Even before the onslaught of Covid-19, the sports business was being driven by two powerful engines – finance and technology.
News of the latest scheme to change the face of European football with a megabucks super league backed by Wall Street simply serves to underscore the attraction of leading sports properties to investors. New money is creating new opportunities for growth and development but inevitably puts pressure on the old order and established ways of governing and managing sports.
The impact of new technologies is, if anything, even more important and tech is driving unprecedented rates of change in the sports sector.
It has often been said that Covid has revised the rules of the business, forcing clubs, rights owners and promoters to find new ways of connecting with fans and create new revenue streams.
At the same time, generational change and competition from other forms of entertainment are putting pressure on sport to innovate in every area – from the format of competitions to the way they are presented live and on broadcast and stream feeds.
Those who can adapt to these new circumstances are those who will flourish in the changed sports environment.
That is why SportBusiness is launching its Technology & Innovation Portal, the new home for technology content at sportbusiness.com.
Our focus is not on technology for its own sake, but on its real-world impact on the business of sports. It’s about how technology creates opportunity and powers better business.
We will celebrate innovation and tell the story of how tech is applied to create positive change for stakeholders in the sports sector.
We will cover technology that enhances fan engagement, collects and processes data, enhances broadcast, streaming and delivery, takes the gameday experience to new levels and provides partners with new ways of connecting with their audiences, and much more.
We will highlight the leaders in the sector and talk to the investors in technology to deliver their insight into the new engines of the business of sport.
Through the Portal we will deliver a compelling menu of authoritative features, case studies, and interviews.
All share a common aim: to keep you abreast of the developments which are shaping your businesses right now and will do so in the months and years ahead.
The importance of technology is summed up by Michael Broughton, long-term investor in sport and recently head of business technology strategy at Fifa, in an introductory article you can access free through the new Technology & Innovation Portal.
His key point is that sport’s technology revolution is just getting started and will take us into new and fascinating areas.
He writes: “The internet may have been a mass consumer product for two decades, but it will be the next decade where we start to see what it is truly capable of.
“The reality is that the information age has been interesting and disruptive but as the internet finally comes alive the speed of change will accelerate. This is because the other major technology changes are all accelerating and coming online. These include: Big Data, 5G, AI/ML, Augmented Reality, IoT and Blockchain. As 5G emerges and we have everything linked and on the internet our speed of change will only accelerate.
“The future will be dominated by technology. It’s not about transformation, it’s about acceptance that the strategic model will shift. Tech will simply be the conduit to our audiences and enable our wonderful industry to connect and profit in a way as-yet untapped.”
SportBusiness is committed to providing the best and most relevant content around the main drivers of the sports sector, providing the insight and understanding businesses need to plot a course through a changing landscape and identify opportunities to develop new revenue streams and enhance existing ones.
Click here to access the SportBusiness Technology & Innovation Portal.