The FIFA World Cup 2026 draw is taking place at 5pm GMT today, and as football fans across the world wait with baited breath, relevant stakeholders in the betting and media spaces are busy putting together long-held plans and preparations.
This includes The Sporting News, a popular online sports media outlet, and FairPlay Sports Media (FPSM), one of the largest betting affiliate groups and owner of Oddschecker. Martyn Jones, Co-CEO of The Sporting News, and Stuart Simms, CEO of FairPlaySportsMedia (FPSM), sat down with SBC News ahead of tonight’s draw to walk us through the duo’s plans.
As the world’s biggest sporting event, the World Cup is always a huge moment for sports betting news, and with the regulated American wagering industry continuing to grow in size while the popularity of football (soccer) also grows in the US, next year’s event is a perfect opportunity for those prepared enough to seize it.
SBC News: How are you preparing to promote football news and content to a US audience which still statistically prefers American football, basketball etc to soccer?
Martyn Jones: At The Sporting News, we’re in full blown planning mode for the World Cup next summer and today’s draw is an important milestone in the journey. Of course, we’re approaching it from a global perspective while keeping US fans front and centre.
While we’re happy to engage with the concept of ‘two footballs’, I’ll stick to soccer because – as you rightly point out – football as we know it in the UK is some way off the popularity of sports including American football.
That being said, the next year or so isn’t just an exciting year for the growth of soccer, it has the potential to redefine the sport for all ages and levels across the US.
The first World Cup in North America since 1994 could be a formative experience for new soccer fans latching on to the sport’s biggest stories, teams and star players including the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Lamine Yamal, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Despite being 38 years old, Messi remains an important part of the puzzle.
He’s already captured the attention of US sports fans through Inter Miami’s run to the Eastern Conference final for the first time in the club’s history. In July, he bids for back-to-back World Cups with Argentina.
Our preparation is all about bringing the best coverage of the tournament to our loyal readers and positioning ourselves as the go-to resource for both sports betting news, both in the US and across all of our localised editions.
SBCN: There will likely be a content storm around the World Cup. How confident are you that your content will stand out from the competition?
MJ: We think we’re well placed but equally we’re leaving no stone unturned in our bid to deliver the most informative, engaging and enjoyment-enhancing content with a focus on core football and also cross over fans who are usually heavy US sports fans.
From expert analysis to AI-led predictions, bet builder comparison, best bookmaker offers, real-time odds and data fuelled match summaries, our commitment is to provide the same holistic coverage for each and every game.
SBCN: Building on this, what do you think makes FPSM/The Sporting News’ content unique among other sports betting outlets?
MJ: Our partnership with FairPlay Sports Media globally and Sportradar in North America gives us a jump on other media outlets because we can pair traditional match build-up, expert opinion, analysis and data with smarter tools to maximise betting activity and enjoyment.
And unlike some outlets, we’re not waiting to parachute into the World Cup gold rush next summer to try and claim our piece of the pie. We’re already delivering extensive coverage of the tournament on a global level, tracking results, betting odds, fixtures, squad updates and tournament records for all of the key contenders.
SBCN: Looking beyond the World Cup, do you have any plans for how the audience engagement during the tournament can be leveraged elsewhere – whether into coverage of other soccer tournaments or into other sports entirely?
MJ: We think that the tournament will be a milestone for soccer in the US, and across all our other territories and – perhaps most crucially – a new cohort of sports fans understanding how The Sporting News can provide added value to their enjoyment of the game and betting experience.
It’s crucial that we refine the content along the way, test and learn and identify any gaps in the proposition. As everyone knows, advances in technology are coming so fast.
There is so much work going on behind the scenes to streamline the end-to-end flow of producing everything our readers see on our platforms, with nuances by market and consumption habits that define how successful we will be.
Ultimately we have to be authentic, tonally on point and influential across all content output – this is where sports media companies will win and we believe The Sporting News is uniquely positioned going into its 140th year.
SBCN: How big an opportunity is next year’s World Cup for companies like yours to expand their profile in the US market?
Stuart Simms: It’s a critical moment. The World Cup cycle is a key growth event every time it comes around, and having it in the US only reinforces that. The post-PASPA era has seen the US betting public become highly engaged with their betting destinations in a way that few other markets match.
They’re more likely to be data-led and price sensitive, and so FairPlay Sports Media is very well-placed to appeal to bettors who may be newer to soccer with our proven heritage across this side of the Atlantic, while we’re also suited to those who want to be better educated on their betting decisions through AI-powered insights and real-time odds tracking.
We have a clear plan of how we’ll be marketing to the US audience in the lead up to this year’s World Cup and we’re confident that our premium, varied offering will cut through and help us build our soccer footprint by appealing to the sport’s incumbent fanbase both across our brands and through our growing set of media partnerships.
SBCN: Technology and AI-utilisation has played a big role in FairPlay’s business model over the past few years. How will both FairPlay and The Sporting News apply this tech to the World Cup?
SS: This is the age of xG and duels won. Some factions of the football community may prefer it to stay ‘old school’, but the fact of the matter is that sports fans and sports bettors both demand more data to enrich their viewing experiences. Due to this, we’ve rolled out a number of AI-powered tools that give our users on-site and via our partners the ability to be deeper in the action and to make smarter betting choices in the long run.
For the World Cup, The Sporting News will get access to our suite of components that deliver our high-quality, low-latency data in accessible and engaging interfaces. Our premium oddschecker+ subscribers can take this a step further, with AI-powered Trends and Value Bets, both of which scrape betting activity and data in real-time to give our customers the edge.
The World Cup is a highly competitive betting space, with odds based on strong liquidity, and through FairPlay Sports Media’s AI expertise and The Sporting News’ first-rate content, we’ll be giving users those 0.1% gains that give them the best shot at winning.