The stars of media, politics and sports just aligned in the desert — with big names from around the world gathering for the first outing of the Sportico World Summit in Doha.
Among those in attendance were former U.S. President Barack Obama, former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnston, Alibaba chairman and owner of the Brooklyn Nets Joe Tsai, chief executive officer of talent agency Endeavor Ariel Emanuel, basketball great Earvin “Magic” Johnson and actor Ryan Reynolds.
While each is used to drawing big crowds on their own, the high-powered gathering was intimate with just 75 people attending. As they looked to build alliances across borders and across industries, they tackled a broad array of issues.
Reynolds posted on Instagram that, “Topics swung wildly from technology to lower league football to Teletubbies.” Proving the point, Chinese pianist Lang Lang also played a recently discovered waltz credited to Chopin at the Museum of Islamic Art, designed by I.M. Pei.
The summit is set to become an annual event and was hosted by Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and Jay Penske, CEO of Penske Media Corp., which owns Sportico and WWD.
It’s a gathering that comes during a time of convergence for cultural spaces like fashion, sports and media.
Every brand is now its own publisher on social media. And sports and fashion are growing closer than ever, feeding off of each other as players arrive to games with mini fashion shows and luxury companies become more active in big global events.
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton won gold as a premium partner of the 2024 Paris Olympics and was very visible at the opening ceremony and throughout the Games.
In October, the luxury giant went further, signing on as the global luxury partner of Formula 1, starting in March with the Melbourne Grand Prix. Tommy Hilfiger also has been involved in Formula 1 as a sponsor of various teams and is an official sponsor of F1 Academy.
The connection between sport and fashion is an easy one to make for luxury titan Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH.
“In motorsport as in fashion, watchmaking or wines and spirits, every detail counts on the path to success,” Arnault said when the deal was announced. “Both in our workshops and on circuits around the world, it is this incessant search to break boundaries that inspires our vision, and this is the meaning that we want to bring to this great and unique partnership between the Formula 1 and our group.”
Prada also extended its longstanding support of sailing at the 37th America’s Cup this year, making it to the finals of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup.
Each step along the way, fashion has refined the potent mixture of style, competition and global exposure.
