Top 2022 sports trends to watch

SHIFT TO MOBILEFIRST ENGAGEMENT

As a collective, we are a creating and consuming an enormous amount of content, from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed. With more and more people gaining access to the Internet and new devices emerging, the amount of content we create and consume will accelerate further in 2022.

Sports has traditionally been centred on the ‘big screen’ experience. High-end gaming consoles serve as not only a platform to play games on, but also to watch our favourite TV shows and more. Even many vertical gaming platforms have been PCbased with a larger monitor.

With the present advances in processing power and battery life of mobile devices, accelerated by cord-cutting and the rise of mobilefirst culture, the mobile device is taking centre stage in sports and gaming. Nifty Games recently released NFL Clash as a mobile game globally and to reach sports fans marketers are focusing their efforts on anything to increase accessibility, bringing fans closer to the action and into the discussion.

Throughout the pandemic and into 2021, sports organisations have been investing heavily into mobile applications (‘Apps’) to give fans what they need, when and how they need it in the fastest possible way, particularly during a time where fans haven’t been able to attend live events. Fans are craving more. They are actively looking for ways to interreact digitally with their favourite teams and by enhancing that vital connection, a bespoke app can turn the most casual supporter into the loyalist of fans who live and breathe the club. The kind that also drives revenues.

THE RETURN OF LIVE EVENTS TO HIGH GDP NATIONS

While the pandemic challenges the live sports and esports ecosystems for more than 18 months, vaccinations, proven Covid-19 protocols, and fan desires to get back to in-person events could bring fans, ticket revenue and sponsorship revenue back in 2022. This trend may not extend into the second and third world, but the bulk of sport’s revenue has largely come from first-world markets where ticket prices, merchandise, food and beverage, and media rights values can be maximised.

INCREASING LUXURY BRAND AND NON-ENDEMIC INTEGRATION

To cater to this common passion among 18 to 34-year-olds – a generation deeply emersed in traditional media – old-line luxury, travel, fintech and other brands are racing into sports and esports to build engagement, brand preference and their own global brand reach. The potential for these brands in both traditional and esports is vast, yet surprisingly untapped.

Crypto.com signed a US$175 million deal with the UFC quickly after signing a US$100 million deal with Formula 1. More recently, the Singapore-based exchange platform has agreed a US$700 million deal, over 20 years, to rebrand the 20,000-seat Lose Angeles Staples Centre, home of the Lakers. On the luxury brand side, Louis Vuitton entered a creative partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA) back in 2020 which has seen the brand produce a bespoke Trophy Travel Case, doubledoor wardrobe trunk stamped with dual iconography, and a debut capsule collection comprising of limited-edition clothing, leather goods, accessories, and shoes, each at the intersection of French craftsmanship and American Sports.

INCREASED CELEBRITY INVESTMENT AND INVOLVEMENT IN ESPORTS

What once may have been dismissed as a fringe hobby – watching others play video games – is now a mainstream source of entertainment and is growing rapidly. As a result, the esports industry has the potential to garner even more attention from celebrities, athletes, and high-networth individuals than it already has thus far as its rapid growth, the vast amounts of money and exposure at stake, has attracted a great amount of interest from investors who want to get in on the action.

Even before this year, several big names were already investing into esports and Sports Entertainment companies and teams, including celebrities, athletes, and team owners from traditional sports. Among them, Michael Jordan, Will Smith, Drake, Mike Tyson, Shaquille O’Neal, Jennifer Lopez, Fernando Alonso, Christian Fuchs.

As gaming pushes even further into mainstream media consumption, this is a trend that can be expected to continue. Sponsorship revenue could be the biggest moneymaker in esports in the coming year, potentially accounting for more than 30 per cent of its total revenue, meaning the benefits of being involved in the esports market are becoming substantial and more like traditional sports.

DATA COULD FUEL NEW FORMS OF REVENUE

Just as data drove the explosive growth in digital advertising, data could unlock massive new revenue streams in sports and esports. Technological developments within the sports data industry, and more widely, are creating opportunities for exploitation, generating more data that can be exploited and pose additional challenges to overcome. The global sports technology market was valued at US$17.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach US$40,.2 billion by 2026. Some of the new technological developments seen over recent years include increasingly sophisticated sports data analytics, smart stadiums, wearable devices and the use of drones.

