The Sports Technology

Annual Review
and Industry Power List

November 2021 © 2021 STA Group. All rights reserved

 GLOSSARY

AI Artificial Intelligence and also refers to Machine Learning (ML)

AMA Ask Me Anything

API Application Programming Interface, which is software that allows two applications to
talk to each other

AWS Amazon Web Services

B2B Business to Business, the transaction of goods from one business to another, rather
than to the general public

B2B2C Two businesses transact in partnership in order to market goods to the consumer

B2C Business to Consumer, the transaction of goods from a business to the consumer

DAO Decentralize Autonomous Organization – usually in reference to crypto

dApp A decentralized application; a computer application that runs on a decentralized

computing system

F&B Food and beverage

IOC International Olympic Committee

IPA International Paralympic Committee

Latency Time lag or delay

OTT Over The Top, a media service offering content directly to viewers, usually via the
internet or mobile, essentially bypassing traditional broadcast methods

ROI Return on Investment

SaaS Software as a Service

Sportsbook A place or forum to gamble / bet on sports

UCI Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for sports cycling and
oversees international competitive cycling events

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INTRODUCTION

Welcome to The 2021 Sports Technology Annual Review

Created in association with The English Institute of Sport

As the global sports technology market moves towards
a valuation of US$8 billion by the end of 2021, and an
expected value of over US$40 billion by 2026, it is clear
that this is a buoyant part of the sports industry. The 2021
Review highlights not only that the market is increasingly
valuable, but it continues to be as inventive and exciting
as ever.
The point of The Review is to offer insight, not just data.
The feedback received last year confirmed that we
successfully achieved this but in striving to deliver an even
more valuable document, we have made some important
changes to the report’s structure and compilation.
All chapters have been reliant on a wider circle of industry
experts, some of whom wrote their chapters in full,
while other chapters drew on the knowledge of several
specialists. It has been made clear in each chapter which
is the case.
The result of these collective efforts is, we believe, an
excellent resource which will leave readers informed and
inspired. Whilst not every chapter will be relevant to every
reader, anyone with a vested interest in the sector will find
The 2021 Sports Technology Review not just helpful,
but fascinating.

This edition’s chapters are much broader and there are

more of them, thereby presenting the opportunity to
assess the key sector trends more fully. Review readers
can now enjoy an even more authoritative resource on
which to draw for future planning and strategic
decision making.

Rebecca Hopkins Tash Carpenter

Rebecca Hopkins Tash Carpenter
The STA Group The EIS

3
OUR CONTRIBUTORS

Editors
Rebecca Hopkins, The STA Group
Tash Carpenter, The EIS

Sub-Editor
Grace Cullen, The EIS

Chapter Authors
Apparel and Equipment, Dave Thomas, Greg Stevens and Fiona Johnson, The EIS
Data and Analytics, Adam Azor, Sportradar
Fan Engagement, Casey Harwood, Engage Digital Partners
Innovation and Emerging Technology, Rory Burghes, Capgemini
Sports Performance, Dave Thomas, The EIS
Venue and Operations, John Rhodes and Kirsty Mitchell, HOK

Chapter Contributors
Broadcast and OTT, Marc Williams, Reactoo and Hugo Sharman, StreamAMG
Esports in Sport, David Yarnton, Edge
Health and Welfare, Simon Shaw

Designer
Jez McCoy, Graphics Planet

The STA Group

www.sportstechgroup.org
@SportTechGroup

The English Institute of Sport

www.eis2win.co.uk
@eis2win

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 INDEX

2 Glossary

3 Introduction

4 Our Contributors

5 Index

6 Executive Summary

8 Apparel and Equipment

12 Broadcast and OTT

16 Data and Analytics

19 Esports in Sports

21 Fan Engagement

24 Health and Wellbeing

27 Innovation and Emerging Trends

29 Sports Performance

31 Venues and Operations

34 Power List

36 Brands Shaping the Sector

37 With Thanks To…

38 About The STA Group

This publication has been written in general terms, so The English Institute of Sport Ltd is a limited liability
it is recommended that professional advice is sought company registered in England and Wales, company
before acting or refraining from action based on the number 04420052, registered office address The
information this report contains. The STA Group and Manchester Institute Of Health And Performance, 299
the English Institute of Sport accepts no liability for any Alan Turing Way, Manchester, England, M11 3BS
losses arising to any person or organisation as a result
of any content within this publication. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced without prior permission of The STA Group.
The STA Group is the trading name of The Sports
Technology Awards Ltd which is a limited liability
company registered in England and Wales, company
number 09424310, registered office address 85 Great
Portland Street, First Floor, London, United Kingdom,
W1W 7LT.

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Seeing the global sector universally free from lockdown may
still be some way off, but as the industry moves towards the
post-pandemic era, Covid has undoubtedly left its mark. Despite
facing difficult times, which sadly saw some businesses cease
trading, generally sport is emerging stronger from this period.
Future interruptions to live action can be largely avoided, athletes
can be better protected, new and smart ways of pursuing
revenues have emerged, along with exciting developments in
broadcasting, event staging and fan engagement.

Covid is not the only force that has affected the sector in the last
12 months. Some innovations have been borne from trends of
which the sector is already aware, others have emerged from
other industries, and some have resulted directly from ground-
breaking concepts. Whatever the catalyst, it has been gratifying
to see how sports have continued to innovate.
The one factor that is influencing almost every aspect of sport
is data and analytics. This is not new but is more dominant than
ever, and AI is central to this. Processing speeds for high volumes
of data is affecting profound change; whether businesses in sport
thrive, die or merely survive will depend greatly on where data
and analytics sit in their overall outlook.
One by-product of AI which is emerging across sport is
personalization and customization. The wariness associated with
data-sharing is relaxing as athletes and fans understand that
the more they share, the more they will enjoy a personalized,
informed and, therefore, better experience.
At the sharp end of fan experience are broadcast, social
media and OTT, with the technology resulting from the latter
significantly influencing the other two. OTT has moved on from
its beginnings as an alternative form of broadcast, with its
production tools proving useful to a greater number of
end-users.
Within broadcast - partly
owing to the necessity of remote
production, partly through taking
inspiration from social media - formats have changed. Remote
commentary, video conferencing punditry, and fan comments
may be achieved with lower quality visuals but the immediacy
and freshness of what is being included means fans are happy
with the output. OTT technology doesn’t just facilitate this, it also
empowers rights owners to take fuller ownership of – therefore
revenue from - their content.
Athletes are another group enjoying the benefits of the trend
of personalization, with data and tech-led equipment tailored
to their individual needs like never before. However, there are
still specific areas where there is scope for further innovation.
It is a welcome step-change to see female athletes now enjoy
bespoke kit, including bras which are fit for purpose and have
their menstrual cycles taken into consideration for training and
recovery planning, but choices of technology within these areas
are narrow. In addition, whilst the issue of sport-induced head
trauma is being taken seriously and more technology emerges
around it, more is needed to help educate, diagnose, treat and
prevent injury in this highly important area.

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 Another development within athletes’ performance are the Sustainability and profitability are often seen as a trade-off,
partnerships taking place between big-tech and sports bodies. especially when staging events. Post-Covid venue owners and
These embedded relationships are especially exciting as they event managers face a very real challenge in achieving maximum
can bring an extra level of insight, commitment, excellence and profit from sport whilst entertaining fewer fans in stadiums…
budget to bear in the ongoing search for ever-better results. and ensuring that the experience for all concerned is worth the
The genie is well and truly out of the bottle when it comes to journey! Plenty of technologies have emerged which support
the relationship between sports and esports – but as this area safe and engaging ways to enter, shop, eat and drink, and enjoy
develops, sports’ decision makers may soon face some tough the live action at grounds, but there is a clear challenge to
choices. ‘Shoot up’ games enjoy vast popularity but alignment tournament owners to find imaginative ways to bring this to life.
with them is a bold choice; conversely, very few sports translate
well into an esports format – so what to do? To conclude, it is clear that the pandemic tested sport but when
it comes to sports technology, the sector wasn’t found wanting.
The other consideration in this space is athlete welfare; There is an ever-growing number of excellent technologies
professional sport is aware of its duty of care to players, but available to meet and conquer almost every challenge sport
that concept isn’t as strong in esports. Undoubtedly significant has faced. For those leading the sector who have open minds,
fan traction can be achieved with a robust esports strategy, but good information and a clear vision of what must be solved,
traditional sports organizations moving into this field need to be investment in technology will be an excellent
led by those who really understand both sectors. investment in their brands’ – and
businesses’ - futures.
Esports’ influence can be seen in the looming evolution in social
media. Just as gaming presented the chance to earn and spend
digital currencies, social is now doing the same. Fans are already
shifting from traditional platforms to community-led ones, which
are growing thanks to AI. The old model was to go where your
network was, the new on is to be directed - by algorithms - to
where like-minded people are. A likely long-term fallout from
this is the demise of the influencer as we know them today; ‘new’
community-led social platforms will still create opportunities for
individuals and brands to monetize audiences, but sports will
need to think differently about how they embed themselves in
these conversations.

