The Look Company sees sports venues redesigning for phone cameras and inclusivity

The Look Company released its first report on live sports design June 11, 2026, arguing that North American stadiums and arenas are shifting toward social-first visuals, flexible sponsor inventory and more accessible wayfinding. The report says those changes are being driven by smaller broadcast audiences, more fan content on phones and a wider push to make game-day experiences work for more people in person and online.

Why it matters: - Stadiums and arenas are being redesigned around how fans actually watch and share sports now. - The shift affects sponsor value, venue revenue, fan engagement and accessibility. - Teams that build for phone cameras and in-person comfort could reach larger audiences beyond the broadcast feed.

What happened: - The Look Company released its inaugural report, The Design of Sports: How Fans and Brands Are Shaping Live Sporting Events, on June 11, 2026. - The report identifies six trends that it says will shape major stadium and arena experiences across North America in the coming years. - The Look Company works with major franchises, venues and brands in the United States and Canada, including FIFA, the Seattle Seahawks and F1 racing. - Jacob Burke, Global CEO of The Look Company, said sports experiences now reach a much larger online audience and that venues are redesigning gameday around that reality. - Burke said visuals need to read clearly on a phone camera and that teams and brands designed for that behavior will win the most committed audiences over the next decade. - The full report is available here.

The details: - Dual-purpose stadiums are pushing demand for multipurpose graphics that can change between sports in hours. - Teams are using modular setups, swappable turf branding, interchangeable end-zone and midfield graphics and wraparound signage to update field markings, sponsor placements and team identities. - Growing sponsorship volume is driving rotating inventory inside one physical space. - Teams are using panels, vinyl systems and similar materials so one wall, banner or panel can feature multiple brands across a game, series or season. - “Made-for-social” visuals are replacing designs built mainly for television. - Venues are using bolder typography and higher-contrast color palettes on logo walls, tunnel entries and seat-back graphics so images still read on smaller phone screens. - Venue design is increasingly shaped by social media and the influencer economy. - That means vertical-first framing, narrower images along walkways and photo-forward moments built for fans holding phones. - Each fan-shared image becomes branded content that venues did not pay to distribute, which increases the value of high-traffic photo-op areas. - Fan villages and pop-up activations are moving from championship-only events into regular-season games. - Stadiums and sponsors are using modular activation builds, themed concourse takeovers, temporary murals and photo-op environments that can change between homestands. - The report says these experiences are meant to draw fans to stadiums and create a fuller experience beyond the game itself. - Inclusive wayfinding is expanding beyond ADA-compliant minimums. - Venues are building multi-sensory navigation systems for neurodiverse guests, fans with visual or hearing impairments, and people managing temporary limitations or language barriers. - Examples include high-contrast icon-driven signage, tactile maps, color-coded concourse zones, audio cues and sensory-friendly pathways. - The report says those tools can reduce wrong turns, assistance requests and game-day stress.

Between the lines: - The report points to a major shift in power from broadcast production to in-venue content creation. - Venues are treating fan-generated posts as a distribution channel and sponsor asset, not just as organic chatter. - Accessibility is becoming part of the design brief, not an afterthought, as venues compete for broader audiences and better guest experiences.

What’s next: - The Look Company expects these design trends to influence major venues across North America over the next several years. - Stadiums and brands are likely to keep testing flexible graphics, social-first photo moments and more inclusive navigation systems as they rebuild game-day environments.

The bottom line: - Sports venues are being redesigned for the camera in fans’ hands as much as the crowd in the seats.