WHAT WILL SPORTS LOOK LIKE IN THE FUTURE?
In the world of sports, athletes are always searching for the next edge in their game; whether it’s from a supplement or from technology advances. As a sports marketer, you advertise based on what is given; so if your team is using a new invention this might be able to draw in more and more people to watch! The future of sports and sports marketing go hand in hand due to sports altering how you market each team along with the marketing strategies that actually draw in the fans and the profits for the organization. In the article, a vague but inspiring question is asked, “what will sports look like in the future?” Included in the TED is sports science journalist David Epstein, NFL punter Chris Kluwe, and Cynthia Bir, lead scientist of ESPN’s Sports Science. These respected, credible individuals talk about how sports could look sooner than you think.
As athletes are always looking for an advantage, companies such as Nike, Under Armor, and Jordan are offering these inventions for trial by the players mostly at the professional level in hopes to make profit. One such invention Chris Kluwe explains is a visor that alters the lighting for receivers to make it more difficult to focus on the ball. There is so much happening in one play and adding even more things to throw receivers off is actually proven to lead to better performance on game days! As far as the future, there is a conversation of google glass coming to sports where the game is not just watched on the overseeing camera. There would be an analytical perspective where a filter of information is given between you and the world, an additional layer of information that you can use to enhance your own senses making the live game cast seem like a virtual video game. There is also talks of this type of technology that could be given to the athletes! The quarterbacks would know exactly when their blindside is exposed, along with everyone receiving a pop up screen of all the plays the team wants to run! An element in all this excitement in the future is money; who will receive this technology? As of right now, it looks as if only major sports teams will reap the benefits while high school teams and other countries will still be very far from this type of virtual reality.
To me, this talk gives me goosebumps due to the fact that it could open up many more doors for my profession. I could very well be marketing more than just a sports team and their upcoming schedule, but I could be selling to the public some of the newest, exciting inventions the world has ever seen! Sports is ever increasing in earned revenue and seems to be a new religion to some, which will be an ongoing trend in the future with TED’s like these ones. People are always trying to see the new things the world has to offer and if we were to offer things such as analytic broadcasting of the game, views could very well skyrocket and increase my well being as a marketer. I could very well even shy away from sports marketing and focus on advertising these certain inventions to other professional and collegiate teams around the world! The possibilities are endless. Outside of America, I could offer this technology to many other countries which would increase my relations and offer me even more opportunity in my career! also as these inventions are introduced, this will change how I advertise, which it is very important to adapt to your external environment. It will be interesting as well to see what religious groups accept these technologies as they are all different in beliefs and all have different resources as far is money. This kind of talk from these individuals is what really gets me excited for my future and for what this profession has to offer me!