Within the landscape, expect to see more players become

aware of their power to harness audiences and instigate change
– especially in matters of sustainability. Brands across sport
would do well to embrace technologies with good environmental
credentials or which help them behave more sustainably. Again,
there are significant opportunities within this market for tech-
brands to enter it but, thanks to developments such as OTT
remote production tools, there are exciting choices to be made in
a good number of areas.

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 APPAREL AND EQUIPMENT

The English Institute of Sport (the EIS) provides outstanding support services to improve sporting performance. It’s
network of over 300 world-leading experts and practitioners in science, medicine, technology, and engineering helps
sports and athletes to excel and realize their potential.

Established in 2002 and funded by UK Sport, the EIS works in partnership with Olympic and Paralympic sports to put
people at the heart of extraordinary performance.

The Future Technology Group provides a central touchpoint for leaders in the British high performance sports system
to keep abreast of global technological developments, filtered to those with the capability to positively impact training,
competition and recovery.

Consisting primarily of members of the EIS Performance Innovation team, the group works with other teams within the
Institute, and various independent partners to maintain an informed and critical view on the claims made by researchers
and companies regarding emergent performance technology. In doing so, they help the system make better decisions
around which technologies to invest time, effort and resources into, and which to ignore.

www.eis2win.co.uk

The Current Status Equipment

High performance sport is continually getting harder, faster and
stronger. As the margins of victory narrow and the risk of injury
increases, it is vital that striving to excel is balanced with safety.
As the need for performance optimization continues within the
constraints of competition rules, welfare, and an increasing focus
on sustainability, the individualization of equipment and apparel,
is on the rise, in both the elite and consumer markets.
A lot of sports which have a high focus on technical equipment
see a period of rule stability which then leads to a reduction in
the gap between the best and the worst performers. Formula
One is a prime example of this, with the larger, richer teams often
dominating after a new set of regulations being published. They
take advantage of their might to adapt quickly by throwing vast
resources at wind tunnels and computer simulations.

8
 Over the next few seasons, the difference with the back of the
field reduces as lower ranking teams learn and take inspiration
from winning ones, seeing all cars gradually converge with
similar designs. Cue a change in the rules and everything resets
again. Look out for a vastly new look to F1 from 2022!

By contrast, road and track bicycle design has changed relatively

little by comparison, with the governing body actively limiting
the look of bikes to those of the Eddie Merckx era. The result
is that most bikes look and perform similarly well from an
aerodynamics perspective. However, in triathlon and time-
trialling, where rules are less restrictive, there has been more
latitude for unconventional design, allowing for occasional step
changes in performance. Working within restrictions dictated
by the UCI, ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Lotus and Hope
joined up with British Cycling’s team and set out to push design
boundaries. The result was a bike debuting at Tokyo that looked
‘radical’ by traditional track standards and offered a significantly
improved aerodynamic performance.
weight and
The revolutionized design came from a change in approach from strength, while negating
traditional bike development, by pivoting from designing a fast the need for custom moulds
bike, to one that made the bike and rider together the fastest it which rate-limit the number of iterations that can be pursued
could be. within a squad.

This points to the next performance trend: individualization of
equipment for each person, meaning pro-riders are no longer
restricted to a selection of standard parts.
Examples of this include the setups of Filippo Ganna or Geraint
Thomas. Their handlebars feature complex geometry designed to
hold them in their perfect position, tuned in the wind tunnel and
then 3D printed, to order, in high-grade titanium and aluminium.
This exceeds previous top-of-the-range carbon fibre in terms of
With modern additive manufacturing approaching and
streamlined design, everyone can have their perfect set rather
than a compromise that balances team requirements. As ever,
new technologies come with their challenges and at the sharp
end of elite sport, where people are pushing the boundaries,
there is always possibility for mistakes. As Alex Porter of the
Australian men’s Team Pursuit squad can testify when his custom
front end snapped underneath him in Tokyo.

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 Customization Another innovation saw team sports, such as hockey, receive
The trend for customization looks set to continue in other ways; bras with a pocket capable of holding a GPS tracker, negating
skinsuits and helmets too are now no longer limited to off- the need for an additional garment in which such a tracker
the-peg sizes from established brands. Big names in cycling would usually be housed. Personalization of under-garments
clothing, like Castelli, Endura and Bioracer, are now joined in comes years after the same approach to outerwear and will likely
the high-performance space by No Pinz and Vorteq. These all become the norm, thereby recognizing underwear as being part
make the most of cheaper access to a variety of tools, such as of performance apparel.
wind tunnels, to provide customised kit. Vorteq evens scans
customers to produce a fitted skinsuit complete with bespoke Elsewhere, elite female rugby players are, for the first time, being
colours. HEXR has a similar approach to helmet design, using provided with kit designed with women in mind, rather than
scanning and 3D printing technology to produce perfectly fitting, being offered men’s kit in smaller sizes. Umbro’s England Red
individual helmets. Roses shirt was designed in consultation with the team and is
stylistically distinct from the men’s team in celebration of their
Customization is starting to trickle down to retail consumer own team identity. Likewise, Adidas’s Black Ferns jersey was
apparel. While this creates an opportunity for the enthusiastic designed over a two-year period in which the athletes were
amateur athlete to optimize their kit accordingly to their body body scanned and consulted on material choices and fit. This
shape, it also enhances the buying experience, serving as a meant the team was wearing apparel optimally suited to the
critical point of difference in the fight back against online demands of the women’s game. As the profile of women’s sport
retail giants. continues to grow, so too will garments increasingly meet the
needs of female athletes.
Meeting the Needs of Female Athletes
In regard to body shape, there is also the start of a sea-change
towards performance apparel that is specifically geared towards
the female athlete. In 2020, for the first time, elite British female
athletes were given fitted high performance sports bras. This
was a collaboration between the EIS, the breast health team at
Portsmouth University and leading lingerie manufacturer, Clover
Global, with more than 100 athletes taking part in the project.
Athletes with specific health or performance requirements
received bespoke bras, including Paralympic shooter Lorraine
Lambert. Her bespoke bra provided specific support to her
breast tissue, so it did not interfere with her performance,
allowing her to have better stability and control and preventing
the microscopic movements of her heartbeat from being
transferred to her weapon.

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 The New Zealand jerseys mentioned above are made, at least
in part, using Parley Ocean Plastic, part of an increasing trend
towards making the wider garment manufacturing industry more
sustainable through the use of recycled materials. This is also
seen in Nike’s space hippy shoes which are made predominantly
from factory waste materials. This is part of a wider brand ethos
of ‘high performance, low impact’, recognizing the brand’s need
to embrace environmental responsibilities.
Temperature Regulation
Despite the heat and humidity at Tokyo 2020, many indoor
sports wanted a solution for keeping athletes warm. The EIS, in
collaboration with industry experts, devised an outer garment
which allowed athletes to control temperature range and zonal
control of heater panels to keep specific muscles warm
before competition.
with Crucible Design to develop the intuitive user control and
Sew Systems, specialists in garment design and manufacture,
assembled the garments.
Whilst this solution is striking, the augmentation of technology
into consumer garments continues to lag. While sewable,
washable electronics make apparel with embedded technology
feasible, there remains a lack of compelling applications. The
available products, such as the Nike Adapt self-lacing shoes, or
Wearable X’s haptic-feedback-yoga-pants, are extremely niche
and prohibitively expensive. In an already hyper-connected
world, there might be little consumer appetite to add workout
gear to the list of things that need updates and daily re-charging.

The Applied Sports, Technology, Exercise and Medicine

(A-STEM) Research Centre and the Welsh Centre for Printing
and Coating (WCPC) at Swansea University invented and
developed an original flexible heater that can be printed directly
onto fabric using carbon-based stretchable graphene ink.
Newbury Electronics developed electronics for the challenging
environments the athletes would be in. Newbury collaborated

