SBC Summit opens in Lisbon with 40,000 attendees expected
Michael Jordan sitting alongside the CEOs of Sportradar and DraftKings. That image kicks off the SBC Summit 2026, which began in Lisbon this Tuesday, the 29th, with over 40,000 professionals expected, making it the largest edition in the event's history.
The opening session is called Leadership in Sports Business and takes place on the Super Stage of the MEO Arena between 12 PM and 1 PM. Jordan shares the stage with Carsten Koerl, who founded and leads Sportradar, and Jason Robins, co-founder and chairman of the board of DraftKings, moderated by journalist Kirsty Gallacher. The conversation explores three distinct perspectives on how the sports business has changed.
The scale of the event explains why the industry organizes its calendar around it. Between the Feira Internacional de Lisboa and the MEO Arena, and until Thursday the 1st, more than 800 exhibitors and sponsors, over 600 speakers, and attendees from more than 150 countries will gather, with over 11,000 confirmed operators and a growing presence of regulators, lotteries, affiliates, and technology companies.
Since 2024, the Super Stage has been SBC's commitment to bringing in people from outside the sector, with previous guests including Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Tony Hawk, Oleksandr Usyk, and Gary Vaynerchuk. This year, it adds transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano, who on September 30th will speak about the media brand he built by being first and accurate, and UFC fighter Charles Oliveira, who on Wednesday will discuss performance under pressure as an ambassador for Aviator, the game by SPRIBE. There will also be founder sessions with David Natroshvili of SPRIBE, Gustaf Hagman of LeoVegas Group, and Vigen Badalyan of SoftConstruct, and one on how the Argentine Football Association took its brand abroad, featuring Leandro Petersen and Sergio Goycochea.
The structural change in this edition is in affiliation. The Affiliate Leaders Summit ceases to be a section to function as an independent event at the same venue, with its own tickets, program, exhibition, and awards, and an expected 10,000 professionals. SBC has also partnered with Conversion Conf to put together that program. In addition, two new forums are being added: the Global Prediction Markets Forum, which arrives as prediction markets begin to converge with trading and betting, and the African Gaming Forum, organized in conjunction with the Gaming Regulators Africa Forum, iGaming Afrika, and the Ghana Association of Sports Betting Operators.
The networking format has also been redesigned. There are speed networking rounds, guided tours of the exhibition, and twenty regulatory meetings organized with the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR) and the International Masters of Gaming Law (IMGL), in addition to the Smart Connect matchmaking service and a new stage, the Product Innovation Showcase, for live demonstrations to potential clients.
Technology has its own dedicated space, with AWS, Google, Meta, OpenAI, TikTok, Tinder, and Snapchat present. For those seeking training, there are four Tech Academies: artificial intelligence, player experience, CRM and digital marketing, and Web3 with cryptocurrencies. Three Masterclasses dedicated to trading, casino operations, and responsible gambling are also included. This is the first time that such training offers Continuous Professional Development certification.
The social aspect matches the scale. Festival Square serves as an outdoor meeting point, the Food Festival returns with over fifty stalls, the opening party sponsored by 1xBet features The Script as the main act, and the week closes with Tiësto at the INFINITY Lisbon event. The SBC Awards and the Affiliate Leaders Awards are also presented, and a virtual assistant named Bruna, developed by InsightPlay AI, helps attendees navigate the venue from the SBC Connect app.
This is the third consecutive edition of the summit in Lisbon, a city that has consolidated its position as a venue for the sector's European calendar. For Latin American operators, the date serves as an essential stop before the end of the year, and this time it arrives with the Brazilian market recently closed by executive decision, a topic that will permeate the halls more than any panel on the program.
Tags: SBC Summit, Michael Jordan, Affiliate Leaders Summit, Lisbon, SBC Summit Lisbon 2026