How Technology is Revolutionizing the Sports Industry

Sports has been existent in humans’ lives for years and it has also evolved over the years. Today, the world is going through a digital transformation journey that was fast-tracked by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This journey has seen technology be involved in most sectors. Sports is also not an exception in this digital transformation journey.

Whether it is tracking scores, preventing injuries, increasing fan engagement, or analyzing the validity of plays and goals, there are many ways that technology in the sports industry is changing the game. Here we look at a few examples of how age-old sports are getting modern with high-tech revamps.

Wearable Technology

Gone are the days when feeble human eyes had to make judgements in sports evaluations. Thanks to the rise of everything from GPS trackers to RFID chips, sports officials can calculate scores with instant, impartial, and quantifiable data.

There are many types of wearable technology in sports. Smart watches like Fitbit are popular with both professional athletes and amateur fitness buffs, and they’re suitable for a wide range of activities that can make use of calorie, step, distance, pulse, and heart rate tracking.

Sensors

These are the driving force behind technology in sports equipment and athletic gear. Sensors can be worn by athletes or built into their shoes and clothing. Depending on their unique functionality, sensors can be used for everything from tracking health and biometrics to delivering real time results to scoreboards.

Fan Engagement

The best fan experience in sports is a fully engaged one, and teams have started employing a variety of strategies to increase the energy and excitement of their most devoted.

For instance, loyalty programs have been quite popular for sports fans. They offer all kinds of perks and privileges for those who regularly support their teams. We’ve seen many organizations are experimenting with high-tech rewards in the form of blockchain and tokenization programs that can be used as currency.

In the sports world today, digital fan engagement is on the rise.

Instant Replay

Instant replay is an example of the remarkable technology being used in sports today. With this technology, officials are able to slow down and reexamine what happened during a play, which provides a much-needed second perspective for controversial sports moments.

Instant replay is used in games like baseball, football, cricket, rugby and soccer. It’s even used in combat sports and mixed martial arts. Instant replay is also common to see in video games based on sports where high-def videos and commentary can create immersive, lifelike experiences for players.

Sensor Tools

When administering and officiating sports, technology can succeed where humans may not. This guarantees fair judgment of the performance and ensures that athletes win fairly.

Sensor tools are often used to analyze whether a goal is valid. They’re also used in cases where the naked eye cannot truly tell if a ball went past the goal line or if a player committed a foul or other offense.

Different sports use varying sensor tools.

Timing Systems

Nobody uses a stopwatch when timing a race anymore. This means that differences in reaction time no longer affect the precision and consistency of a racing event.

Some sports wearable technology companies have created products to help with the accuracy of in-game timing and record keeping. The athletes will wear special clothing or accessories to track their motion and speed. Other times, timing tools are built into the venues themselves, or they’re utilized in systems within venues.