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 BROADCAST AND OTT
Over the past three years OTT and broadcast have become
markedly less siloed. Once viewed primarily as a method
of distribution, today OTT is as likely to be a full-service
proposition, repacking and repurposing content for different
audiences and in some cases competing with traditional
broadcast channels. Alongside it, the availability of tools and
services to those seeking to get into broadcast production has
grown. The pandemic accelerated this, but the biggest industry
shift is that OTT is no longer an end in itself. OTT now sits across
fan engagement, social storytelling, betting and production.
Given the challenges presented by COVID, it would have been
reasonable to expect that remote production would have
been the major driver of current thinking but, testament to the
fast-moving nature of the sector, that was yesterday’s problem
and solutions future-proofing the sector are in place. Today,
broadcasters are far more focused on increasing audience
engagement, with 76% citing it as their main challenge this year
(source: Broadcaster Survey, JW Player 2021).
12
This is made even more interesting as rights owners - who are
well-versed in fan engagement - enter the wider broadcast
space in bigger numbers. On one hand, relationships between
rights holders and broadcasters get more competitive as they vie
for audience share, conversely, they get more collaborative as
the trend for longer contractual relationships takes hold.
Audience Engagement
Compelling, fan-first, content is central to attracting viewers, but,
as audiences get more focused and selective, the parameters of
what this means moves too.
Social media and big tech have steadily provided users with
an alternative type of storytelling, where community and
interactivity have become essential elements for many broadcast
experiences. Fans like to share drama and emotion with friends
and family, so are responding well to online watch parties,
exclusive virtual rooms and event-wide text chats around
specific productions.
Technology is central to this evolution and brings with it new
levels of backend data which details behaviour and demand.
Broadcasters who respond to these insights can then provide
new features which offer added value in a highly competitive
market. The quality and quantity of insight has, for those who
have capitalized on it, enabled premium pricing, created
additional revenue streams and increased viewing times.
Remote Becoming Mainstream
Remote guests and webcam feeds exploded during the
pandemic, with audiences and broadcasters accepting the
trade-off in quality that is associated with patched-together
solutions. The result is that studio content blended with remote
contributions is here to stay, often with presenters connected
from wherever they happen to be.
Technology ensures that remote contributions can be easily
added to production, providing a different perspective for
even the most mainstream event. The concept of alternative
commentary has been around for a while but has traditionally
been the preserve of core fans but is now a mainstream option.
The Manning Brothers’ commentary for younger NFL viewers, is a
great example of this.
The Production Landscape
OTT has inspired the entire industry’s approach to production
and distribution workflows, especially in servicing niche needs in
ways previously unimaginable or deemed simply uneconomic.
 Within these new technologies, automation has emerged as
the biggest game-changer. This spans anything from delivering
local sponsor stings and advertising, to subtitling for specific
territories. Arguably AWS is leading the way with its Media
Services Live proposition, an end-to-end, cloud-based tool, but
sitting alongside it is a wealth of solution-specific services, such
as Grabyo (video automation), Virtz (remote production), Pixellot
(which targets the sub-elite market) and Singular.Live (graphic
overlays). This is a market that is growing very quickly both in
terms of new entrants and technological development.

D2C and The Branded Environment

Brands increasingly want to present content in their own
environment or platform. Mainstream social media players
deliver sizeable traffic, but then retain the majority of revenue
and data, and perpetuate an arm’s length relationship with
fans. Technology is making it easier for rights holders to
circumnavigate this by creating original content in-house, then
delivering and distributing it across their own networks and
communities. This means they can harvest first-party data, create
their own advertising collateral and cement a direct relationship
with consumers which can be enjoyed long-term.
A factor at play here, which will have a bearing on future delivery,
is that originally streaming was done via the web, but today’s
industry is working on the basis that audiences increasingly
watch via a TV rather than a laptop. This dictates higher audio
and better visual quality, and faster delivery (a core demand of
betting audiences) than may have previously been the case with
laptop viewing.
Whatever route rights holders choose to go, if they set up D2C
platforms, they will then need to sustain them to the standard set
by the wider sector.
The Rights Holder x Broadcaster Relationship
With the landgrab for rights getting more intense, rights holders
and broadcasters – who work with wildly different market
dynamics – need to embrace more flexibility and think longer
term about their relationships. As has been witnessed over the
past few years, today’s broadcast partner can be tomorrow’s
competitor. To this end, rights deals of c.10 years, rather than the
traditional three, are becoming more standard. This ensures that
all parties are ‘all in’ with making the partnership work because
longer terms represent a mutually greater commitment.

13
 Rights holders need to be wise about ensuring their OTT
activities don’t compete with those of their main broadcast
partners but there are two things of which to be aware. Firstly,
the traditional model was to sell the rights and empower their
broadcast partners to deliver all aspects of production as they
saw fit. However, with the tools now available, it is sensible for
rights holders to control their production in-house, then assign
Much is made of sports’ heritage, and this is great content in the
eyes of ardent fans. Repurposed content and archive footage
undoubtedly filled the gap left by live sports by the pandemic,
and the interest fans have shown means it is likely to stay.
What Next
Many of the trends discussed were well underway before the

complete packages based on handing out a finished product. pandemic but have been accelerated significantly over the

Secondly, audio action is often overlooked and undervalued; the last 18 months. The need to provide dynamic broadcasts and

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) have a successful track compelling programming, in the face of more competition and

record in this area proving rights holders should assess if they are pressures on revenue, has never been more challenging. The

missing opportunities by overlooking it. good news is that thanks to a wave of innovative technology, the
next generation of broadcast software tools is helping deliver

Smaller rights holders looking to enter the broadcast market against this demand.

are wise to work with an experienced partner as they invariably

find that they’ve overestimated income and underestimated
investment. The combined human, financial and marketing
commitment to entering or expanding the market is considerable,
so collaboration mitigates risk and maximizes opportunities
for success.

Reducing Costs and CO2. Maximizing ROI

Broadcasters of all types are seeing increased pressure on
margins and behaviour. This means more cost efficient and
agile content creation and distribution, as well achieving better
levels of sustainability. Additionally, the public taste for improved
environmental credentials is influencing change for the good.

Rights are being sweated like never before, partly because of

the rights turf war and partly because they are being shared with
a larger pool of stakeholders. The result is an exciting range of
repurposed content such as rebroadcast of archive footage and
watch-alongs involving emerging talent or club legends.

14
 Written In Association With

Reactoo
Reactoo is a global real-time audience engagement platform powering sports, media and
entertainment. It helps broadcasters, rights holders, OTT providers and brands to deliver
audience interaction, innovative productions and clear commercial returns. Its SaaS solution
operates stand alone or as an extension to existing workflows, offering a suite of video tools to
create dynamic tailored content and truly engaging
broadcasts, including:

• Watch parties and watchalongs • Panel shows and podcasts

• Live audience fan walls • Remote commentary booths
• Real-time audience reaction capture • Interactive classes
• Virtual media zone and press room • Online awards and corporate boxes

Its white-label video and text chat plugin allows viewers to watch together on web and mobile apps. It offers a range of premium
digital experiences where fans interact live with each other including capturing reactions to key moments for inclusion in a broadcast
or for sharing across websites, apps and social. Its remote production tools provide an easy way for producers to build compelling
formats, blending live streams, recorded packages, studio inputs and web-connected talent. It can create multiple presentations to
tailor a broadcast from a single feed and stream concurrently to a range of digital channels and destinations. Reactoo helps clients
build engagement, unlock new revenue streams, connect talent with fans, and bring audiences closer to content.

StreamAMG
StreamAMG provides OTT technology, services and expertise to some of the biggest players in sport. It enables content owners and
rights holders across the industry to deliver live sport at scale and offer exceptional streaming experiences to their domestic and
international audiences, maximising the value of their rights and content.

It works with a diverse range of clients across sport. In football, almost every EFL club outside of the iFollow agreement use its end-
to-end OTT solution for their direct-to-fan streaming services. National governing bodies such as The FA, leading European clubs
including AS Roma, and the vast majority of Premier League clubs all use StreamAMG platforms and services. Outside football, it
powers platforms for clients across sport, including leading properties such as Matchroom, GAAGO and MX-GP to name
a few.

Having focused on online video since its inception 20 years ago and armed with almost a decade of experience in sport, StreamAMG
is established as a leader in sports OTT with a reputation for exceptional client service, deep industry knowledge and reliable live
delivery at scale.

15
 DATA AND ANALYTICS

Sportradar, the leading global sports technology company creating immersive experiences for sports fans and bettors. Established
in 2001, the company is well-positioned at the intersection of the sports, media and betting industries, providing sports federations,
news media, consumer platforms and sports betting operators with a range of solutions to help grow their business.

Sportradar employs more than 2,300 full time employees across 19 countries around the world. It’s commitment to excellent service,
quality and reliability that makes them the trusted partner of more than 1,600 customers in over 120 countries and an official partner
of the NBA, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, FIFA, UEFA, ICC and ITF. It covers more than 750,000 events annually across 83 sports. With deep
industry relationships, Sportradar is not just redefining the sports fan experience; it also safeguards the sports themselves through its
Integrity Services division and advocacy for an integrity-driven environment for all involved.

www.sportradar.com

Data and analytics are super-charging innovation across the
global sports industry.
From rights holders to media organizations, tech companies
and betting operators, data analysis is an indispensable tool
for expansion and engagement strategies that navigate the
challenges of an evolving landscape.
As 2022 approaches, proactive businesses from across the
full spectrum of sport are well aware that more exciting
opportunities are ready to be explored.
integration of automated graphics. Also, rights holders are
seeking opportunities for increased monetization through
advertising, sponsorship, subscriptions and on-demand offers.
However, since Covid started to disrupt established media,
marketing, merchandise and matchday income
streams, more rights holders have
explored data monetization as an
alternative revenue stream.

Rights Holders
Many federations, associations, leagues and clubs were already
embracing data analysis long before the pandemic.

An example of the way this technology has been used for years
is using smart technology cameras as well as AI and computer
vision to capture live games on an automated basis. The data
and analytics available from such technology allows coaches
to analyse games in granular detail, providing insights that can
translate ultimately into improved team performances.

Furthermore, the automated way in which games are captured

enables more content to be shared via live streams and the

16
 Simultaneously, consumers’ attitudes towards data have shifted.
Year-on-year, they are now more willing to share personal
details than before, as long as they can be guaranteed a more
personalized experience.

