Sport Beach 2026 Just Dropped Its Most Dangerous Roster Yet, and We’re Covering All of It

Sport Beach is back at Cannes Lions for Year 4, and this time it didn’t just raise the bar, it moved the whole venue. Running the week of June 16 in Cannes, France, the Stagwell-backed platform has assembled a roster that blends reigning world champions, Hall of Famers, CMOs running billion-dollar portfolios, and one of the most hyped NBA rookies in a decade, all on the same stretch of beach. We will be there on the ground as press, and you can follow every breaking story, deal, and conversation we uncover by subscribing to our Substack at footwear.substack.com.

This year’s most significant structural move is the newly announced strategic partnership between Sport Beach and Boardroom, the media company co-founded by Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman. Boardroom will host a dedicated VIP lounge and a Boardroom Brunch activation at Cannes, following a co-hosted event timed to the US Open. Alex Rodriguez, Chairman and CEO of A-Rod Corp and Co-Chairman of the Timberwolves and Lynx, adds another layer to the athlete-turned-investor presence. The Durant-Kleiman machine has spent years documenting how athletes become power brokers. Now they have a room inside the room where those deals actually get made.

F1 takes over the shore

The single most intriguing storyline heading into Cannes is the F1 double-header. Lando Norris, who clinched the 2025 F1 Drivers’ Championship at the Abu Dhabi season finale, and Carlos Sainz, now racing for the Atlassian Williams F1 Team, are both confirmed on the roster alongside Williams Team Principal James Vowles. These two drivers have undeniable chemistry, having gone head-to-head in a karting challenge on Norris’s Quadrant YouTube channel just last month. And the business dimension is just as compelling.

Louise McEwen, CMO of McLaren Racing, is also on the roster, meaning the woman responsible for one of the most powerful brand identities in motorsport will be in the same room as the driver who just made that brand a championship team. That is a conversation worth tracking.

Shaq, Melo, CP3 and the Hall of Fame business class

If the athlete side of the ledger has a headliner bloc, it is the convergence of three basketball legends who have each built empires well beyond the hardwood. Shaquille O’Neal, Hall of Famer, entrepreneur, TV personality, and DJ, brings a brand-building resume that rivals his playing career. Carmelo Anthony, 10-time NBA All-Star and now NBA on NBC studio analyst, is one of the sport’s most respected voices on the intersection of culture and commerce.

And Chris Paul, one of the fiercest competitors the league has ever seen, arrives as a philanthropist and businessman with a robust legacy that extends far beyond his playing days. Getting all three on a marketing beach simultaneously is not an accident. Brands in that room will be listening closely.

The sports media and broadcast power

Taylor Rooks, two-time Emmy Award-nominated broadcaster and host of The NBA on Prime, gives Sport Beach one of the sharpest editorial voices in sports media. Pablo Torre, host and executive editor of “Pablo Torre Finds Out” for Meadowlark Media in partnership with The Athletic and the New York Times, adds a deeply analytical, culturally fluent perspective to the mix. And TJ Adeshola, Operating Partner at Arctos Sports Partners and former head of Global Media and Content Partnerships at Twitter, is the rare figure who has sat at the table with leagues, franchises, and platforms simultaneously. When those three are in the same building as the CMOs writing the checks, the conversations tend to get very honest, very fast.

Athletes redefining what the podium looks like

Noah Lyles, 2024 Olympic 100m champion, 8-time World Champion, American Record holder in the 200 meters, and founder of Iconic Productions, is back after a breakout debut at Sport Beach 2025. Hilary Knight, two-time Olympic Gold medalist and 10-time World Champion in hockey, and Sky Brown, 2x Olympic Bronze medalist and Britain’s youngest-ever summer Olympian at age 13, round out an athlete lineup that skews global, cross-sport, and unmistakably female.

Lindsey Vonn, Olympic Gold medalist and one of the most decorated ski racers in American history, and Miles Chamley-Watson, Olympic Bronze medalist and 2x World Champion fencer who founded the World Fencing League, add two more names who have spent years converting athletic credibility into business equity.

Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, is on the roster in his first year in the league. That is not a coincidence, that is a calculated statement about where athlete branding is headed. His presence signals that Sport Beach is no longer just celebrating legacy. It is betting on the future, and brands in that room will be lining up before his second season even opens.

The CMO firepower is unprecedented

On the brand side, Mark Kirkham oversees a $28 billion PepsiCo beverages portfolio, Anthony Capuano runs Marriott across properties in countries, and Lina Polimeni represents Eli Lilly, the first healthcare company to crack a $1 trillion market cap. Kenny Mitchell, CMO of Levi Strauss and Co., and Taylor Montgomery, Global Chief Brand Officer at Taco Bell, bring two of the most culturally embedded consumer brands into a room with the athletes those brands are chasing.

Uzma Rawn Dowler, CMO and SVP of Global Corporate Partnerships at MLB, is there to grow the sport and reach new audiences, and Cannes is exactly where that pipeline gets built. These are not panel guests filling seats. These are check-writers deciding where the next generation of sports sponsorship dollars goes, sitting ten feet from the athletes competing for those deals.

