SPORT ACCORD 2024

This was the first meeting of the Accord since 2019 when the Gold Coast played host after the successful 2018 Commonwealth Games. The venue for 2024 was Birmingham, selected after they successfully hosted the 2022 Commonwealth games and in a region being overseen by the new mayoral system in the UK and, specifically, Andy Street. I attended the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and 2018 with Team Scotland but not in 2022 so was keen to see how Birmingham had changed and to hear what the delegates and organisers were talking about.

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I have summarised the key themes from the conference as I experienced them, which were, sustainable cities, fan engagement, law in sport, governance, and athlete health. Each section references multiple sessions, both plenary and workshop format. So, here goes.

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Sustainable Cities

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Sport, sport stadia and the fans that sport attracts can transform cities. Whether it be the Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games or World Cups in their various formats, major events can rejuvenate cities and remind even the locals that their home is a great place to be. In 2014, we learnt (or were reminded) that People Make Glasgow, indeed they do, and in the process a whole area around Dalmarnock was gentrified with the construction of the athlete village. The parallel is Delhi, a city I visited two years after the 2010 games to find a derelict stadium and little sign of legacy. Pros and cons abound, legacy needs to be cultivated and built.

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Chris Boardman, in collaboration with Tine Green (Head of Mega Events for the City of Copenhagen) extoled the virtues of active transport, a deliberate approach by cities to equip their road infrastructure with cycle lanes. I should say that after a brief conversation with my mother, who resides in an area which has benefited (not her words) from this new infrastructure, that the positives communicated by the panellists were not borne out by all residents. This sentiment was echoed when I spoke to old colleagues in Edinburgh whose road infrastructure has recently been upgraded to include a network of cycle lanes. ?This is a point worth pausing on and one which I wrestle with; at a conference, surrounded by people with similar views and who do not live in the area being discussed, good ideas can be viewed as just that, good ideas. The notion that the unrest experienced by residents whilst cycling lanes are constructed is a means to an end, a necessary evil, can prevail amongst a sensible delegation without questioning whether they would have the same opinion if the work was in their town, disrupting their comings and goings. I referenced earlier the redevelopment of Dalmarnock for the Glasgow games. This was seen, almost universally, as a positive for the city. What was less publicised was the compulsory acquisition of residential properties. In a documentary that aired before the games a local resident was interviewed and commented that he had ‘lost his home so that kids could run around in their shorts’. It stuck with me and, to some extent took the shine away from what was otherwise a great experience. Sport is well versed in extoling the virtues it stands for however, at times, struggles to be consistent in how these values are upheld.

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This notwithstanding, the argument was compelling. If more of us accessed green space using active transport and commuted to work using our Brompton’s the world would be a better place; health services would be under less strain; our own health would improve; and climate change would be reversed. Ok, perhaps this is a utopian version, however, the benefits of more people using active transport in a safe way cannot be underestimated, nor can the impact of safe infrastructure that allows people to consider this as an option. The panel had some smart ideas on how to plan where routes would be best located. This involved asking residents to plot the preferred routes from their home to work, school and local parks. This form of crowd sourcing information ensured that the routes were placed in the most practical locations and not at the whim of a civil and traffic engineer. This, to me, sounded like it could be used as a local call to action; schools could ask parents to nominate the routes they would use to walk or cycle to school and set up cycle groups or walking buses based on the information. Safety in numbers whilst the physical infrastructure catches up. Think global, start local. There is some great work being done in this area by ARUP, see link below, in the design and delivery of sustainable and safe cities (https://www.arup.com).

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Getting there, however, is not without its challenges especially in an era where we are more attuned to the environmental impact of what we do (more of that later). Pouring concrete has a carbon footprint and, the more of this we have, especially in warmer countries, the greater the challenge of mitigating urban heat. For the interested reader, there are now new ways of manufacturing and sealing roads that significantly reduce urban heat, some of which are being pioneered in Western Sydney (www.researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws%3A60039). New cycle paths will require shade cover, strategically planted trees that provide shade in the warmer months and help to offset the carbon footprint of constructing the paths. You might think this isn’t required in your country based on its climate, however, if your infrastructure is intended to encourage people to commute to work, limiting heat gain and the necessity to shower post trip is an important consideration. The importance of being able to cycle without it becoming exertive was cited by Tine Green, as a reason so many people engage in active transport in Denmark.

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Building the infrastructure is only the start. To realise the health and societal benefits, you must encourage and perhaps even coerce people to use it, something that calls for a collaborative approach. On this topic Tom Wagner appeared to well versed. Tom is the new owner of Birmingham City FC and overseeing the development of a new stadium which he hopes will be a hub for the community, used 365 days a year to provide much more than a venue for Birmingham City to play its home matches. This idea of a hub deserves more attention. Facilities that attract people from different demographics and with different interests, who may not necessarily have any interest in sport, sits within the realm of fan engagement, another popular topic at the conference. Such stadia can reimagine the club as belonging to the community it serves, providing spaces they can touch, feel and be a part of. Something many would argue Football, at the upper echelons at least, has lost sight of. Future hubs may include play areas for children, health centres, possibly even small schools and childcare centres, or libraries, facilities that everyone in the community is likely to need at some point in their life. These facilities activate the stadium during the week when traditionally it would have laid empty yet are flexible enough businesses to not interfere with match day operations. I was impressed on a recent trip to Edinburgh to see how Heart of Midlothian FC were commercialising their stadium with the inclusion of a hotel, restaurant, and conferencing facilities in the new main stand. At least of some of this infrastructure had been retrofitted, meaning existing facilities can look to become mixed use with some clever design and investment.

