The Future of Sports As We Know It
In an era where the competition for attention is at an all-time high, will the technological advances in the sports streaming and broadcasting build a new fan experience? The passion and emotions we have developed for our favorite team is something not even words can describe. Each of us has our own unique experience and particular way to support our team, either by going to the stadium to watch, watching it in a sports bar, or calmly at home.
In the foreseeable future, we all must settle for watching sports on TV or on our mobile devices. Sports Tech companies now have the option to create for us fans a customization software that will bring a unique and unforgettable experience. That will be more engaging than ever. Its focus is on fan monetization, content, or live content. Now is your time.
Personally, I don’t think that the COVID -19 crisis will terminate the stadium experience as we originally know it, but what it did was create a window for technology to have a comparative advantage right now. When sports all around the world stopped, some of the sports-related technology companies stepped in to fill in the gap and introduced new ways for fans to view their team's highlights and achievements.
I’ve seen a few clips and polls that showed a past play by different teams or players. It reminded me of a time back when we had live-action sports, and if there happens to be some fans clips that will remind us of an exciting, emotional, or funny moments from the fans in the stadiums.
We all know that sports without fans versus with fans are not the same, but for sure, I can agree that sports with fans are better than none at all and in times like these where we can’t be physically in the stadium we can use streaming and broadcasting technology in its place.
We can take “Borussia Mönchengladbach” cardboard cut-outs fans as a wonderful example, the German team now plays in the First Division Football League (Bundesliga) and they fill out the stands with cardboard cut-outs fans that the club installed, the next step will be to install speakers that will display the live audio of the fans during the game. Of course, it isn’t a technology solution to the problem. But, these “out of the box” ideas are incredible. Big shout out to the Mönchengladbach team. I believe and hope that the next few months of isolation will eventually accelerate the technology in the Sports Industry and upgrade the way sports are viewed
