5G: Two Letters Could Define the Future of Sports Fan Engagement

When a new technology first appears, we typically don’t have a clue what to do with it or what the possible outcomes could be. 

When electricity was first introduced into factories, it had little impact because managers continued to arrange plants around the power source – a steam turbine – even though steam turbines were redundant due to electricity. Only when a new generation of management realized that electric power allowed them to design factories around workflow did productivity soar. The Internet was invented in the late 1960’s, but didn’t take off until the 90’s due to Tim Berners-Lee creating the HTML protocol in 1990, and, in turn, the subsequent launch of the Netscape browser. Likewise, when Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in his dorm room, he wanted to create "an online directory that connects people through universities and colleges”. Jack Dorsey admitted that he did not know what Twitter “actually was”. Fast forward a decade later, and the two social media giants are being blamed for the downfall of the democratic process, aiding Brexit as well as the rise of Kim Kardashian. Not quite what Jack and Mark intended, I dare say.

There is something else being launch in 2019 that is likely to have a profound effect on the world, and, in turn, on sports. What is that? 5G.

5g is a Network

Arguably the world’s first (road) network was created ca. 4000B, other notable network improvements include railways (1830) and the London underground (1860). The telephone was invented in 1876 and the first cell-phone networks in 1979.

In mobile telephony 2G was the generation that offered basic features like text and picture messaging. 3G came in 2001(anyone remember “surfing” basic menu-driven sites on a green screen Nokia?) 3g took off when the first wave of smartphones arrived in shops in 2007. 3G also brought the addition of video calling and mobile data (get the internet on your phone). 2010 saw 4G became available, along with it, everything from the explosion of video streaming, apps and programmatic advertising to the rise of Apple’s share price to become the most valuable company in the world.

When 4G was launched, wearables weren't even a thing, much less the Internet of Things (IoT), and "Uber" was a German word meaning "over" or "above". 4G provides an entry point into the world of virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

Why is 5G such a big deal? The reason 5G is considered a big deal is that the amount of bandwidth, which means data transfer, will be dramatically faster than current mobile speeds- at least ten-twenty times faster than 4g. As with 4G before it, nobody knows exactly what 5G will usher in, but the implications are far-reaching.

5g and Sensors

The new rule for the future is going to be, "Anything that can be connected, will be connected." We will move to a world which is connected to everything, everywhere, all the time. We will have access to trillions of sensors, each communicating with everything else around it.

What is a sensor? Echo, Nest, Google Home, and even a Tesla contain sensors. A Tesla contains one which monitors the car’s internal battery status sends a service offer once the battery runs low. A commercial airliner’s engine sensors generate 1 Terra-byte a day of data related to heat vibration etc. Your smartphone has 15-30+ sensors; including proximity, light, compass, accelerometer, gyroscope.

Sensors are getting cheaper and smaller and faster and better year on year. The LIDAR google car captures 1.3 million data points per second, using dozen of sensors recording everything around it. Predictions for sensors include (by 2020) we will see 50k drones flying over every metropolitan area, delivering imaging at single centimetre resolution.

5G Explained

I’ve seen 5G explained a lot of different ways. This is the one I like best: moving from 4G to 5G is like moving from a typewriter to a computer and that it will be like electricity, with everybody getting what they want anytime, anywhere.

Speed

5G is fast enough to download an entire HD movie in just ten seconds: the same movie would take more than 24 hours in 3G and around 7 minutes in 4G.

Latency ( Lag time)

The 5G networks will also reduce lag time to a few milliseconds. (the shortest sprint reaction time in the Rio 2016 games was 104 milliseconds) Getting rid of this sort of latency is key to self-driving vehicles, where a human-standard reaction time would be no improvement on human accident rates.

Network Capacity

Estimates suggest that 5G can support 1 million devices per 1 sq. km compared to 4G’s average 1 million devices in 500 sq. km. As former Qualcomm CTO Matt Grob explains, “5G networks will allow you to measure 100,000 sensors in a city block”. Just think of your self-driving car being able to communicate with smart city sensors in real time.

5G is short for ‘fifth generation’ mobile networks. And, just like electricity, the internet and social networks, 5G is going to lead us to ideas and products difficult to imagine now. And it is definitely happening: beginning in 2019, several countries will begin rolling out 5G. Vodafone UK has said it will have 1,000 5G sites by 2020 and will launch 5G in Cornwall and the Lake District in 2018. In the US, Verizon’s Small Cell technologies are designed to enable bandwidth-hungry applications, serving demand from public utilities such as street lights. Other early adopters will include South Korea, Japan and China.

What does this all mean for Sports Fans?

The combination of a 5g network and sensors provides “a world of perfect knowledge - the ability to know anything you want, anytime you want, anywhere you want.”

