Data and innovative technologies have been a driving force in the sporting world for years now, as businesses, teams and individuals have been taking advantage of tools to help them get to the top of their game.
This has driven a new era of sports innovation, which has been further propelled over the past few years due to the pandemic and rapid technological advancements. The result is a transformation of the world of sport, which is improving the fan experience while driving profitability too.
Driving profitability
We are now able to drive new revenue streams for sports businesses through new sponsorship opportunities, as well as increase sales within a sports venue and create ecommerce opportunities. Our technology is transforming how sports organisations plan, operate, make decisions, and compete in the digital world.
As a result of data insights, more tailored sponsorship packages can be developed, targeting the right audiences at the right time. For some sports, such as golf, fans will only ever see a small portion of the footage that is shot. For example, at The Open, only 5% of the footage shot is currently viewed. This enables a huge opportunity to open up the availability of that footage to fans to follow their favourite player around the course, alongside personalised data analytics. This presents more sponsorship opportunities and enables fans to get closer to the action. In addition, it creates more options for media and digital rights management.
Our in-venue data insights and analytics alongside tracking technologies and other innovative hardware implementations enable digital ticketing, better staff resourcing, improved stock level control, optimisation of crowd management, the creation of ecommerce opportunities, and increased sales within a stadium.
Getting Back2BigEvents
Another application of game-changing innovation can be seen in our Back2BigEvents offering, which combines three innovative technologies: BioBarcode, Indoor Navigation and Contact Tracing with Tracking to enable live events to be operated safely, securely, efficiently, and crucially, within regulations.
The solution was initially developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to enable stadiums to offer their fans a carefree sports experience while ensuring compliance with applicable rules and recommendations. The technologies are now propelling stadiums into the future, delivering benefits for them and the fans.
Beyond the pandemic, this new offering ensures a future that is more secure, more efficient and which provides the ability to create a personalised experience for fans based on their location in the venue for example.
Fans can retrieve stadium access authorisation via their smartphone. When purchasing a personalised ticket, fans provide an identity check, validate their ticket and, if required, confirm their health status. When it then comes to the match day, all that is required is a comparison of the biometric ticket with a selfie taken at the venue – an efficient, simple and secure access to the sporting event.
Once in the venue, the stadium app tracks fans. This aids with crowd management, provides guidance on the nearest facilities or exits and can even offer tailored information or offers based on location in a venue and what they are near.
The future of sport at The World Football Summit
We’re bringing this expertise alongside real-life examples of how data analytics and innovative technologies are shaping the future of sport to this year’s World Football Summit - the international event of the football industry which gathers the most influential professionals to discuss the most relevant topics and generate business opportunities.
During the two-day event, we’ll be hosting a panel discussion on ‘Digitalisation, innovation and the future of sports businesses’, in which attendees will learn more about the benefits of digital processes for sponsorship relationship management and game operations in COVID and post-COVID times.
As part of this discussion, clients who have undertaken this journey will share the challenges they faced and insights from their experience, and the discussion will also touch upon the future of sports businesses and the importance and impact of innovation.