Recapping CES 2023: Sports Innovation Lab

CES 2023 is in the books! Last week, the Sports Innovation Lab team went to Vegas and owned the sports program at the biggest tech trade show of the year, hosting three panel sessions with C-suite guests from across the industry.

We educated audiences on how to acquire Fluid Fans, shared case studies on immersive sports media viewing experiences, and inspired the next wave of leading women in sports. This year, we covered the topics and technologies that will have the greatest effect on consumers in 2023.

If you weren’t able to attend, you can stream sessions on demand from the jam-packed weekend by heading to the CES Digital Venue . You don’t want to miss the replay of the “Great Minds” panel between our CEO and Co-Founder Angela Ruggiero , Ally Financial’s Andrea Brimmer , and the Las Vegas Raiders ' Sandra Douglass Morgan . In this headline-worthy panel (check out Mariah Janos ' news feature here ), these powerhouse female executives discussed the opportunities and challenges present when we collectively invest in women in sport.

The main takeaway from “Great Minds: Unlocking the Potential of Women in Sports” is that data proves that supporting women’s sports and women working in sports isn't just the right thing to do, it's brilliant business. Andrea Brimmer explained that Ally's 50/50 pledge to commit equal sponsorship money to men’s and women’s sports helped push the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) Championship Game into a primetime spot, resulting in Ally exceeding its brand visibility projections amongst targeted demographics amidst record viewership.?

For big brands like Ally, investing in women’s sports leagues has been a mutually-beneficial experience because they’re helping unlock a multi-billion dollar market opportunity. Sports, broadly, has been a winning play for the financial company, as their jersey sponsorship of Major League Soccer ’s Charlotte FC resulted in a 70% jump in brand awareness amongst sports fans in North and South Carolina after the kit was unveiled. Raiders President Sandra Douglass Morgan echoed the opportunity and value for brands to make meaningful inroads with audiences, as her NFL team establishes itself as a true Las Vegas franchise ingrained in the local community.

Investing in sports doesn’t just mean savvy sponsorship: teams and brands are winning by implementing the latest consumer technologies to improve the fan experience, and it’s resonating with fans at home and in the stands. During the 2022 MLS season, Ally gave fans a “seat” on the bench next to the players at every Charlotte FC home game via a mixed reality installation. At CES 2023, a walk through one of the bustling halls at the Las Vegas Convention Center and hotels on the Strip provided plenty of inspiration for similarly innovative technology activations.

At the Aria, Los Angeles Rams CTO Skarpi Hedinsson shared with Angela that building stadiums for technology is now a foundational consideration for how teams want to engage fans. As one of the leaders behind the curtain of the acclaimed SoFi Stadium, Skarpi points to screen and network advancements allowing for 360 digital takeovers of venues that help brands activate. Because of the underlying infrastructure and prevalence of digital signage, a Rams game and Los Angeles Chargers game feel completely different despite both teams sharing the same stadium. The digital takeover also allows for brands to quickly reach fans throughout the stadium, as was done with a recent Disney activation to promote the Avatar sequel.?

思科 ’s Ken Martin , United Talent Agency ’s Heather Brooks Karatz , and Oak View Group ’s Katee LaPoff agreed that there has been a shift for teams, with Heather sharing from the engagement side: “Gone are the days of talking to a brand and selling a sign at a venue for $X dollars for an asset. Every team is now striving to build a community aligned around your same values. To achieve a skyrocketing team valuation, there must be a strong connection to fans across their various consumption and engagement habits, which means building a strategy for every platform.”?

For teams, capturing the Fluid Fan requires more than just live game content, it also means looking at players as assets and encouraging their participation in the content system. By creating infrastructure for players to easily get involved, mutually-beneficial value can be driven that deepens fan-team relationships.

Tapping into audience insights and measuring in-venue success was top of mind for many sports executives during the week, with Cisco’s Ken Martin posing what the process would be for a property or brand to tap into the billions of people around the world who viewed the FIFA World Cup. Said Ken, “it’s one thing to focus on in-venue experience and generate revenue on each person who walks in the door, it’s another to address the millions of people around the world who see your brand and know how to monetize them.”?

The answer to this question is one that Sports Innovation Lab helps the world’s biggest brands and properties like Visa , PUMA Group , and the National Hockey League (NHL) answer through fan intelligence. Leveraging proprietary data, Sports Innovation Lab helps sports industry participants grow and maximize the value of their fanbase, using data-driven tools that drive viewership, increase conversion rates, and optimize sponsorship.

Fubo ’s Lynette Picconi-Kaylor , Flowcode ’s Jim Norton and Premier League ’s Alexandra Willis echoed to Sports Innovation Lab SVP David Cole the need for understanding how fans interact with the product in order to drive greater revenue. As Alex shared, “fans judge you on their latest, best experience throughout the sports market, not just against your last game or local competition. Because of this, there’s an ever-present need for technology that helps people fall in love with the product because of the elements around the game, not just what’s happening on the pitch.”

Knowing your fans, using your data, and making business choices built on that information was unanimously an emphasis across all panelists for the upcoming year. From a rights holder's perspective, intelligence about fan viewership habits and values can inform the creation of standout content, not just a copycat of what’s current. From a streaming service perspective, per Lynette Kaylor, intelligence about fan behaviors like betting and second-screen usage can inform the rollout of interactive features, which are proven to keep fans watching longer.

Similar to Ken Martin’s point about identifying World Cup viewers, Jim Norton emphasized that? a big theme throughout CES was brands desiring to know who their end consumers are. “If someone buys a four-pack of tickets, you know the person who bought the tickets, but you might not know anything about the other three people in the seats,” said Jim. “So at the top level, you have no choice but to seek innovation to solve this and make data insight a part of the business model. It wasn’t that long ago that teams were using paper tickets.”

In understanding the fan, all participants throughout the show agreed that with the rising price of game tickets, fans are expecting teams, venues and brands to provide a quality experience that engages them on and off the field.

Las Vegas provided a busy, spectacular backdrop for discussing the future of the sports industry. From fan intelligence to technology implementation, the rapidly-evolving business of sports is braced for a year of increased efficiency and investment. Thank you to our incredible guest panelists who joined us on stage this year, and thank you to everyone who came by in person to learn where the industry is headed!