How will the Coronavirus accelerates the mutation of professional sport

Major sporting events must reinvent themselves to remain attractive without the public or the atmosphere. New technologies, still confined to the bench of replacements, will come into play.

Sport is trying to save what can be saved after two months of abrupt and total cessation. On May 14, we paid no attention to the letter signed by 370 groups of ultra-supporters opposed to the resumption of the closed games. On May 16, all of her attention was turned to Germany, where the Bundesliga was crampons up in empty stadiums. Expert eyes and sharp ears noticed a work on the ambient sound and a tight framing of the cameras of Sportcast, the subsidiary of the German Football League (DFL) which realizes the media productions.

 This is just the beginning. The crisis will advance digital innovation, as wars are advancing surgery. The medium-term future is less money for sport and the need to reinvent yourself in order to monetize a remote experience.

 If the situations are variable according to the sports and the countries, the sale of television rights is often the first windfall of the spectacle sport. After curiosity and the craving effect, sports will have to try to remain attractive and desirable without audience or atmosphere. The athlete will get used to these conditions, which ultimately resemble their daily training. If necessary, it is easy to introduce sound into the stadiums. So the atmosphere is more for television.

For years, the leagues and the biggest clubs have been working to diversify the content, multiply the supports, make the offer more flexible. The pandemic will accelerate two processes already underway; one is to allow sporting entities to become independent from the match; the other process aims to "gamify" the sport so that it remains attractive to young generations passionate about video games.

 The NBA, UEFA and Bar?a are already acting as veritable start-up incubators. The UEFA is working with Honer, an Australian start-up to develop a“ Real Life Player Card ”, which will film the amateur player, assess his potential and give him an equal rating stars in video games.

OZ Arena, which allows you to view an FC Bulle match as if it were played at Camp Nou, was designed for amateur football, but its designers now see the potential they could draw from it.

 Tennis has also relied heavily on the lodges and VIP reception. This model is going to be turned upside down by the new standards, it is obvious, but tennis keeps this advantage of long time, and even dead time, which makes it possible to make relationships.

 The paradox, finally, is that, without spectators, spectacle sport risks being even more turned towards spectacle. For the first time, rights broadcasters are in a strong position vis-à-vis the owners, who are under pressure to deliver quality products.

 Generally speaking, no league has fears that the public will be there. Their concern is rather that everything risks resuming at the same time, in September The American viewer, who is a very heavy consumer of sports on television and who easily switches from one sport to another, will be spoiled for choice. Sport may well enter the competitive world of the attention economy. However, its rivals will now be called Netflix.