7 Lessons Equestrian Sport Can Learn From Super Bowl Week

Super Bowl week is a weird one.

Even if you don’t follow football all year, you still feel it. The build-up. The noise. The Half-time Show (Its Bad Bunny this year). The tribalism. The sense that this one game is bigger than the game. It’s where we hope to get the Open to. 

So this week, the US Equestrian Open podcast did something we don’t normally do. We stepped outside equestrian sport.

Not because we want to become a football channel, but because the Super Bowl is one of the best examples on the planet of how to turn sport into a fan experience.

We brought in four of the US Equestrian of Open of Eventing biggest voices to share their take:

• Aspen Farms (Qualifier 13) organizer Jonathan Elliott 
• Terranova (Qualifier 2 and 5), Carolina (Qualifier 4) organizer Max Corcoran 
• Aiken's (Qualifier 7) Joanie Morris
• Course designer Morgan Rowsell

Listen to the full episode here.

Lesson 1: Fans don’t fall in love with sport. They fall in love with stories.

Sure, we all loved Joe Montana but Tom Brady is generally considered the GOAT. When the group starts talking about Tom Brady (and those Patriots fans love talking about Tom Brady) it’s not the stats that make it interesting. It’s the story.

Joanie Morris puts it simply: “The best thing for me about Tom Brady is where he came from, right?”

Joanie follows it with the part that matters most for fandom: “He wasn’t born a star, everyone thinking that he was gonna be this guy.”

Max Corcoran adds the part every sport needs more of: “He was back up, running, riding the bench and just worked hard and just, and studied it and was ready to go when he was tapped.”

That’s not just football. That’s sport. We have seen plenty of people wait for their chance in the Open and go for it. 

Lesson 2: Big sports don’t create one storyline. They create 100.

Morgan Rowsell makes the point that the NFL is always doing the work for you. It never lets the story die.

“What a lot of these other larger, more well-funded sports do, especially in football, is that there’s just a constant story and there’s constant buildup. There’s, you know, Drake Maye’s shoulder. So let’s talk about that for three news cycles.”

That’s the machine. And it’s a reminder: the NFL doesn’t just have fans because it’s big. It’s big because it keeps giving fans something to follow. Our job with the Open is to keep creating the stories. Our sports aren’t short on them. 

Lesson 3: Access is everything

A big part of the Open is access. Joanie Morris raised something we have talked a lot about as part of our 2026 planning. Modern sports bring us fans even closer to the action - and not just to the sport. 

“It’s feeling like you’re right there, right. It’s the sideline mics. It’s the guys mic’d up. It’s the cameras are so close to the players and the coaches and the emotions are, you know, so you’re living the emotions in real time in those big games.”

That’s something we will work on for the Open. We want to capture more behind the scenes action, more stable chat, more families and friends helping us shape the stories. 

Access is what turns “watching” into “caring.”

Lesson 4: Jeopardy is what makes sport addictive

EquiRatings’ Diarmuid Byrne talks about the importance of sport mattering. Not every qualifier will be a Super Bowl of course but within each class there will be an angle. It matters to someone, in some way - you have to find it. 

“It has to feel like every competition has to feel like it means something to somebody.”

That’s the Open in one sentence. And it’s also why Super Bowl week works. Because everyone knows the stakes.

Lesson 5: Tribalism is not a problem. It’s the engine.

One of the most entertaining parts of the episode is that the trash talk starts immediately.

Joanie Morris, right out of the gate: “I feel like we’re in for a good game and Elliot’s gonna be sad again.”

Morgan Rowsell is even more direct: “I like that he’s gonna be sad.”

Max Corcoran sums up what it feels like to be a Patriots fan: “Everybody hates the Patriots.”

And then the conversation turns into something genuinely useful. Joanie asks whether equestrian sport could build more local identity:

“Is there a way with some of these riders and horses and stories to tie them geographically a little bit more locally to build a more local fan base?”

We love this and we want to lean in more this year. We want to start referencing more where people come from and who they represent. Identity is so important and we want to lean in more to things which help fans connect. 

Lesson 6: Fans want to wear the sport

Max Corcoran gives the most practical example of something equestrian sport is missing. She talks about a sports fan parent who found it strange that equestrian fans can’t buy anything that represents who they love.

Max says: “It’s really interesting, most of the time, if you go to a baseball game, a basketball game, anything, you can buy your favorite player’s jersey or you can buy your favorite player’s anything. But in the equestrian world, you can’t do that because they don’t have it.”

Boyd Martin, last years Series and Final winner is an exception to this. 

“Boyd is the first person I think that I know of, in equestrian that has actually bridged that gap and you can buy his, his, you know, rugby shirts now.”

It’s not just “merch.” It’s identity.

Lesson 7: Our sport is spectacular. We just need to stop telling people to calm down.

This is where Diarm hits the most 'US Equestrian Open' point of the entire episode. He explains that equestrian sport already has the raw ingredients.

“When you think of the depth of the backstories that are in our sport, we could do that.”

But then he calls out the cultural reflex we still have: “There’s an element in our sport, I think, still where we do want to calm down.”

And he contrasts it with how other sports operate: “And then you look at, say, college game day in the US… and then you feel like there’s no need to calm down.”

That’s the Open’s whole mission. Make it feel like it matters. Make it feel like sport. Make it feel like entertainment.

Bonus: The Super Bowl 60 predictions (and the confidence levels)

We couldn’t do a Super Bowl preview episode without forcing everyone to put their money where their mouth is. And the range of predictions is… wide.

Morgan Rowsell goes for a defensive grind: “It’s gonna be a low-scoring game. I think it’s gonna be 17-14, the Patriots.”

Max Corcoran is also on the Patriots, but sees a little more scoring: “I was going 21-24 Patriots.”

Joanie Morris sticks with her original gut call: “I was going 17-13 Patriots… but that feels too close to Morgan. I’m gonna go... no I’m sticking with it.”

And Jonathan Elliott, the lone Seahawks supporter on the panel, comes in with the boldest prediction of the entire episode: “31-10 Hawks, they take it convincingly. Convincingly.”

Final Thoughts (and a Super Bowl-sized disclaimer)

This episode is a Super Bowl preview. But it’s also something more useful.

It’s four of the Open’s biggest voices, plus Diarm and Annie, describing the gap between equestrian sport and the biggest fan machine on earth, and spelling out what we can steal.

More story. More access. More repetition. More jeopardy. More identity. And definitely more enthusiasm.

Because if football has taught us anything, it’s that people don’t fall in love with “results.” They fall in love with what the results mean.

Listen to the full episode here

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