Global Sports Technology Market

Sports Technology Market: Insights

Sports technology combines engineering, data collection and analysis, and sports science to analyze player performance, enforce rules of the sports in real-time, and improve the experience of the audience. In recent years, technological advancements like the Internet of Things (IoT), data collection, data analysis, and social media have led to the growth of the sports technology market. Sports technology has been used extensively to collect various data on player performance indicators and to help on-field referees and judges to enforce the rules of the sports with minimal errors. Sports technology has also resulted in a change in the experience of both fans within the stadium or arena and fans who are watching from home or outside the arena. Stadiums have been upgraded through digitization to provide new features and better audience engagement and audience entertainment. The growing adoption of such technology within arenas is also expected to increase the demand for sports technology during the forecast period. The technology sector is constantly evolving and releasing new technologies that can improve player performance analysis and audience engagement as well improving the officiating by the officials in real-time. The growing need for improved technology in modern sports is another major driver of the sports technology market. Professional sports leagues are increasing globally as more and more people are turning to sports for entertainment. With women’s sports gaining interest and various women’s professional leagues coming up in many countries, the growing number of sports enthusiasts and the growing professional leagues are only expected to improve the demand for sports technology in the coming years. Associations and club owners are increasingly investing in marketing, operations, and sales activities of the arena and the clubs to improve their revenue streams. They are investing and heavily adopting new technologies like smart stadium features, digital signboards, wearable devices, and data analytics. The main authority for football, FIFA, approved the use of wearables in-game top track player data in 2018. The International Football Association Board approved using goal-line technology to monitor whether the ball has completely gone past the goal lines during a match. The on-field referee is alerted to the crossing of the ball past the goal line through a wearable smartwatch. This technology was approved in 2012 and has been in use since the FIFA World Cup of 2104. Similarly in cricket as well, various technologies like the Hawkeye system, Decision Review System, Spidercam, Snickometer, among others have been implemented. Some of these technologies have also been used in other sports. The Hawkeye system has been used in tennis, volleyball, football, rugby, and other sports to predict and track the trajectory of the ball in motion. There has also been growing viewership for Esports like League of Legends competitions in Europe, PUBG Mobile World League, EA Sports’ FIFA tournaments, among other Esports. The growing adoption of sports technology to create new arenas and retrofit exist arenas to suit the needs of the growing esports market is also expected to increase the demand for sports technology. The sports technology market has been hampered by the restrictions imposed by COVID 19 on sporting events. Various sporting events like the Tokyo Olympics being postponed to later dates have led to a fall in the market for sports technologies.

Sports Technology Market: By Technology

Based on the various technologies used, the sports technologies market can be segmented into devices, smart stadiums, analytics and statistics, and esports. The smart stadium segment is expected to hold the lion’s share of the market during the forecast period. Smart stadium technologies allow stadium owners to improve revenues through more improving audience experience, increased ticket prices for premium features, and automating various aspects of stadium control that allow them to save on costs. Smart stadium technologies include cameras, digital signboards, food concession lines, ticketing management, parking management, and other technologies that can improve the overall efficiency of the stadium. The software segment of smart stadiums is expected to hold the dominant share of the market during the forecast period. Stadium enhancement is very cost-intensive, they require heavy investments which has led to the dominance of this segment.

Sports Technology Market: By Sports

Based on the type of sports, the sports technology market can be segmented into American football/rugby, baseball, basketball, cricket, golf, ice hockey, tennis, soccer, and others. The soccer segment is expected to hold the dominant share of the market during the forecast period. Soccer tournaments and events are some of the most-watched sporting events in the world. With soccer governing bodies like FIFA and IFAB approving the use of various player performance tracking devices that can be present in the players’ boots are expected to increase the demand for sports technology in soccer. Along with player performance analysis, governing bodies are also utilizing new technology-based decision systems like the goal-line technology and video assistant referee (VAR) to facilitate the decision-making process of on-field referees. The basketball segment is expected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period. The National Basketball Association of the United States of America has begun increasingly investing in the adoption of wearables, mobile apps, data analytics, and other technologies in recent years. In 2020, every team involved in the NBA tournament had a dedicated analytics team that looked at player data to enhance the performance of players. Arenas used for NBA matches are also experimenting with Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) to improve the experience of audiences both in the arenas as well as those viewing from homes.

Sports Technology Market: By Region

The European region held the lion’s share of the market during the forecast period. The soccer or football leagues in Europe are some of the most widely watched sports leagues in the world. These leagues bring in a lot of revenue from fans and have invested heavily in sports technologies to improve both stadiums and data analytics. Along with top-tier teams, the European region has various tiers of local clubs who all have massive followings especially within the locality and many have their own stadiums which have increased the demand for sports technology in the region. The APAC region is expected to register the fastest growth rate during the forecast period. Japan was meant to host the now canceled Tokyo Olympics in 2020, in preparation the country had invested heavily in improving its stadiums and infrastructure to support the match-going fans. The growing number of sports leagues within the region and the increased following for various sports are also expected to increase the demand for sports technology in the region.

Sports Technology Market: Share & Competitor Analysis

Apple Inc., SAP SE, Cisco Systems Inc., HCL Technologies Ltd., Oracle, IBM Corp., ChyronHego Corp., Modern Times Group MTG, Panasonic Corp., Sony Corp., Stats LLC, Infosys Ltd.,Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, among others, are the major vendors competing in the sports technology market.

Please note: This is not an exhaustive list of companies profiled in the report.