Whether we realise or not, technology is somehow deeply integrated in our lives. Simple things like asking for directions is now ‘tech enabled’, leave aside the other complex human demands. Try living for a day without internet, you’ll realise the extent of integration
In such a world, how can sports be left behind! Every stakeholder in the sports ecosystem, from rightsholders to athletes to fans, is deeply intertwined with technology to evolve into a better version. Even the new version of UEFA Champions League format draw was so complex that it was only logical to take the assistance of a computerized program, that is after UEFA found it would take up to four hours without digital assistance. That is just one needle-tip of tech-dependence iceberg!
In this blog, we decided to focus on the new technologies & trends that is going to drive the sports industry in the recent future
The Impact of AI
Artificial Intelligence – the two words disrupting, or if we put in the context, creating endless possibilities for sports industry. And the industry is lapping it up whole-heartedly so much so that statistics show, the AI segment in the sports industry will reach a value of $19.2bn by 2030. It might just be an understatement. It’s too simplistic to create the impact of AI in sports over few points, however, here are three areas where it will have a very strong effect
- Sports broadcasting: AI is set to transform the way sport is covered, processed, distributed and consumed. From AI-powered cameras producing multi-angle broadcasts, creating more data for fan engagement at the same time allowing teams to analyse their performance. Mind-boggling array of capabilities
- Athlete recovery: NFL has implemented an AI-powered tool called The Digital Athlete. It’s a 3D rendering of a player taking any play, runs it at every angle and in any condition, millions of times, allowing medical team to see the results so they can better guide player safety in practice and on game day. We can expect such tools from different leagues soon enough
- Fan engagement: Multiple surveys point to the interest of younger audiences towards clips and highlights rather than live matches which leads to increase in efforts from broadcasters like creating volumes of shorts clips, personalised content, interesting match-moments and so on. AI is making all this possible
Other fields within the industry are already utilizing the use of AI in an advanced way, like data-driven player scouting, gameplay and strategy recommendations, judging and scoring like VAR etc. Like we mentioned, the possibilities are endless and it’ll only get better
The EFL Innovation Lab
The English Football League (EFL) has opened up the opportunity to partner with businesses to develop products by working with its 72 professional clubs. Called ‘The EFL Innovation Lab’, it’s a partnership with corporate innovation specialist L Marks aimed at “suppliers, start-ups and scale-ups” and targeted at four key areas of business (given in the attachment)
Why is this important? It really opens up the possibilities of real-world applications for the benefit of football industry as a whole particularly when the canvas is as large as 72 clubs within the EFL system. Such things have been done in the past too, like FC Bayern Hackdays, MLS Innovation Lab and so on. For the benefit of our readers, the dates to remember are as below
Other Tech Developments Gaining Momentum in 2024
In 2024 while the AI umbrella is spreading, there are some other interesting developments happening, some of them under it which is definitely going to grow bigger in near future. We have compiled some of them
- Immersive Technologies: Anyone seen visuals from Cosm LA? Well, that’s one of the examples of immersive viewing. The Cosm, touted as the ‘Sphere for Sports’ particularly football, is actually a massive wrap-around LED wall featuring a concave 12K LED screen with a diameter of 87 feet (around 26 meters) essentially giving the feel of a near-live experience, which begs the term immersive. It was also a recent Premier League match that put Cosm in the social media spotlight. Apart from this, the Apple Vision Pro is another example, which has set the tongues wagging about how likely will it catalyse the market for virtual reality and immersive experiences
- Virtual Perimeter Advertising: It has been in existence for few years now, however, with increasing technological advances, this is set to accelerate across multiple sports. It’s an innovative technology that uses artificial intelligence to overlay ads on the LED screens around the playing fields at sports events. These ads are then specifically adapted for television broadcasts, allowing different ads shown based on the target market, instead of showing the same ads to all viewers. UEFA Euro 2024 introduced this on major scale. This is something to watch out for
- Automated Officiating: Yeah, I know, VAR isn’t cool, right? But possibly, it’s going to be better and more widespread. Wimbledon has announced its introduction in the coming year doing away with tradition for the first time. Expectation is that a lot more technological development is underway to make it as fool-proof as possible
There are, of course, other developments happening like graphic augmentation, athlete performance enhancement, AI-led ticketing etc.
Conclusion
The future is going to be more and more tech driven. As technology continues to evolve, the integration of tech, especially AI in sports will only grow, providing deeper insights and greater opportunities for achieving peak performance and strategic business decisions
