Smarter sport

From performance-tracking wearables to immersive, real-time visualisations during live streaming, a suite of technologies and data tools, including sensors, artificial intelligence, and computer vision, is pushing the boundaries of sports. And it’s not just professional players who benefit – sports technology is also encouraging ordinary people to adopt healthier lifestyles and make the most of their sporting efforts. As part of the consumer shift towards wellbeing, the sports-tech market is forecast to reach USD55.1 billion by 2030, from an estimated USD14.7 billion in 2023.1

The restrictions of the Covid pandemic were, it turns out, one catalyst for the adoption of remote sports analysis technology as elite leagues adopted technologies to keep track of players’ progress and keep fans engaged. During lockdowns, the English Premier League, for instance, used wearable GPS software designed by Northern Ireland-based company STATSports to track players’ remote training, with the ability to view data almost instantly. 

As well as monitoring players’ performances, the software tracked their proximity to each other to ensure they were keeping the approved two metres apart and therefore training safely in pandemic conditions. Now, even as live competitions have resumed, these leagues are retaining the tech. 

Coaches need accurate quantitative data, but manual tracking is labour-intensive, error-prone, and time-consuming, said Maximilian Schmidt, co-founder and managing director of KINEXON Sports, a Munich-based sports analytics company working with clients including FIFA and teams in the NBA.

“When we first started working with professional teams, many of them had collaborations with universities and did lots of tests in a lab environment because reliable data was only available in the lab. Now we can bring the lab to the field.” The progress made by professionals at the top of the game helps companies make these same benefits accessible to everyday consumers, so that the general public can achieve the same fitness training approaches used by elite athletes.

Amateurs represent over 80 per cent of the market for wearables and ever more people across the globe are embracing practices of self-quantification, tracking their habits. Commonly monitored metrics include sleep, heart rate, and diet, but the democratisation of sports data offers opportunities to track more specified metrics tailored to one’s sport of choice. “The key drivers for the adoption of new technology are the availability in terms of cost and ease of use, and the other is a change in consumer behaviour,” says Schmidt. “Whether you play football for Bayern Munich or you’re an amateur player, you’re interested in your performance.”

Sports tech is also thriving among people pursuing healthier lifestyles thanks to improvements in wearable technologies, which have become more discreet, comfortable, and convenient. Companies like ONALABS are developing ways to monitor key biometrics through sweat instead of invasive methods, for instance. While wristwear represents 45 per cent of the wearables market, other devices are growing in popularity as companies develop products with unique factors to allow for tailored monitoring of diverse activities.3 One company, Form Swim, has even built smart goggles with an augmented display telling swimmers about their performance in the water and offering technical advice. 

As well as goggle display, it also sends data to the user's smartphone to review later. “When you’re swimming, you have no real record of what you’re doing, either in the moment or after the workout,” says Form’s founder and CEO Dan Eisenhardt, who hails from a Danish family full of both swimmers and engineers. “So, we thought, what if you had a display in your goggles that could track everything and give you that information in real time, like on a running watch?”

The goggles display performance data through augmented reality, with stats including lap count, distance per stroke, and pace. They can also display training plans to ensure that swimmers maintain the structure of their workout. “The metrics are floating in front of you, so you can consume them as you wish,” says Eisenhardt.

Professionals are a small market for the Vancouver-based company, which instead aims to encourage amateurs to get more invested in swimming. “Professionals already have coaches and know their pace, but when it comes to fitness swimmers, there are at least 10 million people in the US who swim at least once a week and can have a hard time getting access to coaching, so that’s a target market,” says Eisenhardt. The growing accessibility of personalised performance data is empowering amateurs to track, analyse, and improve across a variety of sports and activities, adding sports to the habits that can be monitored as part of the culture shift towards a healthier lifestyle.

Fan experience

Data isn’t just useful for participants, professional or amateur. It adds a new layer to the fan experience that can help to engage sports viewers in more active lifestyles. One example is deeper integration of data within streaming where AI is used in real time to transform data from an ongoing sports event into graphics and visuals, which are then overlaid onto the live feed. “The technology within Sportradar 4Sight is essentially an opportunity to add an additional layer of data visualisation on top of streaming,” says Patrick Mostboeck, Senior Vice President of Fan Engagement at the Swiss sports technology company.

By providing deeper insights and analysis through augmented data visualisations, this technology makes the viewing experience more immersive and engaging. Fans gain improved understanding of the intricacies of the sport, the athleticism required, and real-time performance metrics. This heightened connection can inspire viewers, especially younger audiences, to get more involved in sports and physical activities themselves.

German football’s Bundesliga was among the first to integrate machine learning into the streaming experience, partnering with Amazon Web Services in 2021 to offer machine-learning-powered game statistics and advanced analytics on live feeds. The technology also offers new commercial opportunities in the space of sports advertising and sponsorship as AI insights help to personalise the consumer experience and encourage fans to engage more with sport. “Consuming content and buying goods are moving closer and closer together, and this is driven in part by immersive technology,” says Mr Mostboeck. By blending content, commerce, and calls to action, the streaming technology helps drive audiences not just to watch, but to participate, he says.

Sports data technology doesn't just deepen fan engagement, it also provides regular people with valuable information that can create better awareness and incentives for maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle. "Fans can actually understand how great a kick was or how hard it was for the keeper to save it," says Mr. Schmidt. By quantifying exercise intensity, form, and progress over time, people can better understand what an effective workout looks and feels like. A data-driven approach demystifies fitness and empowers people to take control of their physical goals, becoming a motivating force for adopting and sticking to an exercise routine.