SportsPro: how will the Sports Tech look like in 2021?
Our Chief Strategy Officer and advisor to UEFA Innovation Hub Jean-Baptiste Alliot has been asked by SportsPro to give his thoughts on the future of sports tech and its main trends in 2021. You can read below his full interview:
What sports tech trends will stand out in 2021?
The sports tech market has primarily been driven by three verticals: fan engagement, player performance and stadium experience. Like many experts in the sport and entertainment industry, rather than radical changes that appear in 2021, I believe we will experience a very strong acceleration of existing trends due to the global pandemic, which has forced the entire ecosystem, including rights holders, brands and broadcasters, to engage with fans in new ways, through digital activations.
In addition, the health crisis has pushed rights holders and other major stakeholders to rethink the current business model and find new opportunities to sustain the industry. The impact of COVID-19 will reinforce the need for all those involved in fan engagement to employ new approaches, such as new types of immersive content that provides a more personalized, interactive, experience. Data and analytics will therefore continue to drive fan engagement throughout the sports ecosystem including football, but we are only at a start of a new journey. This will be reinforced in 2021 because new technology capabilities will become reality with 5G being further deployed and improvement made to AI and augmented-reality capabilities.
Similarly, on the player performance side, the pandemic has led to massive investments in the connected home fitness market where new customers within the broader consumer health market are adopting wearable devices. The new developments in biomechanics and player-data driven solutions, especially tracking data, will continue to grow. Another interesting example in this space is the use of HomeCourt by the NBA in their last NBA Draft Combine 2020 which has been reformatted to be conducted both in NBA team markets and virtually. This is also something we are looking at with Formalytics and the UEFA Player Card concept and the possibility to have an engaging channel for youth football players.
Finally, the stadium experience, which is probably the sector to have suffered the most, will need to innovate at scale and rapidly. All competition organizers have been revamping their operations and UEFA’s new return to play manual describes new ways to continue operating behind close doors but also welcome fans while ensuring their health and safety. This is the driver for most in-stadium innovations in 2021: make sure all sport entities can bring fans back to a safe, healthy environment. The at-home stadium experience is more related to the fan engagement vertical whereby sports organisations will try to create more immersive experiences for fans unable to attend matches due to pandemic or other restrictions. The trends will not be new, but will primarily focus on how to engage the fans despite health precautions, so that they can watch, play and otherwise consume sport in a way they enjoy. Community and “phygital” will be key. Those sports and teams who can use data to build direct relationships and so engage their community will thrive.
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According to you, which sports tech sector will see the greatest growth in 2021?
For me the highest growth in 2021 is expected in three main sectors.
Digital and media products, such as immersive experiences in both linear and OTT broadcasting, will be strongly supported by data capture and analytics, new technologies like 5G and improvement of AI and augmented-reality capabilities.
Connected fitness devices used by sports organisations to keep and increase grassroots and amateur participation. Elite football players and clubs will start to become even more active in this field since, even though it is a smaller market, the credibility and relevance of a manufacturer wanting to mass-market direct to consumers very much rely on associations with elite clubs and player brands.
Esports and gaming will continue to grow very fast because this sector responds to one of the biggest challenges for sports organisations: how to engage with millennials and GenZ fans. It is worthwhile noting that players now exploit their own brand and media exposure since they are valuable assets when it comes to driving the three sectors forward.
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What sports tech start-ups or early-stage entrepreneurs are set to have the biggest impact in 2021?
As I described earlier, we are all aware of the huge number of new companies like Peloton, Zwift, Tonal or Whoop over the last few months, and the investment traction they have been able to generate. But if I had to highlight just one start-up in the player performance and live remote training market, it would have to be Uplift Labs that I can see having a very strong value proposition with an excellent team to carry it out. At the crossroads between player performance and fan engagement, I would also mention the start-up Rezzil that is now strong enough to look at expansion into the D2C market, and more precisely esport and soon gaming, from Q1 2021.
In fan engagement, I believe some start-ups will gain greater traction despite (or thanks to) the pandemic, such as Livelike, Spalk, Greenfly, Immersiv, Edisn.ai and Slate. Second Spectrum and Track160 are also worth mentioning when it comes to data tracking and data analytics products. Finally, I would also like to tag WaveXR as a start-up that has recently raised a large amount of capital and embodies this new ‘phygital’ trend and where I can see a stronger connection between football/sport and music, culture and other forms of entertainment that will create new stories and new forms of engagement.
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If you could invest in one sports tech start-up or product today, what would it be and why?
To be honest, I would hesitate between Uplift Labs, Buzzer and GreenPark. It may be a cliché, when you look at investing in start-ups, the team is the most important factor. These three companies have incredible teams that can put together a variety of products and execute them in line with market demands. Their value proposition is fully aligned with the shift in the industry, pushed by the pandemic and the trends described above. The timing is also important because traditional right holders, media companies and brands are looking for clear and interesting answers. Finally, the survival of a start-up depends on its connections and access to leading executives, including at sports leagues levels and, thanks to their main investors, these three start-ups are very well placed to move forward quickly and demonstrate value.
What is the most overhyped sports tech trend or product heading into 2021?
I am sceptical about the audio broadcast products coming out of the sports industry during the global pandemic. I do not believe that collecting live noise in fans’ home and streaming it to live sports events over the air. Or at least I do not think it will be here to stay and, once the sports and entertainment industry get past the pandemic, these products will not remain viable compared to others that can bring about real, long-term changes in fan behaviors.