Sabrina Carrozza on the Future of Sports Communications

Sports communications has never been more influential, or more complex.

As audiences become increasingly fragmented and culture moves faster than ever, communications has evolved far beyond media relations. Today, it’s about shaping narratives, building communities, creating cultural relevance and helping sports organisations earn attention rather than simply demand it.

Few people understand that shift better than Sabrina Carrozza. Through her New York-based agency, Sabrina Comms, she’s spent more than a decade helping global organisations including FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, FC Bayern Munich, DraftKings and Baller League navigate the intersection of sport, media, entertainment and culture. Alongside running her agency, she also teaches at NYU and contributes to Harvard’s Global Sports Initiative, helping shape the next generation of communications leaders.

In this Industry Insider Q&A, Sabrina shares why authenticity has become sport’s greatest competitive advantage, how communications is evolving beyond traditional PR, and what brands need to do to remain culturally relevant in an increasingly crowded landscape.

You founded Sabrina Comms in 2010 and have spent the last 16 years building it into a respected agency in New York. What originally gave you the confidence to start your own business?

Thank you for the kind framing; I appreciate the focus on ‘confidence.’ True confidence is ultimately built on competence. Prior to launching Sabrina Comms, I spent a decade executing campaigns at top-tier PR agencies, refining my strategic skill set and cultivating a robust industry network. That deep foundation gave me the reassurance I needed, which, when paired with a lifelong entrepreneurial drive, made transitioning into business ownership a natural next step.

Looking back, what have been the defining moments that shaped your career journey?

My career trajectory has been shaped by three pivotal inflection points:

The Pivot to PR: The first was a calculated risk, pivoting away from a lucrative marketing career to accept an entry-level PR internship. It was a temporary step back that unlocked my true professional alignment.

The Tech Disruption Era: This reset allowed me to secure roles at several top Tech PR firms, notably all founded by visionary, highly connected women. Collaborating with global giants like Google, YouTube, and Intuit, alongside agile startups, provided me with a masterclass in high-stakes communications.

Anchoring in Global Football: In 2014, I was approached to support FC Bayern Munich’s New York office launch right after seven of their players won the World Cup. Ironically, I knew very little about the sport at the time and initially tried to refer the project to a colleague. Taking that leap turned into a three-season engagement, which subsequently opened the door to an 11-year partnership with FC Barcelona. That defining collaboration firmly solidified my reputation as a leading expert in the American football/soccer landscape.

You’ve worked with clubs and organisations including FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, DraftKings and Baller League. What separates the brands that consistently build relevance from those that struggle to connect with audiences?

The critical differentiators are authenticity and sustained investment.

American audiences demand that brands look beyond the pitch. To capture their attention, properties must intersect sports culture with adjacent consumer passions like fashion, music, gaming and lifestyle. Authenticity serves as the north star for this creative storytelling. You must integrate the cultural touchpoints that genuinely move modern audiences rather than forcing superficial connections.

We can’t underestimate that in most cases, relevance requires capital and operational commitment. It means investing in local market experts, co-creating with digital-native influencers, producing experiential events, and launching disruptive partnerships. Brands that aggressively and authentically evolve their messaging for younger, more diverse audiences are the ones positioning themselves to win.

Communications is often viewed as media relations, but your work spans strategy, partnerships and brand building. How do you define the role of communications in modern sport?

Modern sports communication has evolved far beyond traditional media relations and press release distribution. Today, our role is to act as chief architects of creative strategy. We design multi-dimensional campaigns specifically engineered to capture younger, more diverse audiences.

This requires a strategic mix of narrative storytelling, talent access, creator economy integration, and immersive experiential marketing—all amplified by traditional media. 

Ultimately, a modern communications executive must be an elite super-connector. Possessing a cross-industry network of brand executives, cultural influencers, and media gatekeepers is the ultimate catalyst for driving brand value and making magic happen.

What does a great sports PR and communications strategy look like in 2026?

In 2026, a world-class sports communications strategy is built on a culture-first framework that views a sports property as a lifestyle brand.

Structurally, this looks like an integrated mix of corporate storytelling and highly creative multi-platform execution. It prioritizes cross-cultural collaborations, intersecting sports with fashion, gaming, and music—to capture diverse audiences.

A great strategy incorporates data analytics to understand audience sentiment in real time to move with agility, capitalize on viral cultural moments, and ultimately deliver measurable business impact.

You’ve worked across sport, media, entertainment and technology. What lessons can the sports industry learn from those sectors?

The sports industry can extract three critical lessons from these convergent sectors:

From Tech: Sports must adopt an innovation mindset. Tech companies treat everything as a continuous beta, constantly optimizing the user experience. Sports properties need that same digital agility to pivot when fan consumption habits change.

From Entertainment: Sports must master intellectual property (IP) extension. Entertainment studios excel at keeping a franchise relevant all year round through spin-offs, behind-the-scenes content, games and merchandising plays. Sports needs to view its athletes and narratives as continuous IP, maintaining high engagement across multiple channels long after the final whistle.

