Last week, more than 80 industry executives weighed in on the upcoming trends to watch in 2017 along with various predictions for what could be expected in the next calendar year. Responses were limited to 75 words or fewer and included sports industry professionals across the worlds of technology, virtual reality, social media, sports science, eSports and other niches within sports.
We sifted through the answers and wanted to highlight some of the more common points made throughout the article along with compelling quotes from the participants.
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1) Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality
In 2016, everyone tried out VR and AR integrations, from FOX Sports and its college football games to the Big Ten Championship football game, NFL and NBA with its weekly virtual reality broadcasts on LEAGUE PASS. Heading into 2017, expect further advancements made on both the hardware and production in addition to more virtual content offerings. Some professional and college teams dabbled in augmented virtual reality over the past year, but in the next 12 months, look for a heightened focus on AR experiences as teams and brands look to further engage their target fan or consumer.
“Live sports productions in virtual reality will become “Second Screen 2.0.” While the first version of the second screen didn’t provide any substantial commercial benefit, the promise of VR and all of its exciting permutations, like mixed reality and augmented reality, will give audiences new and exciting things to do. Produced pieces in VR will complement these efforts perfectly — audiences will come for the live VR, but stay for the AR and VOD.”
— Michael Davies, Senior Vice President Field and Technical Operations, FOX Sports
2) Sports Science
It isn’t just enough anymore to give a professional athlete a piece of wearable technology to track performance on the playing field or monitor his or her daily routine. The next step is for players, coaches and trainers to better understand what do with that data once it’s been captured and read. Additionally, there was a consensus from companies like WHOOP, Volt Athletics, Moov and others that actionable data combined with daily monitoring will help athletes perform at their most optimal level.
“Technology currently isn’t playing a widespread role in athletic development because it’s not practical, affordable, and effective. That will change. Athletes will demand more than tracking from their fitness wearables. Steps, calories, heart rate — users might know what their body is doing 24/7, but there is a disconnect between having the data and knowing what to do with it. Turning trackable data into actionable recommendations will fundamentally change the relationship between coach, athlete and sports.”
— Dan Giuliani, Chief Executive Officer/co-founder, Volt Athletics
3) eSports
Publishers’ efforts around franchising their games and what it means for eSports as a whole along with regional/local support for teams are two common watch areas for 2017. With professional sports owners and NBA players buying into the space, it will be interesting to see if that involvement translates at all to upticks in sponsorship dollars for teams and greater interest from new brands looking to align with eSports.
“In the next 12 months, VR will have far more impact for spectators in venues and at home than it will for those actually playing the game.”
— Tobias Sherman, Global Head of eSports, WME/IMG
4) Accelerators/Innovation Hubs
The Los Angeles Dodgers and its partner R/GA Ventures kicked off U.S. professional sports teams diving into the accelerator business in 2015, recently completing version 2.0 last month. Accelerators and innovations programs like R/GA, Sixers Innovation Lab Crafted by Kimball and Sport eXperience are closely following early and growth-stage sports technology companies centered around VR/AR, data, artificial intelligence, eSports and 3D, to name a few.
“Serious acceleration in sport/tech sector growth is coming, it’s coming soon, and it’s coming from the U.K. The incubator that we are opening with London & Partners is a start, and the game changer is going to be when sport bodies start to think seriously about the benefit of working directly with tech companies and start-ups. Look out for an explosion in open data adoption too.”
— Peter Fitzboydon, Chief Executive, London Sport
5) Social/Digital Media
The impact of live video. Emerging over-the-top platforms disrupting traditional business models. Personalization of content for the millennial audience. How do cable companies combat the decline in subscribers with social now becoming the first-screen experience? It’s all being monitored by our surveyed audience across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Sportle, Whistle Sports, 120 Sports and other digital entities.
“(In 2017), at least one team from the major four U.S. sports will launch an OTT (over the top) direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service.”
— Adam Shaw, Chief Executive Officer, Sportle
6) Teams
We polled nearly 10 C-suite executives from teams across a handful of U.S.-based professional leagues and the Bundesliga, with varying areas of focus in 2017. Almost half of the participants, including New Neil Glat (President) of the New York Jets, Ted Leonsis (Partner, Revolution Growth) and Scott O’Neil (CEO) at the Philadelphia 76ers, are following eSports. As you may remember, the 76ers became the first U.S. professional sports team to purchase eSports franchises earlier this fall. In terms of gaming, there’s a clear focus on the overlap with traditional sports, how marketers are directing advertising dollars toward the non-traditional form of entertainment, its continued rise in popularity and and viewership numbers.
“The explosion of interest and action in the eSports space this year has been extraordinary. Innovative ownership groups have taken notice of the remarkable, organic power of the audience and once timid advertisers are engaging in the space with a fresh perspective and fervor. In 2017, we’ll see game publishers work in harmony with teams to develop a league structure that is consistent, sustainable and tangible for fans, players, team management and corporate partners; all while staying true to the fans’ desire for unfiltered, compelling access.”
— Scott O’Neil, Chief Executive Officer, Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils, Prudential Center