With this in mind, rights holders have been keen to pinpoint

vital new data touchpoints through digital platforms, which can
enable a greater understanding of each individual and, ultimately,
a more tailored approach.

For example, numerous rights holders – from Badminton Europe

to South Korean football’s K League and Australia’s National
Basketball League – have launched or revamped OTT streaming
platforms, creating opportunities for data analysis, as well as
engagement.
The likes of the Asian Football Confederation have ramped up
capabilities in multiple areas, including capturing and utilising
fan data to develop in-depth profiles so that actionable
segmentation and automated marketing campaigns can be
initiated.
Media
Analysis of data is also being used in other creative and engaging
ways to enhance the storytelling aspect of sports coverage, by
providing real-time insights and historical data-based context.
As many as 70 graphics, driven by real-time data, are prepared
in advance of every Major League Baseball game broadcast.
Companies like NBC Sports Regional Networks in the United
States have taken steps to ensure statistics designed to
add intrigue and anticipation are delivered via richer, more
captivating on-screen graphics to complement the live coverage.
For example, through a
collaboration between Amazon
ML Solutions Lab and Sportradar, a computer vision-based
Soccer Goal Predictor has been created to detect moments that
lead to a goal. The tool can predict when a goal is going to be
scored two seconds in advance of the event happening, thanks
to instantaneous analysis of swathes of historic data.
The aim of providing such an immersive and engaging
experience ultimately is to convert casual followers into valuable
super-fans who will generate revenues through purchasing
products, services or subscriptions – and the rewards are real. In
some markets, ‘diehard’ fans spend 50% more than casual fans
on broadcast subscriptions.
Betting
Customer data is already a decisive weapon in the burgeoning
US sports betting sector, where FanDuel and DraftKings have
benefited from existing databases of daily fantasy sports players
to jump-start their sportsbooks in newly regulated states.

This is in response to customer demand. Over 40% of fans,
craving a more compelling experience, are more likely to watch
a sporting event if real-time statistics are shown to help build a
narrative.
Media companies are also incorporating deep-dive statistical
APIs into their digital offerings, as well as betting-related
elements, ranging from on-screen odds tickers to dedicated
programming segments.
The betting industry is predicted to expand at a compound
annual rate of 40% in the US alone, with a potential global
value by 2033 of $39bn. Such a market is hard to ignore, so
more operators are recognizing the need to build strategies
that address the market. Across all sectors, spending on
programmatic marketing – the automated buying of online
advertising space in real-time, using data to reach the right
person at the right time in the right format – has surged.

AI and machine learning are also being used to build anticipation

and excitement among fans.

17
 Additionally, AI and machine learning are being used to
understand bettors and their motivations, from delving into
an individual’s favourite sports, leagues and teams in order to
personalize bet recommendations, to identifying the right bonus
to capture their interest, and even predicting timeframes for
deposits to be made.
New betting products are also being fuelled by data, with
verticals like esports and virtual sports emerging on mainstream
sportsbooks.
Rapid markets, which enable bets to be placed at short intervals
in relation to events that are seconds away from happening,
have launched across multiple sportsbooks, and in-play betting
continues to grow in popularity worldwide, driving
substantial growth.
For example, in F1, in-play betting opportunities, introduced
last year, are almost limitless. Some 20 million data points are
captured every second from the cars alone, while trackside
sensors pick up billions more in each race. Data points can be
curated and delivered within 50 to 300 milliseconds in relation
to the event’s betting markets, with ultra-low latency adding to
the real-time revenue-generating opportunities.
Deloitte, 2021:
https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/technology-media-and-
telecommunications/articles/sports-business-trends-disruption.
html
Merkle Inc., 2021:
https://www.merkleinc.com/thought-leadership/white-
papers/2021-consumer-experience-sentiment-report?utm_
source=PressRelease&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=2021_
Merkle_AMER_2021_DX_Experience_Sentiment_Survey
Instapage, 2019:
https://instapage.com/blog/personalization-statistics
Deloitte, 2019:
https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/technology-media-and-
telecommunications/articles/enhancing-digital-fan-engagement.
html
Capital.com, 2021:
https://capital.com/best-stocks-to-invest-in-2021-top-10-picks
Statista, 2021:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/275806/programmatic-
spending-worldwide/

Future
In the digital age, data and analytics are the most important
ingredients for survival and growth in the global sports industry.

For sportsbooks, media organizations and rights holders, data

analysis is playing an essential role in refining internal processes
and fine-tuning creative strategies to engage and monetise an
ever-more demanding audience.

A tailored, targeted and innovative approach is required

in an increasingly fragmented and competitive sector.

Whether businesses in sport thrive or survive may

well increasingly depend on how successfully they
can integrate data and analytics into their outlook.

18
 ESPORTS IN SPORTS
When esports filled the hiatus left by the suspension of live
action during the pandemic, fast-thinking sports which embraced
the opportunity were duly rewarded.
Whilst some sports had already taken steps into esports, many
used this first-mover advantage to the full once the pandemic hit,
moving quickly and effectively to close the gap. These included:
the DHL, which partnered with Electronic Sports League; The
State University of New York, which worked with Extreme
Networks to create a student league; Le Mans, which worked
with Motorsport Games to create an alternative 24 Challenge;
Dreamhack; Super League Triathlon; and – of course - F1.
Since sport locked down and esports stepped up, what has
become clear is that three things make for good esports
implementation:
1. A good strategy – invariably this is based on having a team
which understands how to balance the interests of esports
audiences with the objectives of the traditional sport. Why this is
such a challenge will be discussed later in this chapter.
2. Top-down support for the strategy. There is direct correlation
between the success of the venture and the degree to which the
senior team within the organization is committed to the adoption
of esports. This is primarily evidenced by budget allocated to the
project and by the trust placed in the implementation team.
3. A nimble approach and an open mind. The esports audience
has community characteristics that challenge traditional thinking.
For example, the audience demand for authenticity can fly in the
face of brands looking to stay on message. Brands are finding
that the esports community sees strong agenda ownership as
manipulative, so sports bodies which enter this space need to
have a degree of comfort with loss of message control or having
to pivot their usual approach.
Early esports market entrants were the football clubs in Europe
and basketball teams in the USA who committed to underwriting
esports teams, integrating them well into their playing ‘stable’ and
then using them to support off season activity, even planning to
use them on pre-season overseas tours.
The market in Asia for esports is tremendous, but traditionally
European or American sports marketing approaches do not
automatically translate to that market. For example, often fans
19
in esports follow particular individuals, particular branding or
kit colours, or are interested in particular types of merchandise.
This is a vastly different approach from traditional European
marketing which champions star players or teams. Brands that
adapted their approach and understood the market forces at
work were rewarded by significant fan engagement
As the growth of esports in more sports organizations becomes
prevalent, there are several hard decisions to be faced. Top of
this is the moral concern of leveraging the popularity of ‘shoot
up’ games. Most sports brands have passed on the option of
engaging in any way with gun or fighting-related games in favour
of creating a version of their own sport online; however it will be
interesting to see when and who makes this controversial
move first.
The other uncomfortable truth for sports is that offering a ‘video
game’ alternative to the real-life version is largely unpopular.
Motorsport has proved the exception to this rule for two reasons;
firstly, the quality of the games have been hyper-real, so have
proved on a par with anything else on the market; secondly,
motorsports are largely inaccessible to most people, so the
esports versions give fans the chance to experience something
close to the real thing. Research clearly shows that despite the
huge popularity of games like FIFA, fans would still rather watch
‘traditional’ sports executed by elite players and athletes. This is,
no doubt, giving the IOC pause for thought
as discussions around Olympics
and esports evolve.
.
 A factor that is set to require increased strategic considerations
are that the IOC, IPC and their broadcast rights holders, whose
rights ownership and protection regulations around the Games
are very comprehensive, have previously not addressed this
potential gap in their armoury. This is changing now; the IOC,
IPC and their media partners are becoming more attentive in
safeguarding and leveraging their IP and potential revenues in
this area.
Another consideration for sports looking to create a global
esports interest is that the huge tournaments are invariably
staged live and geographically contained to one region, not
online. This is because in gaming ‘ping’ which is the delay
between a players input and the servers response to those
inputs, when playing a game – albeit one of microseconds – is
deemed to impact results.
Finally, an area attracting more attention - and one where
sport really does have something to teach esports - is that of
athlete welfare. The technology and accessibility surrounding
esports has grown rapidly and in doing so, its infrastructure,
governance and approach to welfare has arguably lagged. This
is important because esports athletes are largely very young
and inexperienced, especially commercially. The duty of care
protocols that exist in sports are not prevalent in esports and the
social media that surrounds gamers can be every bit as toxic as
seen elsewhere. The upshot is vulnerable players with no formal,
industry-wide support system – which any sport aligning itself
with an esports proposition may wish to consider.
The flip side of this is that gamers, who spend inordinate
amounts of time live streaming, are also at risk of open to saying
or doing the wrong thing, irreversibly, to a huge audience.
Not only does this have ramifications for the player, but it also
creates issues for the brands aligned to them. Huge amounts of
sensitivity and awareness are needed to balance damage control
with perceived authenticity. Sports brands which are speaking
with esports audiences most successfully are those who have
become an innate part of the community. They understand the
wider gaming market likes things on their terms – they want to
play want they want, when they want and on the platform of their
choosing, which increasingly means games need to be mobile.
Esports as a concept is not a panacea to attract younger fans
and bigger audiences, and it is worth remembering that a dull
game will never achieve ROI however well-intentioned. Some
sports organizations may still have the mindset that esports are
irrelevant to them or that the benefits are not currently worth the
risk, but for the successful first movers in this market, the genie is
out of the bottle.