You will be able to know anything, anywhere, anytime. I love watching rugby analysis, to find out what happened in the big plays, and why. But I don’t want to wait for the analysis after the game; I want to understand what’s happening in the current play, now. Imagine a unifying connectivity fabric, up to 100gbps, 100,000 sensors per football pitch capturing data and streaming it to fans, both at the game, and at home.

There is no doubt but our appetite for information is reflected in sports; sports technology increase fans understanding and enjoyment of the game. Technology has recently progressed so that training and playing statistics inform team preparation for games. Fan engagement is supported by teams who understand how to provide data to fans at the stadium, watching on TV, and on social feeds.

For example: Rugby

When Ireland took the 22 drop-out in the last few minutes against France, it seemed an impossible task to work the ball into scoring range. Ireland worked the ball up the pitch through many phases before Conor Murray passed the ball to Sexton; whose unlikely drop goal effort won Ireland the game.

In the future the fan will be enjoy the game at a whole other level of detail, in real-time. No need to wait for the pundits to explain what is happening 10 minutes after the game; understand it while it’s happening.

Sensors in Sexton’s jersey tell you his exact position on the pitch, as he directs Ireland this way and that. In every phase each player run can be tracked along with opposition attempts to stop them. You will be able to understand your favourite players impact during the game using data streams from their jerseys. You'll also be able to feel the hits transmitted as vibrations to your phone or headset as opposition tackle Ireland players.

Artificial Intelligence models estimate the Ireland win percentage increasing as Ireland carry it up the pitch. Watch the organized chaos using camera feeds from Ireland jerseys as the play unfolds. As Sexton takes the kick boot & ball sensors show you how close he got to the sweet spot and tracks the trajectory as it travels through the air.

Right after the play the clip is available on your phone. If you are watching from home the data downloaded to your phone allows you to re-create the score with your friends – can you make the same shot?

How about comparing your favorite player game stats to yours? How can you improve by examining their performance at a detailed level? Check with your friends for bragging rights; who can get closest to the professionals?

Fans at home watch the game using Virtual Reality headsets, with footage from various cameras, that switch to the best angle depending on the position of the ball on the pitch. I tested an Oculus Go this week– your physical location fades as your attention is focused on the event. The US National Hockey league is about to broadcast games live to Oculus.

What does this mean for Sports Teams?

#1 ‘Mobile’ won’t be a subset of the internet anymore. Mobile becomes the internet—with 5g the capacity to provide as-it-happens footage creates a viewing experience far above current levels.

#2 Faster speeds mean lower page load times, resulting in lower bounce rate. No waiting to check in, load pictures, get the replay or analysis, it happens now. 5g allows transmission of high-resolution streams to all the devices at a game, plus everyone watching at home. 4k transmission is problematic using 4g networks, 5g’s extra capacity will allow for continuous 4k streaming.

#3 The web is ‘flat’ today, as it was originally designed for shared information, absorbed through a flat screen. But the latency of 5G makes virtual reality viable. With 5G, a virtual reality game experience operates without any lag, making it possible for fans to enjoy the game from the inside.

#4 Pricing will change: as the world of connected devices will become a reality as cars, clothes (jerseys, boots, balls), appliances, bicycles, health monitors - basically anything— will include sensors broadcasting over 5G. Sports games can be split and sold immediately – US teams already offer highlights packages-imagine a model where a fan gets to share footage with his friends; for instance to access the closing ten minutes of a close game.

#5 The market size for certain products will increase: the next 2 billion of web users will access the internet via a phone. The material impact of faster network access is that more people go online, and all of these people start with mobile-only. The addressable market for the likes of education, information, travel and sports will grow exponentially.

#6 5G means lots more data. More data will be captured and sports teams with the best tech will perform better. Fan engagement and enjoyment will also improve alongside team and player performance.

The Challenge to Sports Teams

5G is about to allow everyone tap into data from billions of sensors around the globe. 5G promises on-demand knowledge for anyone, anywhere, anytime. Imagine the extraordinary possibilities that such a smart world will unlock. No question is unanswerable, and answers are less than a split second away.

But there is one fly in the ointment here: many sports teams are still stuck: they are looking at the world through the rear-view mirror, making the assumption that the future will look like the past. Clearly, 5G is disruptive technology. If 4G is anything to go by, it will create opportunities for sports teams that are unthinkable today. The danger here is that the opposition team will beat yours to the punch, and invest heavily in the new technology.

Now, as with 4G before it, nobody knows exactly what 5G will usher in. When Nokia looked at the first iPhone in 2007, they saw a not so good phone with interesting features but being made at small volumes by a company with zero credibility in mobile phones. And it had a terrible camera. Nokia shrugged their shoulders and carried on. From being number 1 in mobile phones worldwide in 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2012, Nokia was acquired in 2013 and the brand was shuttered in 2014. It is a fall that Icarus could not have imagined.

Moving from 3G to 4G brought us the smartphone revolution, mobile banking and e-commerce. So, when 5G comes, will your team provide the best viewing experience, or will you become the Nokia of the next few years?