SPORTS MARKETING
Sports And Digitalization
By Richard Wanjohi
Let ’ s get started
In 2016 , Amaury Sport Organization ( ASO ) which organizes the Tour de France set up an online platform - Race Centre - in collaboration with Dimension Data , an IT firm . This platform offered a wealth of content including live race data , extra videos , photos , commentary , and social media news streams not included in the regular TV broadcasts .
A ‘ Live Tracking ’ page was launched in the same year where data on all the 198 cyclists of the 22 participating teams was available real time : their speed , the distance between them , the wind direction , the wind speed and weather conditions .
In 2020 , as the Covid-19 pandemic forced many events to be postponed , the Tour de France organizers decided to have a Virtual Tour de France on Zwift . In a statement on their website , ASO the organizers noted , “ It will be the starting point for a strong solidarity campaign around cycling ”.
Convergence
The world of sports has long been intertwined with digitalization . The convergence of sport and digital affects the participation in sport - at individual and team level . It also affects the relationship of individual or sports fans to their respective sport .
Remember Eliud Kipchoge ’ s 1:59 run ? Or the recent Kenyan basketball team ’ s performance in the Afrobasket qualifiers ?
What of the 2014 World Cup winning German squad ?
Athletes and coaches usually rely upon data generated through different digital medium to monitor and enhance performance . Teams have sought to deploy analytics to make evidence-based decisions regarding the composition of the team , with the trend looking beyond just performance to winning or maintaining winning streaks .
This has not been restricted to the players , teams , and coaches . Thanks to the digital convergence , fans and spectators can tune in to live sports through social media . There have also been massive improvements in sports media consumption due to evolving technologies on different digital fronts - from over-the-top media , to pre-recorded video action as well as pay-per-view alternatives .
The sports media practitioners - journalists and photojournalists are put to task to ensure speedy reportage and coverage of sports events . Using tools available on social media platforms , they compete in the same space with citizen journalists the latter whose collective shared data gives us options of consuming sports news and media .
Gone are the days that media houses held a scope on a ‘ breaking story ’ feature . Armed with a smart mobile phone and sufficient data , observant individuals across the globe can match the best in the game on the go .
Use of digital technologies in sport has
Visibility to actions such as questionable goals , fouls committed and inappropriate behavior increases . Depending on which side you sit , the now integral VAR or Video-Assisted-Refereeing has changed the face of the football game . also helped organizing and managing sports teams and their stakeholders . A good example is the ‘ bubble ’ model adopted by the American sports leagues including basketball and baseball . Using regular spot checks as well as containing the individuals and teams within a single or few locations , the NBA league was able to resume some of its games and Playoffs played in a single venue - of course not under-estimating the effects of the coronavirus pandemic .
One of the biggest shifts of sports and digitalization is the creation of e-sports . The enormity of this new sport was noted in 2018 when Russia hosted the FIFA World Cup . Shortly afterwards , e-sports enthusiasts playing the FIFA eWorld Cup - organized by FIFA and EA Sports congregated in the UK for their tournament attracting huge crowds and enthusiasts .
The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic heightened the esports phenomenon across most if not all countries across the globe . While the growth rate was a modest 2 % to $ 1.11 billion in 2020 , this is expected to grow into double digits in the next 1-2 years .
Case for Sports and Digitalization
In a 2017 paper titled “ Sports Digitalization - a Review and Research Agenda ” - Xiao et al , the researchers posed the question “ why and how should we study sports digitalization in the ( institutional sports ) discipline ?
In the paper , the researchers explored the idea of sports as an institution encompassing four main components namely : Organizational ; Technological ; Symbolic ; and Educational . Using these four cornerstones will help form the basis of discussion around the convergence of sports and digitization . These areas pursue not just the individual but also the team and sports organization ’ s involvement and interaction with digital technologies .
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