Written in Association With

Edge
Edge is an influencer social analytics and campaign automation platform. For the first time, brands, such as sports teams,
and agencies can scale their campaigns as Edge automatically validates when creators post content
in a campaign, rewards the creators when their tasks are completed and measures the social
performance of their content using real data, all in one solution.

Sports people have huge authentic audiences on social media, and their followers
trust their opinions as people at the top of their profession. They have enormous
potential as role models to use their social reach to promote products and
services that are beneficial to health, wellbeing, fitness and wider society. This
also provides an untapped commercial opportunity to scale creator marketing
in the sports industry, bringing together the audiences of potentially
thousands of sports stars.

Edge is the technology that enables brands to run campaigns with thousands
of sports people. The arduous and manual tasks in creator marketing are
automated and true social performance is measured using real, first party
data, so you can understand how to maximize results. Edge is powering the
creator economy.

20
 FAN ENGAGEMENT

Engage Digital Partners (EDP) is the product of a 2012 MBO from Endemol Sport. The business pivoted into a digital-first production
company taking brands including Manchester City and The FA onto the then-emerging social platforms of Facebook and YouTube.

With offices in UK, Australia and India, EDP offers full-service digital solutions to over 40 clients including Real Madrid, ICC and MLB,
creating and distributing c.250,000 content assets a year to a community exceeding 100 million fans.

Organized around a Content and Design Studio, its product and revenue split is evenly spread across five operating groups: Data and
Insights, Audience and Creator Development, Conversion Marketing, Technical Delivery Solutions, and Monetisation.
The applied learning across its broad client base and investment in data and tech puts us in a box seat around fan-trends in digital
engagement.

www.engagedigitalpartners.com

The Change in Status Quo
There is a fundamental change in how fans are engaging with
social media; powered by blockchain and a range of powerful,
algorithm-led tools, audiences are being prized away from
‘traditional’ platforms to new, community-led channels.
forum which emerged from the gaming community, based on
hubs driven by interest groups, boasts 250 million registered
users and 150 million monthly users. Fan groups are assembled
by type, with communities emerging at the rate of 20,000 a day.

When social media platforms first launched, the creation of

networks were largely dependent on the pre-established
contacts of their users – but no more. Increasingly brands, like
TikTok and Soul (China’s fifth most popular consumer app),
use algorithm-led-understanding of consumer preferences
to guide like-minded people to form communities, based
on inclinations, not pre-existing friendships. For sport,
a sector built on tribalism and passion, this is an
important development.

The SAAS-based platforms which are emerging

allow influencers and creators to form
communities at an accelerated rate, meaning
like-minded fans have destinations in which they
can congregate at scale. Discord, the new chat

21
 Launched in 2017, both Mighty Networks and Metafactory
are tools that help create networks AND earn from the effort.
Primarily for Discord but applicable to any channel, these
combine group-creation with chat, forums, payment tools and
ticketing. Testament to the longevity of these formats - hence
how seriously they should be taken - is that they are backed by
big-business VC cash.
The Impact on the Sports Industry
Expect this trend to result in massive market fragmentation as
channels proliferate. Fans chatting freely around any brand is
not new – most major sports see unofficial fan channels dwarf
official ones by a ratio of 5:1 – but fans moving their activity
to platforms such as Discord, Geneva and Lowkey (TikTok for
gamers) presents challenges around key business activities, such
as harvesting fan data and having the ability to control the brand
message.
Happening in tandem is the development of dApps
(decentralised apps) around crypto currencies such as Ethereum,
Bitcoin and Cardano. dApps are essentially the Apple Store for
crypto and are important as they are the factor enabling financial
reward, meaning community owners can now build audiences
with whom they can transact.
With today’s emphasis on authenticity, ads and branded content
can look cynical but where the transaction is felt to be packaged
authentically, there is a rich seam of fans happy to spend.
Opportunities here include on-demand content, merchandise,
unlocks or even tickets, perks and access to talent. With crypto
options, transactions are more mobile, meaning funds can sit in a
digital wallet and be spent in the forum of the fan’s choosing.
22
So where
does this leave
ad-funded
business models?
As proved by The
Bleacher Report,
Copa90 and Sport
Bible, it is not easy to
sustain an enterprise this way.
Whilst this may still work for ‘paid
to promote’ influencers - for now - but as
some begin to fail the authenticity test, the trend will
be towards community-led interaction.
For now, however, at least for sports stars, paid-to-promote
advertising still has its place. More sports talent than ever is
appreciating the leverage they can have with fans directly,
and they have a place to engage effectively and monetise
authentically. The advertising value of a single Ronaldo tweet at
an estimated $850,000 may work now, but should he choose to
evolve from ‘old social’ to new, the tools are in place for him to
do so with eye-watering speed and efficiency.
Sport is starting to wake up to the power of emerging channels,
with the Seattle Seahawks and the Sacramento Kings becoming
the first two major American franchises to launch dedicated
servers on Discord.
 The sports industry is still finding its feet around engagement
with community-owned and driven channels, but it should be
mindful of the following
• Whilst ‘group infiltration’ sounds covert, brands must find
ways to enter the conversation on new channels;
• Community management doesn’t exclude brands and savvy
rights owners will find ways to engage micro-audiences and
bring them onto their owned channels;
• The key to content creation on new social media is
conversation, announcement-led notifications and topical
observation, rather than content for content’s sake, however
cool. That said, clever content will amplify the message and
achieve cut-through so content such as GIFs and memes are still
very relevant;
23
• Owning or being part of conversations in an adjacent category
to your own sells product. Nike and Red Bull have been doing
this for years in ‘old’ social formats and will undoubtedly be early
participants in the new age;
• There is a lot of emerging talk about ‘headless brands’, which
is part of this conversation. Essentially it means letting invested
consumers influence brand products, which is arguably a
marketing play more than a revenue generation one. The
cycling brand, Rapha, partnered with fashion design software
tool, Unmade, and supported a non-pro cycling community to
co-create a range of custom cycle wear. This didn’t just create
clothing, it created conversations, and allowed Rapha to tell an
authentic story and engage fans in a truly ground-breaking way.
The large rights owners in sport have long known the benefits
of throwing open the doors to the community - albeit in a
controlled way - through carefully curated TV documentaries,
Tunnel Cams and AMAs (Ask Me Anything). However for newer
rights owners, such as skateboarding, drone racing and scooter
racing, lack of TV rights income is likely to see them lead the
charge in leveraging their communities, content and commercial
opportunities on emerging platforms.
In these new spaces the participants – aka the community – are
in charge. Their ability to influence a brand’s evolution has been
captured under the term DAO’s (decentralised autonomous
organizations); add transactional capabilities to this and they
have real power.
Why Sport Should Act
Data shows that audiences under 20 are less likely to go to the
traditional social networks compared to the emerging ones, so
understanding where they convene, what they want and how to
fulfil their needs is crucial.
The new generation of creators have been influenced by the
protocols of gaming and as a result they are eschewing the
more traditional platforms in favour of places where they
can be rewarded more equitably. With increasing access to
technology such as blockchain, creators and the communities
they build and seek to serve are increasingly focused on creating
true connection between people. With careful and authentic
engagement, there is a place for brands too.
 HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Historically sports technology for elite athletes has focused on
performance excellence. However, as the importance of mental
health is better understood, especially in achieving winning
results, and the stigma around it wanes, the industry is moving to
embrace good practice around holistic wellbeing.
Mental health technology may be largely super-early stage at the
moment but those who govern sport recognize that health and
wellbeing don’t sit in isolation. Factors, such as providing safe
environments, legislating fairly, protecting athletes in- and out-
of competition, all play a role in responsible governance.
Additionally, the last 18 months has seen Covid dominate
conversations about health, but as the world moves on, the
need now is to think long-term, rather than simply mitigating the
impact of the pandemic – after all, athletes are likely to face more
rigorous protocols for competition participation in future.
the wearables market are taking health monitoring to a new level.
The most recent entrants into the area focus on specific
challenges or gaps. For example, Statsports’ Sonra is a powerful
combination of a wearable device, performance analysis
software, setter of targets and thresholds, and a real-time data
suite that the athlete can access along with their entire
coaching / training / clinician support team.
Another new product in the wearables market is NuroKor, a
device that uses bio-electrics to support performance, recovery
and pain management. It is currently being used by the GB
Bobsleigh team to facilitate recovery
between runs.

Wearables
Technology that monitors many aspects of athletes’ health has
been developing for some time, successfully evolving to serve
the needs of consumers, not least of all in the wearables market.

