Selling Sports

Entire industries and legions of smart people are dedicated to attraction and extraction – that is, drawing our attention, and money from our pockets. Some sells are easier than others. Think, anything related to Taylor Swift at one end of the spectrum and Afghan vacation time-shares on the other. 

Sports are a reliable draw. First-world country, leisure time, disposable income, and all that. Tastes have shifted over time – sixty years ago, the country’s major sports were baseball, boxing and horse racing – but overall Americans love us some games and those who excel at them. 

Present and future taffy pulls are about which sports folks find appealing, how they choose to engage, and how invested they are, since there are only so many hours in a day and dollars in accounts. A recent survey suggests that viewing habits and engagement are changing the way people connect with sports. A Norwegian-based outfit called Vizrt commissioned a study of thousands of sports fans across the U.S. and United Kingdom and found that only 58 percent of Generation Z’ers watch live sports from start to finish. Sixty-seven percent of Gen Z’ers surveyed prefer to watch sports on their phones while doing other things, compared to 54 percent of Millenials and only 23 percent of Gen X’ers. 

Many respondents across all demographics said that watching live is their preferred method for experiencing sports, but that all were watching full matches and games less frequently. (For ID purposes, Gen Z’ers, also known as Zoomers, are those born from the mid-1990s to 2010; Millennials or Gen Y were born from 1981-95, Gen X’ers from 1965-80, and Baby Boomers from 1946-64.) 

Other survey results: 74 percent of Gen Z’ers get most of their sports content from social media, another blast at traditional media. Seventy-nine percent of respondents said they were more likely to watch sports broadcasts that included such things as augmented reality (AR) graphics, virtual studios, live data analysis and enhanced replay. For example, using virtual sets in sports commentary enhances the viewing experience for 65 percent of Millennials. Sixty-three percent of Gen Z respondents said they were more likely to watch longer if virtual elements were used, and 57 percent of all respondents said they were likely to watch longer. Twenty-nine percent said they’d be more inclined to watch future broadcasts by certain outfits or studios if they knew snazzy graphics and virtual elements are used. In other words, many sports fans want nothing to do with nine innings of Braves-Marlins, but if you can drop them virtually into a Wembenyama fast break or a Pulisic dash into the box or Verstappen at Monaco, now we’re talking. 

All of this is in Vizrt’s wheelhouse. The company’s name is short for Visualization in Real Time, and it creates content production and tools for digital media, 3D graphics and maps, visual analysis and media management. As much as they thought they were well positioned for the future, even they were a little surprised by the survey results. 

“The data that came back on the importance of an immersive experience using additional graphics for audiences was astonishing. It’s clear (that) enhanced visuals and graphics are vital for capturing the attention of younger viewers and enhancing their engagement,” said Vizrt exec Andy O’Neil in a release accompanying the survey. “Millenials and Gen Z desire shorter, engaging content that they can consume on the go. They expect augmented reality graphics, real-time data, and exciting analysis to enhance their immersion in the game, and any broadcaster not considering these elements within their content is already falling behind.” 

Visual bells and whistles dovetail nicely with another pillar in the fan engagement playbook: gambling. If one has a little skin in the game, one is more likely to pay attention to the game. At last count, 33 states and the District of Columbia have legalized sports betting, and 24 states permit online betting. Sites such as FanDuel and Draft Kings are partners with major leagues and specific teams and media outfits. Any site worth its pixels has an app. With youngsters (and some oldsters) increasingly tied to their phones and mobile devices, wagering is easy. Winning, less so. 

Some folks, such as YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, are trying to tap into the instant gratification, social media angle with sports betting. Paul and his partner launched Betr, a site devoted to micro-betting – moment-to-moment wagering, next at-bat, next drive, next shot, next pass, etc. He raised approximately $50 million in start-up funding and said he wanted to create a “TikTokification of gambling,” where betting is like scrolling through videos. He might just do it. 

A J.P. Morgan study guesstimated that $9 billion per year will be spent on U.S. sports gambling by 2025, with almost $7 billion of that on micro-betting and game-in-play wagering. As a baby boomer of limited vision, I have no idea what sports or fandom will look like 10 or 20 years from now. I hope the landscape isn’t littered with the tech enslaved or dispirited souls who view sports through the lens of profit and loss and have no appreciation for the time and toil expended on their diversions. I don’t need augmented reality or a financial stake, but the numbers say I’m a vanishing breed. Some athletes and matchups will draw my attention regardless, while others will remain a tough sell and a hard pass. Though I hear Kabul is lovely in the Spring.