Fun Can’t Lose

For Academy Sports + Outdoors’ 2026 summer campaign, McGarrah Jessee asked The Bear to execute a national campaign spanning broadcast, social and digital. And most exciting of all, spots that were going to air during the 2026 World Cup!

The creative mandate was simple: above all, real.

This wasn’t sports as work. It was sports as play: floating a Texas river, digging in the dirt, backyard soccer, fishing, grilling, pool parties and dads on Slip N’ Slides.

The Bear brought directors Paul Pryor and Londonn Corpás, with Paul leading broadcast and Londonn leading social, united by a shared philosophy: performance over perfection.

As Paul put it, each moment should feel like the camera is truly in the mix. Londonn’s approach similarly embraced natural light, handheld energy and the little imperfections that make something feel human.

We cast real families and real friends, created the conditions for something to happen, got everyone moving and let the cameras experience it.

The product lived naturally in those moments, “never announced.”

“Sports are for everyone. They teach us to chase something.”

Across five shoot days, the team moved through rivers, lakes, backyards, pools, campgrounds, golf courses and neighborhoods, capturing hundreds of people and dozens of pieces of content.

And because this was Texas, severe storms repeatedly forced us to rethink schedules and logistics along the way.

And then came the World Cup.

Academy’s broadcast work aired nationally throughout FOX’s 2026 FIFA World Cup coverage, alongside World Cup-specific social films that brought the same spirit of play to backyard watch parties and families across generations.

Fun Can’t Lose.