAQ
What’s the difference between Sport Interest and Live Event Participants?
Sport Interest scales reach based on fandom behaviors. Live Event Participants are closer to purchase because they plan attendance, travel, and bookings. We offer both audiences, depending on your campaign needs.
Which verticals benefit most from Sports Events Audiences?
Ticketing, travel (air/hotel/ground), retail & merch, streaming subscriptions, and any brand using sports moments as a conversion hook (not just awareness).
Can this work for US-heavy event calendars?
Yes – our sports events audiences 2026 include major US demand peaks like Super Bowl LX, NBA All-Star, Final Four, Masters week, Derby week, Indy 500, U.S. Open golf, MLB All-Star, and the US Open tennis dates and more.