Heartrate monitors and mileage trackers have been around for

a long time. Over the last 10 years the market diversified rapidly
then, at the point it was highly fragmented, often with few points
of difference between goods, it quickly rationalized, with some
major brands exiting the market (eg Nike’s Fuelband halted
production just four years after launch). Now developments in

24
 Post-Covid Infection Monitoring
The pandemic has forced all sports to look to how athletes can
be monitored and supported in large numbers in the face of
widespread infections and technology has been at the heart of
this.

The EIS already had a well-established, bespoke-built system

that gathered athlete data from across over 40 sports. With the
onset of Covid, the tracking section of this app was adapted and
used extensively throughout the pandemic. Other ‘off-the-shelf’
examples can be found in Smartabase and AthleteMonitoring.
Regardless of how this – or other - viruses evolve, tools which
monitor infection spread within the training environment are here Mint Diagnostics, a
to stay. start-up working with the EIS to develop Hormonix. Using a
non-invasive saliva test, Hormonix helps female athletes better
Personalization understand their menstrual cycles’ influence on health, training
Sports fans are not the only market looking for high levels of and performance in real-time (this replaces blood-testing that
personalization, athletes want this too. meant a several-day wait for results).

In the consumer market, products such as PremedIT are leading
the way. Its app solution, Running Care, combines medical
insights with predictive analysis to deliver personalized health
advice and running programs, including predictions and
assessments around pain and injuries. Users are also connected
to rehabilitation programs and experts.
Crucially this enables performance support teams to make
decisions about that day’s training programme for an individual,
providing a real-time, data-driven decision that accounts for the
individual hormone profile.

Biological monitoring is both highly personalized and developing

quickly. This is extremely welcome, especially for female athletes
for whom there has been a surprisingly lag in dedicated ‘femtech’.
Fortunately technology companies are starting to wake up to this
and the opportunities presented to them. One such example is

25
 Head Trauma
Until very recently, concussion was both an accepted by-product
of most contact sport and, certainly at sub-elite level, a catch-all
term for head trauma. Now, as the long-term effects of repeated
head traumas are becoming evident, from inducing depression
to chronic brain damage and personality change, there is a very
great need for this to be addressed and technology is emerging
as a powerful tool in assisting with this.
There are several movements emerging globally to promote and
take action with this issue, one such being Love of the Game, a
concept created by former England rugby international, Simon
Shaw. Love of the Game is working to unite sport, technology,
science, academia and business to identify, invest and implement
solutions that will mitigate the health risks arising in all sports.
Technologies are emerging at every key step in head trauma
prevention and treatment (i.e. education, diagnosis, treatment
and prevention). Solutions from established brands, such as
Hawk-Eye’s medical system for Premiership Rugby, 2nd Skull
head protection, PROTECHT Intelligent Mouthguard which
measures head impact, LID’s foldable cycling helmets and H1PT’s
collaboration with Charles Owen horse riding helmets.
These have been around for a few years and have enjoyed
varying degrees of success. However Love of the Game are
looking to boost the chances of a range of young businesses
which include FIERCE, a headband detecting and tracking
impact, HELM(et) a helmet in the form of a ‘smart’ device that
uses IoT and API clip-on sensors, and WAVi is an all-in-one brain
measurement platform which provides objective information
about brain function.
It is gratifying to witness the holistic approach to health and
wellbeing that is starting to permeate the sector. In many areas
there is a rich seam of technologies to choose from which
provide outstanding support tools – however in some, very
crucial areas, there is still a long way to go. In the 2020 Review,
reference was made to the gap in the market pertaining to
femtech and technologies which prevent and assess head
trauma; undoubtedly there is change happening, it could just
be faster. In the meantime, sports can draw upon a wealth of
technologies surrounding these issues to
support them in making training and
competition safer, rehab better
and injury prevention
more certain.

Written in Association With

Love of the Game

Protect our players. Protect our games. We are an impassioned community of
athletes, players, fans, innovators and experts, united by our love of sport and
the desire to, not only protect players of all ages from the potentially devastating
impact of head injuries, but also to protect the integrity of the sports we know
and love.
.

26
 INNOVATION AND EMERGING TRENDS

As a global leader in its field, Capgemini collaborates with companies to transform and manage their business by harnessing
the power of technology. Guided every day by its purpose of unleashing human energy through technology for an inclusive and
sustainable future, Capgemini is a responsible and diverse organization of 290,000 team members in nearly 50 countries. With its
strong 50-year heritage and deep industry expertise, Capgemini is fuelled by the fast evolving and innovative world of cloud, data, AI,
connectivity, software, digital engineering and platforms.

When it comes to sports, Capgemini holds a historic connection with rugby and a deep heritage in rugby sponsorship. As the current
Global Innovation Partner for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, the company has extensive experience in creating digital assets
designed to enhance the fan experience. Moving forward, it will bring its deep expertise in data and analytics to the upcoming Rugby
World Cup in 2023

www.capgemini.com.

Personalization
In all aspects of life, consumers – especially younger ones – are
looking for personalization and hyper-personalization on ever-
more exacting levels.

AI is a major step in this process as it allows very large datasets

for rapid assessment that deliver better, more meaningful insights
for industry’s decision-makers as well as automatically and
instantly generating content on-demand for fans.

Blockchain
Blockchain technology is hugely exciting for the future of sports.
From protecting athlete IP to driving crypto (which will be
increasingly important, not least as esports and social media
evolve) and securing and streamlining the ticketing experience.

By leveraging the latest in AI, mobile and machine learning

Where We Are Now
The force of technology in sport has been profound, touching
every element of the way sport is played, watched and how fans
engage with it. Technology-led initiatives, such as Formula E
allowing fans to play an active role in influencing the outcome of
a race, were ground-breaking when they launched and are likely
to find their way into more traditional sports as the war to attract
younger fans is waged throughout the sector.
tech, blockchain-powered platforms - such as ticketing and
retail - will secure all interactions between the provider and the
customer. This will help optimize and secure access control,
adjust prices on things like tickets, depending on the availability,
and help fight against fraud, bots and counterfeiting, all of which
will boost customer trust.
UEFA made use of this technology for the first time during the
Europa Champions League. The system used blockchain-based
technology to create secure mobile tickets for smartphones,
generating unique, encrypted tickets that were entirely traceable
and thus removed the risk of counterfeiting while simplifying the
process of transfers or returns.
.

