In-home or in-stadia: and how covid has changed sports' landscape.

The current sporting landscape is beholden to greater cultural and technological phenomena. With the rise of cord-cutting and an increasing digitisation of the modern world, sport has never needed to fight harder to keep its place in the world. The global pandemic, where sport had to adapt to a world of bubbles, events behind closed doors and social distancing protocols, add complexity to an industry already at a critical juncture. By looking at the trends in sporting viewership in-home and in-stadia and comparing the ways in which sports have dealt with the coronavirus, one can better understand the ways in which the sporting landscape is set to evolve in the coming years.

Within the last year, we have seen the shift of sports entertainment go from being a social event we spend time with our loved ones and friends, to something that has been limited to an activity to enjoy within your household. This was a necessary change as COVID-19 puts not only sports fans at risk, but the athletes and all workers who come together to put on the event. Although this pandemic has challenged the sports industry in a multitude of areas with their guidelines, technological advancements have been utilised more so than ever in order for sports fans to relive the experience of pre-pandemic days with the same sporting events they know and love, all while remaining from the comfort and safety of their home. One example of innovation to recuperate with this major gap in sports culture is the virtual reality (VR) experience. VR is a simple solution to attend and watch the sporting event of your choice from the stands. One of the greatest advantages is being able to have the convenience to get decent seating without having to break your bank. National Basketball Association (NBA) tickets can go for multiple thousands of dollars for a courtside seat (Christy, 2017). However, with a purchase of a NBA league pass subscription, fans can enjoy the same event for a steal.

In addition to technological advancements, we are seeing a cultural shift in the values and tendencies of potential young consumers of sports. Younger generations are likely to turn away from attending sports events and alternatively use smart devices which could offer them the flexibility and the power to use the internet so that it can satisfy their curiosity, needs and demands to acquire information quickly from home. This generation loves to multi-task and are becoming engaged in new innovative ways such as using “dual screens” to watch live games while at the same time using the internet to look at player stats, check their fantasy league, and see behind the scene clips on social media (YPulse Inc., 2020). They are also finding alternatives to watching full-on games in a fraction of the time through quick highlight videos easily accessible with a single google search minutes after the game finishes. While this trend of demanding digital natives seems positive for those interested in sports, this phenomena is somewhat worrisome for the future of sports fandom.

69% of Millenials identify as sports fans, while only 53% of Generation Z identify as one. It was also shown that Generation Z is half as likely to watch live sports compared to Millennials, and twice as likely to never watch (Silverman, 2020). Surveys have shown that Generation Z’s most common pastimes tend to be more aligned to digitally friendly mediums such as movies, music, and other forms of pop-culture, with sports ranking behind (Maese, 2020). Generation Z’s short attention span, in combination to the accessibility to all sorts of alternative pastimes, are reason to believe that their lack of engagement with the sport-viewing culture is damaged. The conditions the pandemic has obstructed has made it even more difficult for the younger generation to play sports generally, pushing them to find other hobbies which would fit COVID-19 guidelines.

In contrast, in-stadia viewership, prior to the advent of the pandemic, was going through a sea change of its own to compete with in-home viewing, as well as to compete with other options for a ‘night out’, such as movies and other entertainment options. According to a Deloitte report, the primary change in in-stadia viewership through the digital age is to go from the traditional viewing experience, where one would buy a ticket to go see the sporting event playing out in front of them, to an immersive, multi-screen event that captures fan engagement at all times. This means having updates on attendees’ phones during plays, large screens all over the stadiums to show replays and content, and even capturing fan attention during breaks, by having loud music playing, halftime shows, contests, giveaways and activities to do in the stadium outside of watching the sport itself. This holds the added benefit of attracting fans who are not die-hard fans of the sport itself. By creating events and attractions outside of the game, such as halftime shows with famous celebrities, the sporting event serves as a gathering of people to celebrate in general, almost making the sport a part of the celebration as a whole, rather than the center of it.

Another option suggested to improve fan experience was to digitise most processes of getting into the stadium, watching the game, et cetera. By allowing easy ticket buying options, not needing to print out tickets, using apps to give updates and sync fantasy and in-stadia experience, as well as linking concessions to the digital experience, a fan does not need to worry about how to access his or her entertainment, which is instead provided through a digital pathway. Furthermore, technology can be used to enhance the viewing experience through ideas such as VR and augmented reality, which allow the viewer to see graphics typically only saved for TV viewership live on their eyepieces or phones. While these are not commonplace right now, they are gaining in popularity and becoming cheaper to manufacture as technology develops. Allowing fans a better view is also something that stadium officials have been working on. Hollywood Park, for example, has used technology to allow a 360° view of the stadium, allowing someone a full view of the action from anywhere on the field. Lastly, in more traditional sporting landscapes, like the UK, where gimmicks are generally avoided in sport, they use technology to give viewers access to TV and radio commentary, with headsets available to the public to listen to commentary during the game.

Improving transportation is another key area of concern for event organisers. By improving networks during gamedays, fans, who do not like to wait in long lines or have to spend a lot of time and money getting to and fro from the stadium, are given the opportunity to access games faster. This reduces the likelihood of people deciding to just stay home and watch games in the comfort of their own homes due to the effort of having to navigate through complicated transport systems. This ties hand in hand with better scheduling, and smarter scheduling. By using big data, games can be scheduled in ways that best suit timings for fans, on the days that they are most likely to attend games, making the games suitable for the most number of people. Furthermore, around the world, organisers have driven fandom through partnerships with businesses. Corporate boxes continue to provide revenue for stadiums and teams. The corporate experience is not something that can be replicated in-home, and is thus an extremely potent sector for organisers to focus on in improving their in-stadium experience.

In the current climate, depending on the region one is in, attitudes towards coronavirus differ greatly. Some are keen to finally get out of the house, and experience life unchained by social distancing protocols, whereas others remain more cautious. Live sporting events were amongst the first to be called off, when COVID-19 hit, and remain a source of fear for people. Furthermore, due to the loud, cramped and often maskless nature of these events, there is a legitimate concern as to the safety of having crowds. Several countries, however, have had major crowds at sporting events since COVID-19 hit, with Ahmedabad’s Motera Stadium hosting 110,000 spectators at a recent cricket match. In the United States, leagues will have to go the extra mile to prove to fans that their stadiums are safe and that returning to sport is risk-free. This will be done by first having limited seating, with sanitation protocols and compulsory mask wearing. As time wears on, and as vaccine rollouts get further along, these limits will be raised to allow more people, but the gradual nature of this exercise will help fans feel more comfortable. There is the idea that the public, locked away at home for too long, may throng to events once they open, which may see a surge in interest for in-person attendance, but I feel that in the long term, the coronavirus has made people used the idea of enjoying content from their homes, and it will be a boost for in-home viewing. As the digital experience gets more and more pronounced, with higher levels of sophistication for in-home viewing more and more customised for each individual viewer, the in-stadium experience will start to fade slightly, which is not an indictment to the popularity of any one given sport, but rather a sign of the times.