Sport Beach has quietly become the most important room in sports marketing, and the 2026 roster is the clearest evidence yet that athletes, brands, and media are no longer operating in separate lanes. We will be reporting live from the beach all week. Subscribe to our Substack at footwear.substack.com for breaking news, behind-the-scenes coverage, and the stories that do not make the official recap.

SportsBeach Speakers 2026 (Confirmed)

TJ Adeshola, Operating Partner, Arctos Sports Partners
Carmelo Anthony, Hall of Famer, 10x NBA All-Star, 3x Olympic Gold Medalist, NBA on NBC On Air Analyst, Entrepreneur
John Boiler, Creative Chair, Stagwell
Sky Brown, 2x Olympic Medalist and World Champion
Monica Caponigro, Managing Director, Bobbie
Anthony Capuano, President and CEO, Marriott International
Miles Chamley-Watson, Olympian and Founder of World Fencing League
Glenn Cole, Founder and Chairman, 72andSunny
Michael Collins, Golf Analyst, Former PGA TOUR Caddie, Comedian
David Demuth, Executive Chair, DonerColle Partners
Ron “Boss” Everline, CEO of Just Train, Venture Capitalist and Entrepreneur
Cooper Flagg, NBA Player, Dallas Mavericks
Gigi García Russo, Chief Innovation Officer, HUNTER
Dan Gardner, Co-Founder, Code and Theory
Gina Gray, Chief Growth Officer, DonerColle Partners
Dan Gregory, CEO, TEAM
Jessica Henrichs, CEO, DonerColle Partners
Ben James, Chief Innovation Officer, GALE
Colin Jeffery, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Wolfgang
Damaune Journey, Global Chief Growth Officer, 72andSunny
Indy Khabra, Co-Founder, Co-CEO, Livewire
Mark Kirkham, Chief Marketing Officer, PepsiCo Beverages US
Rich Kleiman, CEO and Co-Founder, Boardroom
Hilary Knight, 5x Olympian, Olympic Gold Medalist and 10x World Champion
Karen Kovacs, President, Advertising and Partnerships, NBCUniversal
Jay Leveton, President, Stagwell
Ryan Linder, EVP, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Stagwell
Noah Lyles, 2024 Olympic 100 Meter Champion and World’s Fastest Man
Maggie Malek, CEO, Crispin
Angela Manuel Davis, World-Class Motivational Coach, Former USA Track and Field Team and Nike Athlete
Louise McEwen, CMO, McLaren Racing
Don McGuire, Chief Marketing Officer, Qualcomm Incorporated
Seema Miller, Strategy Chair, Stagwell
Kenny Mitchell, CMO, Levi Strauss and Co.
Taylor Montgomery, Global Chief Brand Officer, Taco Bell
Lando Norris, Driver, McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team
Shaquille O’Neal, Hall of Famer, Entrepreneur, TV Personality, DJ
Chris Paul, NBA All-Star, Philanthropist and Entrepreneur
Jon Penn, CEO, National Research Group
Mark Penn, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Stagwell
Lina Polimeni, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer, Consumer, Eli Lilly and Company
Jen Rapp, Chief Customer Officer, Superside
Uzma Rawn Dowler, CMO and SVP, Global Corporate Partnerships, MLB
Joy Robins, Global Chief Advertising Officer, The New York Times Company
Alex Rodriguez, Chairman and CEO of A-Rod Corp, Co-Chairman, Timberwolves and Lynx
Franke Rodriguez, CEO, Anomaly
Elspeth Rollert, CEO, The Marketing Cloud
Taylor Rooks, Two-time Emmy Award-nominated Sports Broadcaster, Journalist and Host
Lisa Rosenberg, Global President, Consumer Brands, Allison Worldwide
David Sable, Executive Vice Chair, Stagwell
Carlos Sainz, Driver, Atlassian Williams F1 Team
Kraig Schulz, Chief Customer Officer, BERA.ai
Evin Shutt, Global CEO, 72andSunny
Beth Sidhu, CEO, SPORT BEACH
Sandy Song, President, Wolfgang
Shana Stephenson, SVP and Chief Brand Officer, New York Liberty
Asani Swann Benjamin, Co-Founder VII(N) The Seventh Estate, Founder I AM Wholehearted
Doug Sweeny, Chief Marketing Officer, Oura
Rachel Thornton, Chief Marketing Officer, Enterprise, Adobe
Genevieve Tompkins, CEO, Goodstuff Communications
Pablo Torre, Host and Executive Editor, “Pablo Torre Finds Out”
Michael Treff, CEO, Code and Theory
Lindsey Vonn, Olympic Champion, Entrepreneur, and Philanthropist
James Vowles, Team Principal, Atlassian Williams F1 Team
Louisa Wee, Chief Marketing Officer, Strava
Karina Wilsher, Partner and Global CEO, Anomaly
Edwin Wong, Head of Measurement Science, Uber Advertising