27
 In the future, this same tech could be used to improve the
transparency and security of medical data by creating global
doping passports to help drive down use of illegal substances.
Similarly, blockchain is starting to be combined with athlete data
to help build nutrition plans for athletes. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
tracked, in real-time, the health data of player Rob Gronkowski,
recording it on the blockchain Beyond Protocol, an ‘unhackable’
service that stores an athlete’s biometric data and matches it
with optimal nutrition and supplements.
5G
The fifth-generation standard for broadband cellular networks,
5G, enables blazingly fast connectivity speeds where data can
be accessed and consumed instantly. By providing seamless
performance through high bandwidth and low latency, 5G has
the potential to offer the world of sport a host of innovative
solutions.
The industry can look forward to real-time performance data
for coaches, new in-stadium experiences for fans, and - as the
world becomes more reliant on streaming services - the ability
to consume greater amounts of content anywhere and anytime
instead of traditional live TV.
To many, improved connectivity on a bigger scale in stadiums
is long overdue. This massively enhances live experiences, not
only for crowds in terms of hyper-personalization (delivering
more relevant content to fans), but also in offering better digital
experiences for teams, such as game data that can be analysed
in real-time. Experiments have already been carried out in this
area, with 5G-powered drones utilised to boost coverage across
stadiums over a local network while simultaneously providing
unique event video footage.
Shaping Future Sport
Looking into the more distant future, it’s undeniable that
technology’s role in sport will only expand, having a bigger
influence on the way everyone will experience it, be it player,
coach or spectator.
28
While it is hard to predict with total accuracy, it’s very probable
that quantum computing will have a profound impact. As the
power of computing increases, so will the relative value of data.
These increased speeds will offer a competitive advantage in the
form of real-time analysis, instant access to insights for fans, and
in-game experiences such as VR, which requires the immense
processing power offered by quantum tech. VR has been a
much-heralded but ultimately very slow burn in the sports
sector, this could finally be the tipping point which sees it start to
take a stronger hold.
The main trend for the future, however, is the convergence
of these powerful innovations: the bringing together of data,
processing power and visualisation, along with blockchain and
personal insights. This is inevitable. Instead of analysing one or
two data sources, soon it will be the norm to examine 50, using
different forms of emerging technologies to do so, from AI to
quantum computing and 5G.
Also expect sustainability to be a greater consideration. Thanks
to social media and, as sport returns, the ability to vote with
their feet, the voices and actions of players and fans will have
more impact. Expect them to become increasingly demanding in
wanting to see the sector’s stakeholders make choices that are
better for the environment.
In summary, look forward to a world of
sport which offers sustainability,
hyper-personal and elevated
experiences thanks to better
interactions that have
been tailored to fans.
 SPORTS PERFORMANCE
Maintaining performance in the shadow of a pandemic brought
out technological innovation in several areas. For instance, the
Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games opted for
facial recognition-based security gates, minimising physical
touch points at places where there would be high volumes of
people, to reduce the risk of infection spread which could have
catastrophic implications for an athlete’s ambitions.
From a more performance-centric standpoint, the Canadian
Sport Institute Pacific partnered with Canadian company Kontrol
BioCloud to develop a real-time pathogen detector to monitor
the training environment, ensuring their athletes could train with
confidence that the environment was infection-secure.
Outside the Olympics, the return to training of English Premier
League clubs following the national lockdown was accelerated
by analysis conducted by STATSports which used GPS to assess
the frequency and typical duration of events where players came
into close-contact in training.
While the need for maintaining and managing bio-secure
environments is unlikely to go away in the short term, sports are
also having to maintain performance standards while adapting
to increasing ecological demands, as the move towards a
greener way of operating becomes a greater force. F1 is striving
to create a fuel source that is 100% sustainable, without
negatively impacting teams, and World Sailing is beginning
to mandate a much higher focus on recyclability of boat
materials. Managing these constraints while still providing high-
adrenaline, captivating spectacles will be hugely challenging, and
performance-focus will be increasingly about maintaining results
given these tightening constraints.
The Machines Are Here
In preparation for the 2021 Americas Cup, Emirates Team New
Zealand worked with team sponsor McKinsey and Company
to develop an AI-controlled virtual opponent to race against in
their simulator. Initially, the virtual training partner offered little
competition. However, through exposure to massive amounts
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of simulated runs and optimization strategies, the virtual team
rapidly perfected their own race tactics and evolved into a
meaningful opponent, often beating them in training, and
eventually inspiring alternative racing tactics and strategies.
The ability to iterate and test a range of strategies quickly and at
scale provided Team NZ and their sailors with the opportunity to
steal a march on the other teams, especially in light of restricted
live-racing opportunities in a very tight development cycle.
Tech-Giant Partnerships
While the use of full-blown simulators might be reserved for big
budget motorsports and pro-sailing teams, AI continues to gain
traction in team sports, where the huge datasets produced by
tracking systems in football, basketball and baseball in particular
are being paired with machine learning to make sense of the
complex patterns contained within. For example, Liverpool FC
has partnered with Google owned DeepMind in the exploration
of AI approaches to football data.
Meanwhile, AWS’s tie in with Australian swimming is cited as
having boosted their Olympic medal haul, by optimising relay
strategy based on their own swimmers’ capabilities, alongside
predictions of opposition nations likely finishing times. While the
system was acknowledged to be imperfect, it was nevertheless
held up by the Swimming Australia as bringing significant
tactical advantage to the Olympic meet. Certainly these types
of approaches are likely to become increasingly
common in sports, in providing both
competitor analysis and informing
team selection.
.
.
.
 In a further sign of things to come NBA team, Phoenix Suns,
partnered with US telecom company, Verizon, to develop a state
of the art training facility, incorporating a blend of computer
vision, 5G and edge computing to provide coaches with real-time
feedback on athlete performance on the court. The installation
of a private 5G network permits the wireless transmission
of very high volumes of video and data to local high-power
computing power. This means that high-volume of data can still
be processed quickly, while side-stepping any implications larger
or heavier wearables. This dramatically increases the complexity
of the data that can be processed and fed back to the coaches’
tablets in time to inform decision-making. This is an approach
that will certainly become more prevalent as sports seek to ingest
and process more data without negatively impacting
performance itself.

Real-time biological monitoring systems are emerging in sport,

with medical, space and military applications driving the science
Regardless, the addition of any new sources of information to
which can later be adopted into sport. Increasingly lab-based
an already complex eco-systems of athlete data accentuates
biological measurement systems are transitioning to portable,
the need for proper data handling. With so much information
wireless point-of-care devices, and therefore become more
available, the challenge is to ensure the right structures are in
practical propositions in the training environment, allowing for
place to combine, analyse and exploit these diverse datasets
the adaption of training regimes in response to blood chemistry
quickly enough to impact performance.
data. For instance, the Abbot Libre Sense is a wireless-enabled
blood glucose monitor which provides real-time feedback on Staying Focused
how well fuelled an athlete is at any point. However, although As technology continues to proliferate in many fields, elite level
other blood markers could conceivably be detected in the same focus must continue to be on what is of best use to athletes and
way, the prioritisation of glucose has been driven by a medical coaches, how it can be blended with existing athlete support in
focus on diabetes management, and this is essentially a mature a way that is complimentary, and then ensure skilled, motivated
technology that is being repurposed for sport. It follows then practitioners are appropriately supported in its delivery. This is
that the investment required to bring sensing-tech to market when technology enhances performance best.
for other blood-markers which might be of greater interest to
performance scientists might not be there without a medical
imperative.

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 VENUES AND OPERATIONS

HOK Sports + Entertainment practice is part of HOK, an award-winning, global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm,
which has 1,600 people across a network of 23 offices on three continents.

HOK Sports + Entertainment plans and designs world-class sports facilities, specializing in the design of arenas, stadiums, ballparks,
training facilities and entertainment centres. The group plans and designs world-class sports complexes that are centrepieces of
successful, vibrant entertainment districts, communities and campuses. Current and recent projects include Newcastle Gateshead
Quays in Gateshead, England; FC Barcelona’s New Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona, Spain; Valencia Arena in Valencia, Spain; the PHX
Arena modernization in Phoenix, Arizona; Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the State Farm Arena renovation in Atlanta; new Major League
Soccer stadiums in Miami and St. Louis; Rogers Place and the Ice District in Edmonton, Alberta; Little Caesars Arena in Detroit; and the
renovation of Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

HOK designs buildings and spaces that respond to the needs of people and the environment. HOK designers are rooted in technical
excellence, driven by imagination and focused on a solitary goal: to deliver solutions that inspire clients and communities.
www.hok.com

The Current Status and Key Challenges

Sports venues worldwide have been central to local pandemic
efforts as vaccine hubs, food banks and distribution centres.
Pre-pandemic, the trend was to position stadiams and arenas as
community hubs but as Covid struck, intention became action
with grounds becoming key community assets.

The lack of live sport and leisure facility access created a huge
gap in the lives of sports and fitness fans, showing what an
intrinsic part of many people’s lives sport is. That this deprivation
happened during a period which highlighted the importance of
physical and mental wellness, was especially poignant.

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 As sport returns, albeit with social distancing, venues managers
and the operators of live events face two challenges
1. How to create in-stadia atmosphere with far fewer people;
2. How to survive commercially with significantly lower footfall.
Additionally, sports venues are under increasing pressure to
become more sustainable. Musicians were the initial driving
force for this but as sports stars and fans gain ground as social
influencers, the demand for demonstrable ‘green‘ credentials will
be ever-more pressing.
Venue owners and operators need to be more innovative than
ever. Challenges span remote planning, ticketing, security, food
and beverage, hygiene, creating exclusive fan experiences, and
generating revenues, as well as ensuring resilient and sustainable
physical venues, and many answers can be found in technology.
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Remote Planning
As many markets still face restricted footfall, the issue of fewer
fans at events means less revenue but many venues are seizing
the opportunity to introduce more premium experiences. This
trend was evident pre-pandemic, largely via exclusive hospitality
offerings but, in the face of replacing lost income, this notion has
accelerated.
Part of this development is the use of remote planning tools to
assess and virtually-experience opportunities at concept stage.
For example, technology company, OnePlan, has created ‘venue
twinning’ software meaning venue owners and event organizers
can evaluate seating options, plan infrastructure and map live fan
encounters, all from the distanced safety of their offices.
Fans making the effort to attend fixtures need to be rewarded
with a positive experience, not put off by vital, but tedious
protocols, otherwise they won’t return. Virtual planning means
that potential issues, such as balancing safety requirements
with creating a positive day out, can be spotted and resolved in
advance of match day.
Ticketing and Security
Ticketing and security are central to the return of major events.
Whilst more development is needed in this area, Ticketmaster
Sport were early responders with online ticketing solutions for
customers to help them navigate – and to some degree – survive
the new event requirements linked to the pandemic.
Going forward venues will need more help to issue timed-access
tickets and then oversee this successfully. To this end expect
to see ticket checks happening further out from the venue,
with larger fan zones emerging between the ticket barriers and
seats. Not only does this help avoid last-minute crowding, it
creates opportunities for revenue generation and positive fan
experiences; people can come and be entertained long before
the game starts.
F&B
Food and Beverage offerings are changing, both in what can be
ordered and how the transaction occurs with pre-packed items
and remote or cashless service emerging as popular options.
Both Swipestation and Seatserve have created ways to avoid
queues and order in-seat, whilst Phoenix Suns have innovated a
‘Grab and Go’ offering.
 Here fans make their selection from display cabinets in
concessions, scan these and then checkout through the official
Suns App. The Suns have also used the app to introduce the
‘Fan Promise’, asking fans to declare that they are Covid-free
prior to their visit. Whilst this isn’t a perfect solution, it does help
remind visitors of their collective responsibility to the wider fan
community.
Cleaning, Health and Hygiene
Sports venues are largely very robust buildings, created from
materials that are easy to clean – so much so that it can be
done with robots, as evidenced by Tottenham Hotspur with ICE
Co-bots. Fans will certainly want to touch fewer items – such as
washroom taps, doors, lift buttons etc – so technology that helps
them bypass this is emerging and will soon be prevalent as part
of the live experience.
Creating Atmosphere
With the rise of virtual communities, the experience of going to
an event needs to exceed the convenience of watching at home.
With fewer tickets on sale the ‘I was there’ bragging rights have
more value, but fans’ expectations of a match day will be higher
and more complex.
All sports events now need to provide a theatrical experience –
and if this can be done with good sustainability credentials, so
much the better. Consequently state-of-the-art sound systems
and programmable LED floodlights are expected, especially in
newly built venues. It is also essential that fans at live games can
access social media opportunities; to this end, tech developers,
such as Sportbuff and Twinesocial, are offering fresh ways to
engage both with the action and fans’ online communities in-
ground and at home. Also expect to see more opportunities in
different realities. Prior to Covid, the separation that was inherent
with technology such as VR was off-putting, but the emergence
of new attitudes to social distance may well be pivotal in
accelerating the growth of this tech.
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Improving Revenues
As one of the areas hit hardest by the pandemic, venues have to
make up for lost revenues and maximize income in the face of
recent constraints. This has led to the creation of alternative live
experiences, such as ticketed open training sessions; however
the fundamental way to build returns is to maximize seat value.
Designers brought in to help plan and build new grounds have
VR capabilities, such as Enscape or Unreal Engine, which help
them evaluate customer experience and seat value metrics. HOK
has developed proprietorial software that evaluates each seat via
different spectator type metrics; acoustics are vital for esports
and music, some fans care about being very close to the action,
others prefer the wider view and younger fans demand they have
excellent Wi-Fi. These considerations don’t just ensure that seats
are sold at premiums, they also safeguard the experience each
fan-type seeks.
Data is, as ever, key and is now being used to tailor experiences
and prepare accordingly. For example, specific fan demographic
can be matched to F&B preferences, with ‘burgers and beer’ or
premium options being available in optimum volumes.
In conclusion, Covid sped up technology adoption in the event
space but balancing facilities investment versus the returns
generated is more of a consideration than ever. Older venues
are faced with the challenge of retrofitting necessary technology,
whilst new venues understand the need for a well-thought-out
technology strategy that encompasses revenues, fan experience
and efficient, safe operations.
In short, today’s status quo means venues owners don’t have the
luxury of tech for tech’s sake, but wisely chosen innovations are
vital to their futures.
 POWER LIST
Position 2021 Description 2020 Movement
Rank