From third-party betting and fantasy platforms like FanDual and Draft Kings to first-party data such as the PFL’s ‘SmartCage Technology’ in MMA, data could help fans to evaluate player performance as well as earn revenue from their fandom, increasing engagement and participation.

Today’s younger fan understands metadata and loves data interaction on their digital devices. If sports and gaming move to an ARPU (the amount of revenue generated by a user across a specific period of time) and lifetime value model, data will be the driver of stickiness. Organisations that leverage data will simply do better at keeping and engaging fans. The smartest gaming and sports brands will share the new monetisation pool with their biggest fans.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ATHLETES

Many professional athletes across North America obtained a university education and career thanks to educational institutions creating opportunities through athletic teams that award scholarships or financial support. However, in Europe this has not always been the case.

Statistics showing that one in two former professional athletes do not feel in control of their life two years post retirement, 70 per cent of professional athletes being unable to choose when they stop playing sport, and 54 per cent of former professional athletes reporting financial difficulties five years post retirement. These figures and shared experiences have drawn increased attention to the realisation for elite-level athletes that their sporting career can be cut short through injury at any time, coupled with the length of a career as an athlete as opposed to other injuries has led to an increased focused on exploring dual career opportunities.

FOCUS ON EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

This comes down to the ability of leadership to acquire, develop, and retain top talent organically through creating a cultural environment of high-performance. An environment that’s not just seen from the inside, but from the outside looking in. According to insurance firm, Wilson Towers Watson, the pandemic has placed some major roadblocks in front of any organisations ability to focus on employee experience with 56 per cent of employees working fully remotely or in a hybrid model, up from just 9 per cent three years ago. Nearly half of organisations have cut people or hours, while 44 per cent of companies have restructured in some way – 36 per cent being major transformations. This has been visible evident in the number of senior executives and sports professionals who have sought a move – not to mention major changes in leadership from some of the biggest sports clubs and governing bodies.

POLITICAL FOOTBALLS

The Winter Olympics in Beijing and the football World Cup in Qatar will be reminders of how sport can bring the world together – but also how big sporting events often end up being political footballs. Expect protests directed at both host countries, though boycotts by national teams seem unlikely at this moment in time.

THE RISE IN NFT’S

Gone are the days when a sports buff walks into a store, buys a pack of Topps trading cards and stumbles upon a one-of-a-kind baseball collectible. Today’s card collectors have shifted their attention – and disposable income – to sports non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, that offer proof of unique ownership of a video, photo, audio snippet or other digital capture of an important moment in sports history.

The popularity of sports NFTs has exploded in recent years, and people who sell the digital memorabilia say 2021 is just the tipoff.

The value of the broader NFT market is forecast to grow to US$75 billion by 2025, from about US$14 billion today, with much of the growth driven by the boom in sports NFT products, investment bank Jefferies said in a recent research note. One of the biggest sports NFT marketplaces, Dapper Labs, saw its annual sales nearly double to US$700 million last year from US$361 million in 2019.

Dapper Labs has also cooperated with the National Basketball League to establish a well-known sport related NFT applications, named NBA Top Shot. This provides the marketplace for the fans to purchase and sell highlight video clips of top-class basketball games. These reels are coupled with NBA-licensed digital items. These licenses mean the owner may not have the right to reproduce of get profit from the clips but can own a license to use, copy and display these highlight clips. The platform has successfully satisfied the fan’s demand of buying and collecting athletes’ valuable belongings. NBA Top Shot has received around US$500 million in sales, as of September 2021.

Another notable NFT project aimed at collectible features is Sorare, the innovative marriage of sport, gaming, and blockchain. Sorare is a global fantasy football game where users can acquire the role of managers to buy and sell footballers in their team. Sorare has cooperated with more than 100 world renowned football clubs such as Liverpool FC, Real Madrid CF and Bayern Munich, as well as players from the MLS Players Associations to bring these players to its platform through a licensing agreement. In Sorare, the participants can not only buy and sell the digital player cards but also build a team and get the reward based on real performances through a fantasy league.

Another major player: Chiliz (Socios.com), the leading provider of blockchain-driven Fan Engagement solutions for the sports and entertainment industry are the creators of Fan Tokens and the Socios.com fan engagement app, providing access to voting rights, VIP rewards, AR-enabled features, games, and competitions for over 100 major global leading sports organisations with whom it has partnered. Chiliz partners include FC Barcelona, Juventus, Paris SaintGermain, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Arsenal, the Argentina and Portugal national football teams. In addition to football, their roster also includes the UFA and big names from F1, NBA, NHL, esports and cricket.

