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Adgully Bureau
| 22 minutes ago
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The creator economy has become an increasingly important part of the sports business, but the 2026 US Open has exposed an uncomfortable question for rights holders, brands and tournament organisers: how far can sports go in opening themselves up to influencers before the content starts getting in the way of the contest?
Wimbledon appears to have an answer — and it is a considerably more cautious one.
Following a series of incidents at this year’s US Open, the All England Club is not expected to introduce a dedicated accreditation category for influencers and content creators at next year’s tournament. It is also expected to enforce existing entry conditions more strictly, including restrictions on equipment such as ring lights if they are deemed capable of distracting players or interfering with matches.
The decision is significant because it comes at a moment when major sporting properties are actively courting creators. Social platforms have transformed the way younger audiences discover sports, athletes and sporting events. Influencers can bring personality, behind-the-scenes access and cultural relevance that traditional sports broadcasting does not always provide.
The US Open had leaned into that opportunity. Around 100 content creators received accreditation for the 2026 tournament, nearly twice the 54 accredited the previous year. Around 20 were focused specifically on food and beverage content, illustrating just how much the tournament has evolved from being merely a tennis competition into a broader entertainment and lifestyle property.
But the same strategy has also exposed the limits of treating a live sporting event as a content studio.
The controversy intensified after an incident during Naomi Osaka’s first-round match against Anastasia Zakharova at Arthur Ashe Stadium. A group of spectators in a suite were filming and using bright lights while play was under way, prompting chair umpire Kader Nouni to intervene and ask them to take their seats. Osaka subsequently spoke about the disruption, while other players, including Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff, also weighed in on the broader issue of etiquette.
There is an important distinction, however. The USTA subsequently clarified that the people involved in the Osaka incident were not among the officially credentialed creators. Two other creators also lost access after issues surrounding their credentials.
That nuance does not make the underlying problem disappear. If anything, it makes the debate more complicated.
The issue is no longer simply about whether an influencer accreditation programme works. It is about whether the increasingly blurred boundary between spectator, creator, celebrity, brand ambassador and media professional can be managed inside a live sporting environment.
A tennis match is fundamentally different from a concert, a fashion show or a brand event. Players need concentration, spectators are expected to observe periods of silence, and even relatively small distractions can have an impact during a serve or rally.
A ring light may be harmless in a creator studio. In a player’s eyeline, it becomes a very different proposition.
The creator economy has changed what a sports property is
The US Open’s experiment is nevertheless understandable.
For sports organisations, creators offer something increasingly valuable: access to audiences that traditional sports media may struggle to reach.
A creator can turn a tennis match into a fashion story, a food experience, a celebrity encounter, a travel recommendation or a piece of entertainment. That broadens the addressable audience for the event and creates additional inventory for sponsors.
The US Open has leaned particularly heavily into that entertainment proposition. Reuters noted that the tournament’s creator ecosystem included dedicated food and beverage coverage, while its broader atmosphere has increasingly positioned the event as a major New York entertainment property.
This is important from a marketing perspective.
For years, sports sponsorship was largely built around conventional visibility — perimeter boards, jersey branding, broadcast integrations and hospitality. The creator economy adds another layer: social distribution.
A creator attending a tournament does not simply watch the event. They turn the event into hundreds of pieces of potentially monetisable content.
That content can extend the life of a match beyond its broadcast window, make sponsors part of social conversations and introduce the tournament to people who may have little interest in watching a three-hour tennis match on television.
The opportunity, therefore, is real.
The problem is that the same incentives can encourage behaviour that is incompatible with the sporting environment.
Wimbledon is choosing a different brand proposition
Wimbledon and the US Open represent two distinctly different approaches to the modern sports experience.
The US Open has historically embraced a louder, more energetic New York identity. Music, entertainment, celebrity culture, food, fashion and social media all sit comfortably within that broader proposition.
Wimbledon has built much of its brand equity around restraint, tradition and ceremony.
Its decision not to create a dedicated creator accreditation category is therefore not necessarily an anti-social-media position. Influencers can still attend as spectators and create content within the rules. Rather, it signals that creator status alone will not automatically confer special access.
That is an important distinction for sports marketers.
Not every property needs to adopt the same creator strategy. The right level of influencer integration depends on what the brand of the event stands for.
For a tournament whose value is partly rooted in heritage and exclusivity, excessive creator access can potentially undermine the very attributes that make the property valuable.
The larger issue extends well beyond tennis.
Football, cricket, basketball, golf and motorsport are all becoming increasingly creator-friendly. Athletes themselves have become media properties, while influencers increasingly function as an additional layer of sports distribution.
The commercial logic is compelling. Younger audiences often encounter sports through short-form video, creator commentary, memes and personality-driven content before they ever become traditional fans.
The ATP’s expanded relationship with TikTok, for instance, reflects the wider push to bring tennis into social-first environments; Reuters reported that posts under #tennis on the platform rose by more than 25% during 2025.
The challenge, therefore, is not whether sports should work with creators. That debate is already largely settled.
The real question is how sports can integrate creators without allowing the logic of content to overwhelm the logic of competition.
The answer may lie in better-designed access rather than simply more or less access.
Dedicated creator zones, controlled filming areas, scheduled content windows, clearer accreditation criteria, pre-event etiquette briefings and designated hospitality spaces can allow creators and brands to generate content without turning live match environments into production studios.
For rights holders, that could be a more sustainable model than either unrestricted access or an outright rejection of creators.
The next phase of sports influence will be about access, not just reach
The US Open episode offers a useful lesson for the wider sports-marketing ecosystem.
The creator economy can help sports reach new audiences, humanise athletes and generate enormous volumes of social content. But access itself is becoming a valuable asset that needs to be managed strategically.
The question for tournament organisers is no longer simply, “How many creators can we bring in?”
It is: What kind of creator access strengthens the property, what kind undermines it, and where should the boundary sit?
Wimbledon appears to have decided that the boundary should be drawn closer to the traditional sporting experience.
The US Open, meanwhile, may have provided an inadvertent case study in why that boundary matters.
As sports becomes increasingly intertwined with influencer marketing, the winning formula may not be to keep creators, or to let them take over.
It may be to give them enough access to tell the story of the sport, without allowing them to become the story when the match is still being played.
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Media11-Sep-2026Wimbledoncreator economy
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