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Tom Wagner cited the beneficial relationship with Birmingham City Council as being a factor in him choosing to invest, not only in the club, but in the area. This has numerous benefits when we think about place making and the role of sport. Councils oversee planning and so can ensure these new developments come with the requirement to install sufficient active transport infrastructure with effective connections to public transport. They might also relax the regulations for the quantum of parking; limiting the number of spaces may encourage people to walk, cycle or take public transport and Councils can work with local health care providers, schools, and businesses to incentivise the use of active transport with discounted meals, entry fees and alike when they visit the precinct or other local businesses. This falls under the gamification in health with some examples already at play across local Councils in the UK and in the states.

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Climate change and its effects were the topic of an excellent workshop delivered by delegates from Alibaba Cloud and the Green Futures project. The data presented suggested that athletes and fans alike were concerned about climate change and would change their habits or spend more for sporting products they believed would positively impact climate change. On this topic, an example was given of an athlete who declined the invitation to compete overseas because of the long-haul travel involved and subsequent carbon footprint. The workshop detailed resources developed by private business and sporting federations that could assist in the procurement of materials that were produced sustainably; of how to offset the carbon footprint of travel; how to reduce the carbon footprint of their operations; and to accurately measure their environmental footprint.

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The presenters detailed key actions that were attributed to federations, such as developing policies and collaborative projects; clubs in effecting change around how sustainable their operations were; athletes in working with brands that have a strong commitment to sustainable practises; fans by voting with their feet and demanding the clubs they support source and use sustainable products and services. If that all sounds great, then it should, however, I couldn’t help but think this was sugar coating. Sport is a huge contributor to a host of practises that are not sustainable, nor in line with reducing the carbon footprint. The travel associated with events, particularly international ones is considerable. A statistic was shared that 78% of the carbon emissions relating to a Baseball 5’s event was a result of business travel. For sports with little interest outside those who are competing, can we really support international competitions and purport to be doing our bit for climate change? I appreciate that such events generate revenue for host cities (at least they should) however is this an acceptable benefit for events which require mass travel from around the globe? My personal view is that it isn’t and that, for sports whose audience base is small and where there is no professional outlet for their athletes, competition should be confined to the local or national level. Many will disagree, for those who do, perhaps I can mount a more convincing argument in the next section on fan engagement.

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It is in this area that sport needs to show significant leadership. A comment was made in the workshop that sport, as a global contributor, was miniscule compared countries with a poor track record of implementing climate change action. This type of ‘what about ism’s’ is why addressing global issues is so tricky, it is easy to call out those who we feel should be doing more before we hold up our own end. Whilst this attitude pervades, the big challenges our world is facing will not be solved; another opportunity for sport to be consistent with the values it wants to reflect.

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Fan engagement

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Many of the speakers referenced, in one way or another, the need for sports to firstly quantify who their current audience is and secondly, explore how they might be able to attract new audiences. The attention economy was also referenced, something I had not come across before and posited as such; sport is not competing with itself and other codes, it is competing with Netflix, Instagram, TikTok, video games and a host of other entertainment options vying for our attention. ?It was this second point where I felt sport was in danger of selling its soul. We heard how the younger generation lived on their phones and in the digital realm, preferring short clips to full formats of sport. What they want is a highlights reel, or to watch their team whilst playing a video game, or to experience sport in a virtual fantasy world complete with their own avatar. I found myself asking how much does sport want to change to attract these audiences versus retaining those who like the product as it is? Acknowledging the lack of rigour in an ‘n of one’ case study (but I’ll proffer it anyway) my son is 8 and he will happily sit through a four-quarter game of AFL or an 80 min Rugby League match (even if it isn’t the Melbourne Storm). He does this, I think, because he loves the product, the hits, the goals, and the tries. Watching the whole match is worth it because you never quite know when the next big moment is going to come. We both watched Melbourne play a couple of weeks ago and were off the sofa when Xavier Coates scored the try of the century in the final minute of the game to secure a win. There are, I am sure, plenty of other young boys and girls like him. It was great because you didn’t know it was going to happen and was preceded by a period of tension and excitement which I am unsure a truncated version of the contest would have delivered. Tinker with the product too much and you might lose more fans than you gain.

