Organizational Component
Sport is performed by individuals or teams that are made up of players with different specializations . Sports is produced directly by players and teams , indirectly by coaches , physicians , and other support systems . In a larger picture , the teams or sports organizations strive for sports performance and business performance - on and off the pitch , field , or court respectively .
Sports organizations must deal with stakeholder interests and complexities from different quarters . These include fans , staff , community , sponsors , governing bodies , and the governments too .
Organizational
Digitalization implications on the Sports industry are listed as : Administration of sports is supported by digital technologies as they seek to eliminate manual processes and create real-time access to game results and historical data ; Utilization of digital touch-points including websites , mobile apps and social media enhance ways of interacting and engaging with various stakeholders - from fans , advertisers , sponsors , players , club , and sports association management . A good example is the 2020 Virtual Tour de France . By offering professional cyclists and cycling enthusiasts a common touch-point , the organizers were able to maintain their loyalty base and grow its followership across the globe ; Business intelligence and analytics are utilized in sports organizations to pursue both business and sports outcomes ; Emergence of digitally born sports including esports create new types of competitions for traditional sports such as football , motor-racing , basketball to name but a few .
Technological Component
Sports and competition in sports demand physical equipment , physical skills , and sports knowledge . The knowledge is required and utilized for sports producers and players and where necessary , teams . With these tech developments , sports demand continuous improvements . For example , the current Formula One cars are world ’ s apart from the contraptions on the Grand Prix tracks in the 1980s . Safety , speed and fuel efficiency are all integral in ensuring a complete race car .
Technological digitization implications on sports include : Live broadcasts and separation between TV and digital rights of sports event provide new value to teams , viewers , and sponsors ( this is closely related to the organizational component ). This has enhanced consumption of sport to improve revenue streams for all parties involved ; Increasing accessibility , traceability , and visibility of the technological component of sports driven by data analytics technologies , as well as emerging digital platforms that enable data production and data aggregation ; Commercialization of the tech component of sports from physical skills and knowledge resulting in producing new digital products . This was accelerated in the last two years thanks in part to the pandemic . Fitness watches , bands , indoor running , and racing tracks such as Zwift all saw huge demand by both the hoi polloi and sports personalities ; Players are also playing a more active role in production and distribution of their own data , democratizing the recruitment process ( from top-down to bottom-up ). This has seen players able to negotiate better contracts , endorsements , and sponsorships . It has provided them with channels to air their views though not always without backlash from fans and teams alike .
Symbolic Component
‘ Secrecy ’ is an important part of sports - perhaps the reason coaches or teams wait it out to name their final squads on game day . Certain rituals are on display among both sports producers and sport observes . This is why we all love the ‘ haka ’ by the New Zealand All Blacks before their rugby games .
Sport consumers participate in the symbolic component of sports including fan anthems , sports rivalries and acting as the 12th or nth fan depending on the sport .
Symbolic implications are : Digital presence of sports increases the accessibility of sports events and related content to wider audiences than was previously possible ; Display and rituals are extended to the online sphere using digital means , remember the New Zealand haka , digitally enhanced as a screensaver ? We all remember AS Roma ’ s Francesco Totti selfie with flag-waving fans supporters subsequently becoming one of the most liked and prominent images of its time ? Smartphone and social media became ingrained in sports ; Boundaries between online display and offline activities are increasingly becoming blurred . 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 .
Educational Component
Formal instructions are required to obtain the physical skills and knowledge in sports both by direct producers ( players and teams ) and indirect producers ( coaches , training staff , referees ) to name but a few . Training makes up majority of the organizational activities .
Educational implications on the digitalization of sport are : Increased utilization of data analytics in training , preparation and post-match analysis have changed coaching techniques and demanded a new set of skills from sports producers . Enter Covid-19 pandemic and suddenly physical / social distancing is en vogue ; Teams such as European and German champions Bayern Munich using SAP and data provider Opta are able to collect 80 million pieces of data in a game which are then integrated in training to monitor and evaluate the performance of each player and the overall team - and we wonder why they keep winning or maintaining peak performances ?; Democratization of sports has made information and related ‘ secrets ’ such as training methods accessible reducing the novel practices to spread virally . This has seen fans and sports journalists engage in interpretation and analysis of performance data on various social media platforms .
Conclusion
To wrap it up , it is said that information technology and by extension , the increasing digitization in sports , will forever change the ways sports operate . Digitalization has changed sport and sport consumption .
It has been imprinted in administration of sports , athletic or player performance , sport club , event management and fan experience . This does not mean that the physical activity will cease to be central in sports , rather sports will become mixed-reality experiences and minimize the contrast of the physical and digital . Digital Colonization ?
Richard Wanjohi is a marketing enthusiast with interest in research and sports . You can commune with him on this or related matters via mail at : RWanjohi @ gmail . com or check his tweets @ rwanjohi .