By Ranit Etzion Weiss, Head of Marketing – EMEA & APAC at WSC Sport G-CMO NEXT community member

The World Cup is the biggest event in sports. But some of its most memorable moments aren’t happening on the pitch. They’re happening around it.

Sky Sport Austria is a sports broadcaster with no World Cup broadcast rights. So they did something different. Instead of trying to cover the matches, they covered everything around them.

They sent two presenters on a month-long road trip across America following the Austrian national team. The series, Rot Weiss Roadtrip, is about fans, food, culture and road chaos.

No live matches. Still part of the World Cup conversation.

That’s the real lesson of this tournament, and it’s not about sports.

The World Cup is attracting record audiences around the world. But audience numbers aren’t the most interesting story. What people choose to share is.

Scottish fans playing bagpipes in American streets. Norway fans doing the Viking Row. One of BBC Sport’s most viral clips? Van Dijk talking about hydration breaks. Not a goal. Not a tactic. A water break.

The moments people share aren’t the matches. They’re everything around the matches.

Kan 11 understood this too. With the time difference, most Israeli fans can’t watch the matches live. Instead of pretending otherwise, they built personalized highlights and catch-up experiences that fit the tournament into people’s lives, not the other way around.

Now the uncomfortable question for us as marketers:

We still think in campaigns. Launch, peak, report, done. Sports organizations think in relationships. The event is one touchpoint. The loyalty gets built in between.

So instead of asking “how do we maximize impact during the campaign,” try asking: what gives people a reason to come back tomorrow? And the day after that?

You don’t need to own the main event. You need to own the space around it.