1 F1 Governing Body 1 0

2 NBA Governing Body 4 -6

3 UEFA Governing Body - New Entry

4 European Tour Governing Body 5 1

5 STATSports Performance 7 2

6 PGA Governing Body 11 5

7 Dazn Broadcast - New Entry

8 La Liga Governing Body 17 9

9 Sportradar Sports Data 27 18

10 NASCAR Governing Body 14 4

11 AELTC Tournament 8 -3

12 NFL Governing Body 6 -6

13 Hawk-Eye Performance 20 7

14 Tour de France Tournament 2 -12

15 Deltatre Broadcast - New Entry

16 Ticketmaster Sport Technology Company - New Entry

17 Intel Technology Company 24 7

18 INEOS Team 33 15

19 Amazon Broadcast - New Entry

20 Sunset + Vine Broadcast 25 5

21 Genius Sports Data 10 -11

22 SailGP Governing Body 15 -7

23 FIBA Governing Body 22 -1

24 Fox Broadcast 30 6

25 BBC Sport Broadcast 18 -5

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 Position 2021 Description 2020 Movement
Rank

26 BT Sport Broadcast 23 -3

27 Timeline TV Broadcast 35 8

28 FEI Governing Body - New Entry

29 Star Sports India Broadcast - New Entry

30 Barcelona FC Team 29 -1

31 FIFA Governing Body 39 8

32 IBM Technology Company 21 -11

33 WSC Sports Technology Company - New Entry

34 Super League Triathlon Governing Body - New Entry

35 Eurosport Broadcast - New Entry

36 ITF Governing Body 40 15

37 Chelsea FC Team - New Entry

38 Catapult Performance 9 -37

39 WWE Governing Body - New Entry

40 Singular.Live Broadcast 46 6

41 VITEC Technology Company - New Entry

42 Extreme Networks Technology Company - New Entry

43 MLB Governing Body 32 -11

44 Hudl Performance 28 -16

45 Pixellot Technology Company - New Entry

46 Formula E Governing Body 19 -27

47 Dartfish Performance 31 -16

48 DFL Governing Body - New Entry

49 Kitman Labs Performance - New Entry

50 Sky Sports Broadcast 36 -14

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BRANDS SHAPING THE SECTOR

With sports technology being such a buoyant and diverse sector, it can be hard to know where to start in finding brands which are
active in various niches. Whilst this list is by no means exhaustive, it should help!

Apparel and Equipment

Adidas, AfterShokz, Asics, Bioracer, Castelli, Endura, Fitbit, HEXR, Hope Lotus, Lululemon, Nike, No Pinz, Umbro, Under Armour,
VEXATEC, Vorteq, Wearble X

Broadcast and OTT

AWS, BBC, BeIN Sport, BT Sport, ChyronHego, DAZN, Discovery, ELEVEN Sports, Fox Sports,Grabyo, NBC, Pixellot, Reactoo, Recast,
Singular.Live, Spideo, Sky Sports, Star India, StreamAMG, Sunset+Vine, Tellyo, Teravolt.tv, uniqFEED, Vitz,

Data and Analytics

AISpotter, Amazon ML Solutions, Block Six Analytics, Coursetrack, Deepmind, F1, Genius Sports, Goodform, IBM, Infosys, Nielsen
Sports, Sparta Science, Sportradar, Statsperform XtremePush

Esports in Sport
Dreamhack, ESL, Extreme Networks, F1 Esports, Gfinity, Motorsport Games,

Fan Engagement
Bleachr, Chiliz, Discord, Engage Digital Partners, Engagecraft, Geneva, Lowkey, Metafactory, Mighty Networks, Sponix, Sportbuff,
TikTok,

Health and Welfare

AthleteMonitoring, Contego Sports, The EIS, Enertor, ForceDecks, Good Boost, Hawk-Eye, HP 1T IMPACT Gumshields, Kontrol
Biocloud, LID, Love of the Game, Mint Diagnostics, Motitech, NuroKor, Smartabase, Sports & Wellbeing Analytics, STATSports

Innovation and Emerging Technology

Buzzer, Fanatics, Hawk-Eye, Hyperice, LaLiga, Lumen, Maple Leaf Sports, OnePlan, Reflexion, SciSports, Whoop,Zwift,

Sports Performance
BioCloud, Kitman Labs, NV Play, Playermaker, Speedo, Sports Data Labs, Stats Perform, STATSports, Tokyo Olympic OC

Venue and Operations

Advanced Ticketing, AECOM, Ascot, HOK, OnePlan, Seatserve, SignalShare, SIS Pitches, Sportbuff, Spotlight Sports Group, Swipe
Station, Ticketmaster Sport, VITEC, Vogo

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WITH THANKS TO...

A huge amount of effort went into creating The 2021 Sports Technology Review and we would like to acknowledge the following
people whose contribution greatly supported us at every stage of publication

Tash Carpenter, Grace Cullen, Matt Parker, Greg Stevens, Fiona Johnson and Dave Thomas, The EIS

Adam Azor and James Faure, Sportradar

Casey Harwood and Alex Chamberlen, Engage Digital Partners

John Rhodes and Kirsty Mitchell, HOK

Kate Muddle and Rory Burghes, Capgemini

Jez McCoy, Graphics Planet

Keir Gordon, Jody MacDonald, Sarah Grant and Grace Seely, Charles Russell Speechlys

David Yarnton, Edge

Hugo Sharman, StreamAMG

Marc Williams, Reactoo

Simon Shaw, Love Of The Game

Tanya Power The STA Group

37
ABOUT THE STA GROUP

The STA Group is a multifaceted sports technology business, operating at the heart of sport globally.

Occupying a unique and globally unrivalled place in the worlds of sports and technology, The Group’s mission is to ‘Inform, Inspire and
Celebrate’ tech-led innovation and technologies across the international sports sector.

Brands which sit within The Group include The STA Startups, The Sports Technology Awards, The Sports Technology Annual Review
and Power List, and Access Innovation, along with our fortnightly newsletter.

The Group prides itself for being at the forefront of the key topics, changes, and challenges in the sector. Testament to this is its work
pioneering important topics such as athlete welfare, gender equality and sustainability, as well as tech advances including OTT, NFTs
and AI.

The Group’s awards attract hundreds of entries from more than 30 countries and 50 sports, and boasts a network including
Olympians, Paralympians, World Champions, leading coaches, business figures, tech visionaries and successful entrepreneurs. Its work
would not be possible without the help of its Partner Family – The EIS, Capgemini, Charles Russell Speechlys and The 1851 Trust.

www.sportstechgroup.org

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