At the end of October, Serie A giants AC Milan became their first partner to launch a live ‘in game’ NFT. In the 25th minute of their clash with Roma on October 31, centre forward Zlatan Ibrahimović claimed his third goal of the campaign with a free kick outside the area. As the striker’s teammates flocked to congratulate him, the moment was captured by a photographer and subsequently transformed into 100 limited edition NFTs.

Sales of sports NFTs are poised to continue to grow exponentially into 2022, largely driven by individual athletes launching their own collectibles, separate from what teams or leagues are doing. For example, NBA stars Zion Williamson and LeBron James have offered NFTs that sold for more than US$100 million each. Williamson’s NFT is a video clip of him blocking an opposing player’s shot, sending the ball into the stands at the Smoothie King Centre in New Orleans. James’ NFT is a video clip of him reverse-windmilling a dunk at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles.

PATHWAY TO NET ZERO

According to an IPCC definition, net zero carbon emissions is achieved when ‘anthropogenic (man-made) greenhouse gas emissions are balanced globally by anthropogenic removals over a specific period’. It can also be termed ‘carbon neutral’.

This can be done, mainly, through two means: reducing the amount of emissions your organisation produces compared to a predetermined baseline, or through the acquisition of carbon offsets that balance out the emissions caused by your organisation through an investment in projects that sequester or prevent the same amount of emissions – for example, renewable energy projects.

However, the term net zero is not without controversy. Renowned climate activist Greta Thunberg famously derided the term, claiming that nations and corporations should be aiming for ‘real zero’ and to forget about ‘planting trees’.

Indeed, Thunberg’s comments build on several critiques of the net zero system: that the time horizons referenced by most organisations (2030 or event 2050) are too distant and betray the real sense of urgency; that cashrich organisations can throw money at offsets without making any meaningful carbon reductions; even that the world ‘net’ is unhelpful.

But as long as athletes and spectators travel to compete in and attend sporting events, venues are built and upgraded, and merchandise is produced and sold alongside food and beverage offerings, the sports sector will always have a carbon footprint. While net zero may have its flaws it’s the direction that the world, and sport, is currently working towards.

Sports leaders must ‘create a new standard’ on sustainability when adding extra events to the calendar and continue to reduce their own carbon footprint wherever possible – whether that be using technological innovation when building new facilities or reducing the impact on travel emissions.

There are many great examples of how this has been put into practice, notably Sky and Tottenham Hotspurs partnership for the first major net zero carbon football game in September, Formula One’s zero waste and sustainable fuel introduction, the European Tour’s ‘no more bottle’s’ approach, and the establishment of sports such as Extreme E. However, there are also a number of counter intuitive proposals, such as FIFA’s plans for a major international tournament every summer, which do not appear of face value to be in the spirit of reducing sport’s carbon footprint. Moving into 2022, sports organisations across the globe can be expected to develop a heavier focus on their responsibility to the environment as a means to not be shown up by competitors and strive for the goals they have set for the end of the decade.

MPWR SPORTS APP REVOLUTIONISING PLAYER CARE, EDUCATION AND SUPPORT

MPWR Sports is a revolutionary AI driven player care, safeguarding, education and support platform serving elite, professional, college and school athletes. They empower players with tools to establish character and resilience, which in turn deliver world class results.

The MPWR App offers individuals a 24/7 digital companion with interactive content, support, solutions and care to develop mental resilience. This unique triage system and technology enhances and bridges the gap between the great in-person work carried out at the club and when the player is at risk either at home, on international duty, on loan or on holiday. The MPWR app never sleeps and becomes a natural extension of the club. There are support apps for staff, families, and host families as part of MPWR’s human first approach to resilience. MPWR protects and reduces risk for their partners biggest assets and allows athletes and students to perform at their best in and out of the sporting arena. As an early stage business MPWR has already developed some significant partnerships and is developing further partnerships with domestic and international sports organisations across all sporting codes. MPWR co-founders Mark and Nicola McCalliog have extensive experience in the world of sport and education. They know all too well that despite being some of the most valuable assets in the world, modern athletes and students are also some of the most vulnerable. Pressure from all aspects of their lives can impact on performance and life in general.

They are on a mission to change this culture and to make sure mental resilience support is available to all and seen as a strength to build character and to succeed in sport and life.