FAQ
SPORT BEACH is the premiere and premium home for all sport at Cannes Lions, designed to bring together the world’s best athletes and leading brands for powerful conversations at the intersection of sport, business, and creativity.
SPORT BEACH is taking place on June 22 – 25, 2026, and the daily hours of operation are 7am – 5pm CEST for general beach.
SPORT BEACH is located directly on the beach along the Cannes Croisette, within walking distance of the Palais des Festival at 52 Boulevard de la Croisette, 06400 Cannes.
You do not need a Lions badge to attend SPORT BEACH, but you must register https://www.sportbeach.com/cannes2026/register to be approved. If approved, you will need to gather your badge from the front entrance upon your first visit. While all panel sessions are open on a first-come, first-serve basis, many events at SPORT BEACH are invite-only or require pre-registration.
SPORT BEACH brings together the best athlete, marketing and creative talent across sport and culture for conversations you aren’t hearing anywhere else. Programming includes mainstage panel discussions, curated roundtable conversations, brand activations, and partner networking events focused on the intersection of sport, business, creativity and culture.
Yes! We're excited to launch our 2026 SPORT BEACH app with new features such as Bar Code Scanning, Connections, and Recommendations. Head to your phone's app store and search for SPORT BEACH to download this year's app.
Attendees include professional athletes, brand executives, C-suite marketing leaders, reporters, agencies, and creators—making it a high-level, cross-industry audience.
Our restaurant tables are reserved for paying partners. We are currently sold out of tables, but if your team has interest in exploring available spaces for meetings, please reach out to info@sportbeach.com.
All brand teams are required to register and be approved to gain access to SPORT BEACH. If you work for a non-Stagwell agency, you are granted a one-time pass for your executive’s speaker session. The beach gets busy! We recommend that you arrive at least 30-45 minutes ahead of your executive’s panel to gain entry. If you have been automatically denied, please flag via your speaker’s communications team and we will grant one-time access.
For more information on how to become an official partner of SPORT BEACH, please contact hello@sportbeach.com
What is Quick Connect? Quick Connect lets you connect with other attendees instantly by scanning their in-app connect code.
How do I use it? Open the app, tap the Quick Connect icon, and point your camera at another attendee's connect code. You'll both be connected immediately.
Where do I find my own Quick Connect code? Your code lives on your profile page. Tap your profile and show it to anyone who wants to scan you.
What if the scan isn't working? Make sure you've allowed camera access in your phone's settings. If it's still not working, try stepping into better lighting or ask the other person to increase their screen brightness.
Can I still connect without scanning? Yes. You can find and connect with attendees manually through the Connections or Recommendations tab.
What are Connections? Connections are the people you've linked up with through Sport Beach. Think of it as your in-app network for the event.
What are the different connection states?
- Recommended: People the app thinks you should meet
- Pending: People who've sent you a connection request
- Requested: People you've reached out to but haven't heard back from yet
- Connected: People you're fully linked with
How do I accept a connection request? Go to your Connections tab and tap Pending. From there you can accept or ignore any incoming requests.
What if I accidentally connect with someone? You can remove a connection at any time from their attendee profile page.
Why isn't someone showing up in my connections? They may not have accepted your request yet, or their profile visibility settings may be limiting who can find them.
How does the recommendation engine work? The app surfaces people who share your listed interests, work in a similar industry, or are attending the same sessions as you. The more complete your profile, the better your recommendations.
Why am I seeing certain people recommended to me? It's based on overlap in interests, industry, or event activity. You can tap on any recommendation to see what you have in common.
Can I turn off recommendations? Yes. Go to Settings and toggle off Share Profile Information in Connect. This will remove you from other attendees' recommendations and stop recommendations from appearing for you.
My recommendations don't seem relevant. What should I do? Make sure your profile is fully filled out with your interests and industry. The more context the app has, the more accurate your matches will be.