Gamestime Intelligence from Onboard Sports Advisory
With Onboard Sports Advisory on the ground in Italy and colleagues across our global offices supporting in real time, OBE is closely tracking the most important, dynamic, and conversation-shaping stories emerging from the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games.
TOP HEADLINES
For Team USA, these Winter Olympics have not gone according to plan (NYT, 2/16)
The Olympics Are Fully Back—and Actually Fun Again (WSJ, 2/15)
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo breaks Winter Olympics record with ninth gold medal (NY Post, 2/15)
BUSINESS, MARKETING & SPONSORSHIP
Crotch Fabric, Blue Skin Suits and Other Oddities of Olympic Gear (NYT, 2/16)
Visa-only Games highlights Europe’s payments headache (The Business Times, 2/16)
Winter Olympics 2026 Ad Tracker: See the Biggest Commercials From Milano Cortina (ADWEEK, 2/13)
FANS, CONTENT & MEDIA
Winter Olympics free speech row over worker’s ‘Free Palestine’ message (NYT, 2/16)
Spanish Figure Skater Gets Engaged to Her Former Rival on the Streets of Milan During Winter Olympics (People, 2/15)
The ‘Spidercam’ is reinventing the way fans watch hockey at the Winter Olympics (NYT, 2/15)
SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS
Elana Meyers Taylor wins Olympic gold at last in storybook women’s monobob triumph (NBCOlympics.com, 2/16)
U.S. Women’s Hockey Turns Semifinal Into Swedish Shellacking in Gold Medal Warmup (SI.com, 2/16)
U.S. men's hockey stays unbeaten at Olympics; knockout round next (ESPN, 2/15)
FUTURE OF THE MOVEMENT
What Bad Bunny taught us about Brisbane 2032 (The Courier Mail, 2/16)
OSA Gametime Observations
Throughout the city of Milan, you will see colorful branding promoting “Together, We Win. To Our Partners: Thank You”. This type of creative is a common sight in the Olympic and Paralympic Movement. It's officially known as Marketing Partner Recognition and is intended to show appreciation for the support of the Games' sponsors. It's important to note that Marketing Partner Recognition is not done simply out of kindness, but is actually a contractual requirement that Organizing Committees must deliver.
What makes the efforts of Milan Cortina 2026 unique, however, is the omnipresence of Marketing Partner Recognition, dotted across street signage, pasted to the metro's flooring, inside venues, etc. While we imagine MiCo's partners appreciate the gesture (which included portraits of actual sponsor employees), they likely would have supported using many of those assets to present the Milan Cortina “Look of the Games”, generating greater public engagement, city cohesion and excitement around the Games. (Especially if it featured more of Tina or Milo, their now globally viral mascots!).