SBC Summit opens in Lisbon with city officials and 40,000 attendees
The gaming industry event is in its third year in the Portuguese capital, featuring a keynote with Michael Jordan and other sports business leaders.
LISBON — The Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, and other Portuguese government dignitaries took part in an official ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the SBC Summit on Tuesday.
Rasmus Sojmark, CEO and founder of SBC, said the company was proud to welcome attendees back to Lisbon, with this year's event bringing together around 40,000 people.
"We are very happy to have the support of the city we have chosen to host our biggest and most ambitious event," Sojmark said.
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He added that Lisbon had proven to be "the perfect fit" for the summit.
Moedas used his opening remarks to highlight Lisbon's efforts to establish itself as a technology and innovation hub, pointing to the city's Unicorn Factory initiative.
"The gaming industry understands, like no other, emotions, behaviour and people," Moedas said.
He encouraged companies attending the summit to look beyond commercial growth and consider their wider social impact.
"You have to do something more, which is to create purpose," he said.
Officials in attendance included Maria Luísa Aldim, the deputy mayor for innovation and social development, and Carlos Abade, president of Turismo de Portugal.
Senior representatives from several of SBC Summit's major sponsors also attended, including Vigen Badalyan of SoftConstruct and Alex Tomic of Alea.
Sports business keynote
Ahead of the ceremony, officials were hosted at the MEO Arena for a Leadership in Sports Business keynote.
Basketball icon Michael Jordan, Sportradar founder and CEO Carsten Koerl, and DraftKings co-founder Jason Robins joined broadcaster Kirsty Gallacher on stage.
Koerl pointed to the accelerating pace of technological change around sports.
"We are now developing technologies for a high-speed sector that is being powered by AI," Koerl said.
He argued that the increasingly fragmented way fans consume sports also creates new commercial opportunities.
"Nothing is linear anymore. We must expect that sports live in a mixed environment," Koerl said.
Robins highlighted DraftKings' Super App as a central technology project.
"The idea of the Super App was we’re going to take all these different products that we have, a lot of which were living in different apps before, and bring them all into one single app," Robins said.
Jordan reflected on the relationship between sports, technology and audiences, with authenticity emerging as a central theme.
"I just play the game. I can’t worry about what people are betting on. I can’t worry about what the stats are," Jordan said.
This continues a pattern of high-level engagement from city and government officials, who also attended when the event first relocated from Barcelona.
In its first year alone, SBC Summit generated approximately €100 million in indirect economic benefit for Lisbon.
This year, the organiser estimates 85,000 room nights booked by attendees.
The event is introducing several firsts, including a standalone Affiliate Leaders Summit and the African Gaming Forum.
The global event will return to Feira Internacional de Lisboa and the MEO Arena on Sept. 21-23, 2027.