The professional sports industry will continue to face widescale disruption in 2024. Sports clubs, leagues and organisations will be busy trying to retain existing and capture new audiences by enriching their entertainment offering. Progress in artificial intelligence (AI) will give an edge to those that manage to adopt AI-driven solutions in their everyday activities. It is also a year when some of the biggest sports events will capture the imagination of fans and will create a platform for speaking about – and tackling – environmental and social issues.
Sports will continue investing in entertainment offering to keep fans engaged
2024 will further redefine the way fans consume sports, focusing on the broader entertainment experience package that sports can provide. Major clubs turning their venues into entertainment zones that keep fans engaged before and after games is becoming the norm.
In 2023, Manchester City was granted permission to build a year-round entertainment and leisure destination at its Etihad Stadium. Both Spanish football giants, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, have identified the importance of extensive entertainment and commercial spaces in the reconstruction projects of their iconic venues.
It is the digital side of customer engagement that will dictate the pace of change, however. Gaming will further prove to be one of the most attractive fanbase building and maintaining channels, from partnerships with game developers to all things metaverse and virtual leagues that can keep younger fans thinking about sport between the real matches.
In 2023, 73% of global respondents in the 15-29 age group confirmed that they play games involving augmented or virtual reality
Source: Euromonitor International
In response, major leagues and clubs will work to blur the differences between actual sports and their virtual counterpart. In October 2023, Sky Sports trialled a new broadcast set-up for the Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester City – one that provides a similar view perspective to EA Sports FC24 and FIFA video games.
AI will redefine the sports industry, but authentic communication remains key
AI was one of the hot topics in 2023, and in 2024 it should live up to its billing. Sports organisations will be looking to understand the best ways of utilising AI capabilities to interact with and engage fans with personalised content and user journeys.
Advancements in AI also translate into more possibilities in team management, from player scouting to tactics and performance analytics. These developments will inevitably boost the appeal – and value – of sponsorship deals with technology companies – already one of the leading industries among major sports properties in monetary terms. In 2023, technology sponsorships of premium categories in 10 major leagues globally were valued at USD375.6 million per year – 7% of the total value.
While AI will be more and more relied upon in terms of fan interaction, authenticity of communication has probably never been more important. In these times of attention deficit and content overload, impactful sports personalities and celebrities will be able to deliver a stronger message and win the loyalty of fans.
Major events will look to build on sustainability and inclusivity
2024 will spoil sports fans with some of the major events globally, from UEFA EURO 2024 in Germany to the Paris Olympics, where stakeholders will use the occasion to speak about broader social governance, sustainability, and inclusivity issues.
UEFA has pledged to make EURO 2024 the most environmentally sustainable European Championship of all time. Tournament schedules have been built in a way that minimises travel between venue cities, while public transport users will enjoy discounts and other incentives. Sustainability has been declared the major focus area by the International Olympic Committee in the build-up for both the Paris 2024 and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. 
Finally, women’s sport will look to use the Olympics – already lauded as the first ever to achieve full numerical athlete gender parity – to elaborate on the record audiences and success stories of 2023, such as the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 or Coco Gauff’s victory at the US Open. With fan interest on the rise, sponsoring brands should keep a close eye on the event to further understand the value of sustained investment in and sponsorship of women’s games.
Read our article on latest sponsorship trends and key sponsoring industries across major sports leagues, here, and learn more about the value of women’s football sponsorships in our report, Sponsorship in Women’s Football.