Hype Sports Innovation, a global platform which facilitates connections and investments among sports technology startups, brands, academies and investors, and EY Israel announced the results of the most extensive survey on Global Sports Innovation to date. The survey sought to answer the following questions: What are the hottest sports in terms of growth and innovation? What are the innovation/ technology segments that will be most impactful on sports?
The reviewd innovation segments included: AR/VR, Fan Engagement, Media and Broadcasting, Performance and Analytics, Player’s Health and Safety, Smarts Stadiums, Training and Coaching and Wearable. The survey assessed the innovation segments against these sports: American Football, Basketball, Football, Baseball, Motor Sports, Extreme Sports, Tennis, Golf, Recreation, Ice Hockey, Rugby and Cricket.
The survey, which received over 400 responses from sports leaders and executives, identified a direct correlation between “a variety of sports sectors and various innovation segments”. The survey also helped to identify which sports are likely to be successful and which are expected to struggle.
The survey was conducted at a key time, according to Dr. Ilan Hadar, partner and Chief Innovation Officer at HYPE Sports Innovation, who said, “The entire sports ecosystem is undergoing a remarkable technology and innovation renaissance over the past several years.” Consumers now expect a technologically savvy sports business model to match their rapidly evolving preferences.
“We believe the valuable results in this survey will not only support high-return investments in sports innovations, but also create a meaningful impact across the entire field of sports,” expressed Dr. Ilan Hader.
The results of the survey ranked Football, Basketball, and Soccer as the elite sports having relatively high scores in both growth potential and innovation levels. This means that a startup or investor looking to invest in these sports needs to be fairly advanced and technologically savvy to be successful, but in turn the potential to achieve greater rewards is greater.
Ice hockey, rugby and cricket were identified as low innovation sports. Further analysis suggested that some sports may be susceptible to decline if they do not innovate such as baseball, golf, and tennis. These sports shared some common attributes such as: being slow, short action periods, and many intermissions.
AR/VR, Fan Engagement and Performance Analytics were the three innovation segments expected to have the most influence on sports with particular impact on player performance and fan engagement.
