Fandom Trends We're Watching at Brand Fandom 2026

What does it mean to be a fan today? It's increasingly about more than watching a game, following an athlete, or buying a ticket. Fandom happens in watch parties, selfies, videos, brand activations, stadiums, and the people we keep showing up with.

At SponsorshipX Brand Fandom 2026, one theme kept coming through: fandom is becoming less about audiences and more about participation, belonging, and relationships. Here are some of the conversations that stood out to us.

Fandoms Before Funnels

Nithya Ramachandran, President & CSO, T1

People don't experience fandom like a marketing funnel; they build identities around teams, athletes, and their communities. When their friends keep showing up together, every game becomes a ritual, and every bedazzled jersey becomes a ritual. For brands, that shifts the question from How many people did we reach? to What does belonging actually look like? The same group attending multiple events, a fan bringing someone new, or people sharing a moment together aren't simply impressions; they're relationships.

Women's Sports Are Creating New Fan Cultures

Pretty Badass: How Sephora is Redefining What It Means to Belong in Sport — Allison Litzinger, SVP & CMO, Sephora Canada

Women's sports aren't simply creating more sponsorship opportunities; it's becoming part of the Sephora culture. Supporting women's events and achievements is an easy ask for Sephora leadership. Cosmetics is no longer separate from sport; it's part of creating new fan cultures around athletes, fashion, creators, watch parties, live experiences, and communities. Brands like Sephora can participate in that culture rather than simply advertise beside it. The opportunity isn't only to reach the fan; it's to become part of an experience they remember.

Brands Want to Be Part of the Memory

From Day One: Inside CIBC's Founding Partnership — Andrew Greenlaw, SVP, Brand, Community & Client Experience, CIBC

The sponsorship question is shifting from "Did the fan see our brand?" to "Were we part of something they remember?" The moments fans carry with them, a first game, a selfie with an athlete, meeting new friends, or participating in an activation, can become part of their relationship with a team or community. That opens up a much richer way to understand sponsorship: who experienced the moment together, who shared it, who returned, and which experiences became traditions.

From Moment to Movement

Dominic Martin, Director, Marketing, Canada Soccer

Major events create huge bursts of connection, but fandom doesn't disappear when everyone goes home. It's the conversation or meme the next day, or the shared selfie with your favourite athlete with your friends. You start seeing the same people show up, game after game, or a watch party in your local cafe. Soccer is being shared so much right now, it's becoming the fabric of Canadian culture. What if we stopped treating every event as an isolated moment and started understanding the journey between them?

Our Favourite Session: Inside Ownership

Inside Ownership: Building the Toronto Tempo — Reetu Gupta, Ambassadress / CEO, The Gupta Group

Our favourite session was Reetu Gupta's conversation about building the Toronto Tempo. Beyond the story of creating a new sports franchise, we found her leadership incredibly inspiring: the ambition, conviction, and willingness to build something new that people can eventually identify with, gather around, and make their own. Before decades of fandom can begin, someone has to have the courage to build on day one.

From First Fans to Forever Fans

Tempo Leadership: From First Fans to Forever Fans — Monica Wright Rogers, Teresa Resch, Lisa Ferkul & Whitney Bell, Toronto Tempo

A new team gets a rare opportunity: to watch a fandom form from its very beginning. The first ticket, first jersey, first game, first group selfie, and first traditions can spark relationships that last for years. The bigger question for any team or community is: how does a first experience become a lasting relationship? That journey from first fans to forever fans is one of the most interesting shifts happening in fandom.

What We're Watching

Taken together, these conversations point toward something bigger: the business of fandom is moving from capturing attention to understanding participation and passion. We don't experience fandom alone. We experience it with the friends beside us, the people we meet, the athletes we follow, the brands that participate, and the communities we return to. Moment creation and sharing are now a permanent part of being a fan, and we are here for it.

This Is the Part We're Thinking About at fenel

At fenel, we're interested in what happens when fans, athletes, and brands can share their event photos and videos with each other, bringing moments of fandom into one shared visual world. Over time, those shared moments start to tell a bigger story: who experienced something together, who keeps showing up, and how one event connects to the next.

Maybe one of the most interesting questions in fandom isn't only: what are you a fan of?

It's who are you a fan with?

The event ends. The world keeps growing.