From Media: Sports must think like a platform, not just a content creator. Media networks build robust, interactive ecosystems. Sports properties need to stop treating fans as passive viewers and start engaging them as active, co-creative community members.

Running an agency means constantly balancing client work, growth and leadership. What are some of the challenges people don’t see behind the scenes?

Behind the scenes, the greatest unseen challenge is maintaining the relentlessness required to win. External observers see the high-profile client wins and glamorous activations, but they don’t see the work ethic required to sustain them. Also, there is the silent friction of managing client expectations vs. reality, guiding brands to understand that sustainable relevance requires long-term strategic commitment, not just a one-hit wonder. True leadership is absorbing it all, so your team can create freely and your clients can achieve their goals.

Alongside Sabrina Comms, you teach at NYU and contribute to Harvard’s Global Sports Initiative. What motivates you to invest in education and mentoring?

My investment in academia is driven by a desire for legacy and representation. When I entered this field, there wasn’t an established blueprint for navigating the exact intersection of tech, global sports, and American culture.

Teaching at NYU and contributing to Harvard’s Global Sports Initiative allows me to build the bridge I wish I had. The sports industry desperately needs to diversify its leadership pipelines to match its rapidly diversifying fanbase. By mentoring the next generation of executives, I am actively helping to shape a more inclusive, progressive, and highly capable industry. It keeps me sharp, challenges my own assumptions, and ensures that my agency remains deeply connected to the emerging ideas driving the future of sports business.

The media landscape has changed dramatically since 2010. How has the way sports organisations communicate with fans evolved during that time?

Since I founded Sabrina Comms in 2010, the paradigm has completely shifted from traditional media to unmediated and unfiltered connection. Sixteen years ago, sports organizations relied almost exclusively on media outlets to distribute their narratives to the public.

Today, organizations operate as fully actualized media houses themselves. The relationship with the fan has evolved from transactional to conversational. Clubs like FC Barcelona and FC Bayern Munich have proven that to capture global attention, you must speak directly to subcultures. We have moved away from polished corporate statements and transitioned into authentic, creator-driven storytelling that meets fans directly on the digital platforms where they already live.

What trends do you believe will have the biggest impact on sports communications over the next five years?

Over the next five years, I anticipate three macro-trends will fundamentally redefine sports communications:

The Creator-Led Ecosystem: The monetization and influence of individual creators and athletes will eclipse traditional media channels. Communications strategies will rely heavily on embedding brands organically into autonomous athlete-and-creator networks.

Hyper-Personalized Fan Experiences: Driven by AI and sophisticated CRM data, communications will move away from mass messaging. Instead, we will see highly tailored, contextual content delivered to fans based on their specific geographic, cultural, and behavioral micro-segments.

The Globalization of Niche Sports: As digital distribution barriers crumble, international leagues and emerging sports properties will aggressively scale their footprints in America. The competition for consumer attention will become intensely fierce, forcing legacy brands to innovate creatively to maintain market share.

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received?

The most impactful advice I ever received was to ‘protect your network, and your perspective even more.’ Early in my career, working alongside incredibly successful, connected female founders, I learned that a powerful rolodex is an invaluable asset.

However, they taught me that a network is only as strong as the unique strategic viewpoint you bring to it. If you simply echo what everyone else in the room is saying, you add zero value. Protecting your perspective means having the conviction to tell a client or a sports property what they need to hear, not just what they want to hear. That commitment to strategic honesty is what transforms a standard agency into a trusted partner.

What advice would you give to somebody looking to build a career in sports communications today?

My advice to aspiring professionals is: become a student of business and culture, not just a student of sports.

If your only asset is knowing player statistics and game scores, you will struggle to cut through the modern industry landscape. You must understand consumer behavior, technology, media monetization models, and the cultural movements shaping younger and diverse audiences. 

Secondly, do not wait for permission to build your portfolio. Create your own content, analyze industry campaigns publicly, and proactively network horizontally with your peers, not just vertically with executives. Cultivate competence early by trying many new things, and the professional confidence will inevitably follow.

Quickfire

Three words that describe the sports industry?

Dynamic. Convergent. Experiential. 

One word that describes your role?

Catalyst. 

Most underrated skill in sport business?

Active cultural listening. 

A brand doing communications particularly well right now?

Man City. 

A book, podcast or person that has influenced your thinking?

The female founders who mentored me early in my career. They taught me that a powerful network coupled with strategic conviction are a winning formula.

One person in sport business we should feature next?

An innovative athlete-creator who is successfully building their own media network.

Sabrina’s perspective reflects just how quickly the communications landscape is evolving. As sport competes for attention alongside entertainment, gaming and creator culture, success is becoming less about simply reaching audiences and more about earning their trust.

Whether it’s building authentic narratives, embracing cultural relevance or developing the next generation of industry leaders, the role of communications continues to expand well beyond traditional PR.

For more conversations with the founders, strategists and creatives shaping the future of sport, explore more from our Industry Insider series and discover the people driving the industry forward behind the scenes.