Sports Technology: Making Sports More Entertaining
The sports technology market is expected to grow to US$74.390 billion in value by 2027, up from US$16.196 billion in 2020 at a compound annual growth rate of 24.33% during the projected period.
Sports technologies are man-made gadgets and systems created to enhance a person’s interests or objectives in or related to a specific sport. Furthermore, in sports, this technology is an operational technique that athletes use to try and improve their practice and performance environments in order to increase their general athletic efficiency. Sports engineering, which is always improving, has assisted various sports in overcoming the constraints of physical skill. A growing number of athletes feel compelled to attain a competitive edge in their particular sports as well as find it easier to excel due to the intricate speed and evaluation provided by these technologies. Sports productivity evaluation, precise time monitoring, information capture, outcome communication, rapid replay panels, digitized sportswear, and health therapy systems and equipment are some of the ways that various technologies are incorporated into sports.
With the use of advanced and complex cameras, sports productivity evaluation is now accessible, allowing coaches to identify even the smallest errors. Additionally, it has resulted in a significant improvement in the standard of the feedback intended for athletes. The use of precise time monitoring devices has made it much simpler to reduce a variety of conflicts while maintaining measurement accuracy. In particular, for extremely crucial factors required for success in precision sports, like judgment accuracy. It has been much smoother to gather data and verify reliability with the aid of advanced technological tools like application charts. Since incorporating information technology into sports, data collection on training, engagement, endurance, recuperation, and more have become extremely comprehensive and accurate. The framework of repetition and uniformity systems and recording devices has significantly improved measurement reliability.
Measurement mistakes in data collecting have also become minimal due to the development of cutting-edge technology gadgets like acceleration sensors and Navigation system. Sports officials now commit considerably fewer errors and poor decisions due to rapid replay technologies. This technique makes use of the triangulation principle by analyzing the visual pictures and time information captured by high-speed video cameras and provides accurate information that can be missed by the naked eye. The locations of these cameras are chosen so that any viewpoint will disclose the ball’s route in games like cricket, basketball and football. The optimal numbers of cameras set up depend on the playing field, game rules, and ball size.
The market for sports technology is expected to expand throughout the forecasted period as a result of rising demand for extremely accurate outcomes and the efficiency that technology offers during training and competition.
The past few years have seen an increase in the use of analytics, particularly in the sports industry. Athletes and organizations are now increasingly using sports analytics and evaluators in order to increase player and team effectiveness as well as training efficacy and to interpret data, and market their brands to fans and customers. This is due to advancements in sports and rising competition. Additionally, it is anticipated that increased demand for a variety of technologies, including cellular connection, visual recognition, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, will fuel this market’s expansion. AI offers complex, predictive analysis that can be utilized to improve an athlete’s or a team’s performance in terms of nutrition, conditioning, and performance. During the game, it can assist in determining tactics, approaches, and vulnerability characteristics. Due to its potential to estimate outcomes and simplify and deliver clear results after examining the vast amounts of data generated by each game, the usage of such technology in sports evaluation and data collection has also expanded.
The development of sports technology market has been aided by initiatives undertaken by key firms to collaborate as well as to innovate and improve sports technologies.
The XFL and Catapult Sports, an industry pioneer in providing professional athletes and teams with sports technology solutions, announced their partnership in January 2023. In order to keep players on the field and playing at their best while encouraging health and safety throughout the League, the XFL will make use of Catapult’s cutting-edge wearable technology, which is outfitted with football-specific algorithms. The eight teams in the League will rely on Catapult products like Vector, Thunder, and Scout to help coaches and staffs make better player decisions. The XFL now has access to advanced sports technology due to the new league-wide agreement, ensuring that players stay healthy and deliver their best efforts to the fans. The Vector SaaS technology, the industry’s top athlete monitoring system, gives the teams a wider access to powerful athlete performance data, such as speed, acceleration, and maximum velocity. This data enables staff to make unbiased decisions about athletes, ensuring to maximize their performance, and prevent potentially harmful injuries. In addition, Thunder, Catapult’s video analysis tool for American football, will allow coaches to examine game film, opponent strategy, and practice footage.
Teamworks, a sports technology company based in Durham, North Carolina, completed a second round of acquisitions in January 2023 that expanded the business’ product offering and bring it one step closer to becoming a one-stop shop for academic and athletic performance. With the addition of Smartabase, Retain, Grafted, and NextPlay, Teamworks will have more than 300 people spread across ten different countries, expanding what it refers to as the sports operating system. Along with the company’s prior competencies in team scheduling, communications, nutrition, and other areas crucial for collegiate and professional athletes, the four recently acquired employers offer Teamworks competence in athletic and academic performance.
In January 2023, football performance technology company Playermaker and artificial intelligence (AI) video expert Pixellot collaborated to develop an integrated platform that provides greater in-depth analysis capabilities for trainers and professionals. The AI cameras from Pixellot automatically record live events for television and social media with limited involvement from operators. It ensures that the video streams into analytics systems as algorithms analyze the video to provide automatic metrics like shot charts and heatmaps. With 2.5 million live streams to date, their system can manage 150,000 live games every month from 70 different countries.
The North American market is projected to account for a sizeable portion of the sports technology market over the forecast period.
As a result of the existence of numerous software companies, North America accounts for a sizeable percentage of the global sports technology market. The development of the sports technology market in the region is also anticipated to be aided by the sophisticated league sports culture and expansion of the technology sector over the course of the projected year. Furthermore, Due to the increased usage of wearable performance tracking devices, Europe is predicted to grow significantly throughout the anticipated period and currently maintains sizable market shares for sports technology. Furthermore, it is expected that in the upcoming years, the region’s sports technology market would expand due to the rising demand for smart camera technologies. The peak popularity of sports like football, the existence of some of the most well-known leagues and clubs in Europe, and the extensive use of technology in these sports, particularly Video Assistant Referee (VAR) systems and goal line technologies, have all contributed to the growth of this market in Europe.
