4 lessons Leaders Week 2025 taught us about the future of fandom

Last week, the Amondo team joined sports, media, and brand leaders at Leaders Week London. It was a busy few days of sharp ideas, honest debates, and one clear message for everyone in the industry: fandom is shifting.

Fans don’t just follow anymore. They expect to take part. They switch between platforms, creators, and moments that feel real. Athletes are becoming media brands themselves, and data only matters when it helps you connect.

In this post, we dive into four lessons we took away from Leaders Week and share what they mean for how sport can stay relevant in a world where culture moves faster than ever.

1. Your fans are the foundation

Across panels from World Netball to UEFA, one point kept coming up: growth depends on building genuine relationships with your fans. They’re no longer a passive audience. Knowing who they are, what they value, and how they engage is now your biggest competitive advantage because it underpins long-term commercial growth.

That’s why grassroots still matter. It’s where participation starts and lifelong fandom grows. The organisations leading the way stay close to their communities and encourage fans to create and share, and use those insights to guide global storytelling.

This came through especially strongly in conversations around women’s sport, which is reshaping fandom entirely. Research from Wasserman Collective found that 72% of women globally now identify as avid sports fans (up 10% in three years), and women drive 75% of household purchasing decisions.

For rights holders, that creates both an opportunity and a challenge. A growing audience with real spending power is emerging. But, they expect representation and relevance. The stories that resonate are grounded in real fan experiences: women attending matches, sharing their excitement, and showing what belonging looks like. When fans see people like themselves in the stands and on screen, they’re more likely to join in and invest their time, energy, and money.

When fans feel seen, they show up. They participate, spend, and bring new fans with them – growing the sport and its commercial value. Fan-generated content makes this connection tangible. It reminds people why they care, strengthens loyalty, and drives measurable revenue.

At Amondo, we see this every day. When rights holders and brands integrate fan-generated content into their storytelling, even simple CTAs (like linking to merch pages) perform better – with click-through rates far higher than on standard landing pages. That’s because people see themselves in the story, and they trust that investing in the sport is worth it.

2. Athlete storytelling is a growth engine

Our next takeaway from Leaders Week was that athletes are no longer part of the story – they are the story. 

The Women’s Rugby World Cup proved this. Players’ voices and narratives went beyond the matches, creating connection and engagement that no campaign could match. 

Fans connect with honesty and individuality. Seeing content directly from players brings them closer to the team and the sport. It breaks down barriers, showing athletes as people – relatable, driven and human. That relatability builds lasting loyalty. 

And the numbers back it up. Athlete-led social media posts from the tournament generated over 219 million views, amplifying reach far beyond traditional broadcast. 

These figures show that athlete storytelling isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a growth driver. Rights holders that bring player-led storytelling into their owned channels see real returns – from higher engagement and ticket sales to stronger sponsorship ROI and deeper fan relationships.

3. Sport is competing for attention

We also learned that sport isn’t just competing with other sports anymore. It’s competing with everything – music, fashion, film, gaming and social media. 

Holding someone’s full attention for 90 minutes is rare. People scroll, stream, and switch constantly. That’s not a threat; it’s an opportunity to rethink how sport shows up.

Panels from Manchester City, FIFA, and Unilever all made the same point: the smartest organisations treat sport as part of culture, not separate from it. They don’t expect fans to come to them. They meet fans where they already are. That means short-form stories, highlights, and behind-the-scenes content that feel natural on the platforms fans use every day.

When sport shows up in the same spaces as fashion and music, it becomes part of the cultural conversation. And when moments are shareable, they live far beyond match day.

At Amondo, we help our partners capture that energy – turning live moments and fan reactions into stories that keep the spotlight burning long after the final whistle.

4. From content to connection

The next big lesson from Leaders Week was that sport can’t rely on reach alone. It’s not just about getting fans to engage – it’s about owning where and how that engagement happens.

Too much of the fan relationship still lives on third-party platforms. Those platforms collect the data, control the interaction, and benefit from the insight that rights holders actually need. The result? They hold the value, while sports lose visibility over their own audiences.

The organisations leading the way are taking that relationship back. They’re building owned ecosystems where they control the fan journey (from discovery to conversion) and can see exactly what drives participation, purchase, and retention.

World Netball’s direct-to-consumer platform, NetballPass, was a standout example discussed at Leaders Week. It connects live content, storytelling and commerce all in one place – giving fans real reasons to subscribe and return. By owning that relationship, World Netball isn’t just generating revenue. It’s collecting insight that fuels better content, smarter partnerships, and sustainable growth.

Social platforms still matter for discovery. YouTube and TikTok are where fans often find the story. But the real value comes when you bring them into your own ecosystem – a space where you can personalise, reward loyalty, and build connection that lasts.

Sport’s next phase of growth isn’t about producing more content. It’s about creating spaces that fans choose to return to. And owning the data that makes those experiences smarter every time.

The future is human

Leaders Week made one thing clear: fandom is evolving fast. Fans don’t just want access. They want to participate, connect, and feel part of the story.

The sports and brands leading that change aren’t chasing numbers. They’re building meaning. They understand that growth comes from depth – from giving fans, athletes, and partners space to contribute, not just consume.

From grassroots to global stages, the opportunity now is to connect every layer of the fan experience. To turn fleeting engagement into long-term loyalty. To make sport feel as alive off the pitch as it does on it.

At Amondo, that’s what drives us. We help rights holders and brands capture the moments, voices, and reactions that matter and turn them into stories that live on their own platforms. Stories that fans see themselves in. Stories that last and drive commercial impact.

Because fandom isn’t about more content. It’s about connection that means something, both for your audience and your business.