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What wasn’t discussed and which I think warranted mention, was sport undertaking a process of creative destruction. An analysis of their offer to ascertain which codes are popular, which are not, which have an international appeal, and which are more local in their interest. This is already being done by third parties, the companies who offer media rights and set the betting markets. By looking at where they spend their money tells you which sports are worth investing in, which have an offer appealing to a broad demographic, and which should perhaps fall by the wayside. With the greatest respect to its athletes, I am unsure any amount of fan engagement work will generate a sustainable audience for ultimate frisbee (apologies to any avid spectators or athletes in this discipline). This was alluded to by Roger Mitchell who highlighted the precariousness of finances in sport and the need to make fundamental changes to survive in the new digital world. I haven’t read his book, ‘sports perfect storm’ however I will, not least because he gave an honest and authentic position. Even if you didn’t agree with him, you were left in no doubt about his opinion; that, if nothing else, should be what all presenters aspire to.

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Assuming your sport survives the cull, technology will sit at the heart of how you engage with your fans, that was clear, and this was articulated in several ways. I’ll start with fans who still want to come to the stadium or event. There were lessons from American sports and large multi-sport events in the UK and Australia of how to engage fans in and around sporting precincts. This included hosting the media in public spaces, activation events that cater for participation as well as competition and entertainment offerings before, during and after the ‘sport’. The NFL are masters of the pre and mid game entertainment, not just in the super bowl but all year round, something many sports could learn a lesson or two from. This represents a value add to the ticket price and may, if pitched correctly, attract a new audience; those who come for the supplementary entertainment first and sport second. My daughter tolerates afternoons on the hill at North Sydney Oval purely on a promise that half time will bring with it an ice cream and face-painting. You get the idea. There were also some excellent examples of how new technologies such as immersive worlds can combine with the real world during live stadium performances and perhaps, in time, even form part of the sporting action itself. These were presented in an incredibly engaging way by Prof Andy Miah of Salford University.

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Where technology seemed to hold the most value add was in appealing to fans outside of the stadium. We learnt that new stadia are being equipped with volumetric cameras underpinned by the Intel True system, something already in play at grounds in the Premier League. These cameras allow a richer data set to be shared with fans and for the action to be viewed from a variety of angles in replays. They offer the chance to combine the play with real time statistics, something likely to be of interest to gambling businesses and in play markets. It also offers fans who cannot get to the game a new method of watching their team, whether that be in long form or more engaging highlights. Digital memberships of this nature may include the ability for fans to change their viewing position as the game proceeds in real time, receive a digital signature from a player or some personalised message as part of the remote game day experience.

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The inclusion of augmented reality may allow fans to immerse themselves in the game and play the role of different athletes as they score a goal, make a tackle or leap from the high board. All from the comfort of their living room. Taken a step further, for sports contested one v one, augmented reality may eventually allow individuals to compete against each other remotely removing the need for international travel (and the associated carbon footprint). Take track and field as an example, with the right technology such events could be conducted in isolation with high tech cameras and sensors measuring performance and replicating it as an avatar competing in a fantasy world. From what I learnt at the conference, this is certainly possible, or at least will be in the next decade. I could see how many of these new technologies and their application would appeal to marketers and communication specialists. However, it is worth pausing and considering how they may be viewed by coaches and athletes.

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Firstly, the more we promote virtual worlds and digital products, especially those aimed at younger children, the more we exacerbate sedentary behaviours and physical inactivity. This seems at odds with the statistic shared that two thirds of the Sport England budget is spent on physical activity initiatives rather than sport itself. Coaches may lament that in 50 years there will be a huge audience vying for content and no athletes able or willing to produce it.

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This dystopian future will be a gradual creep. We learnt that AI is helping World Squash to remove the human error associated with awarding lets and strokes during match play. By feeding artificial intelligence with millions of Squash shots and footage, the computer will learn to rule on infringements with more accuracy than a human referee. This is already, to some extent being used in sports like Rugby League and their use of the bunker, Hawk Eye in Cricket, and VAR in Association Football. The next stop for this technology, is in predicting the behaviour of players in different positions and areas of the court or pitch. It will build on what clubs refer to now as performance analysis but with much greater computing power and larger data sets. First this will facilitate coaching by allowing athletes and teams to practise in a virtual reality world against all manner of opponents. It will help athletes practise away from formal team or squad sessions and whilst injured; to immerse themselves in a world where they can watch their opponent and learn how to beat them with a level of detail only big data can provide.

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With sufficient data and time this will result in the perfect competition, that is one where all matches result in a draw; there is no human error, the athletes are perfectly prepared to deal with every eventuality and skill their opponent can deliver. At this point fans, presumably, will become bored with the stalemate and look to avatars in the digital world to provide a more competitive product. These avatars will be based on their human predecessors but, with the power of AI, more able to adapt, returning the element of competition. Sport will stop trying to work out how to integrate with video games and become one itself. I do not laud this scenario; it terrifies me, and I was not alone in that perspective. Some chats over lunch with Nev Smith of In Touch Productions highlighted that we, although in the minority it appears, like our sport just the way it is, even when the result is influenced by human fallibility.

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Sport and the law

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Should we find ourselves in a situation where avatars in fantasy worlds prove more entertaining than their human counterparts, athletes, coaches, and the host of practitioners who work within sport will need to find themselves a good lawyer and a second profession (although perhaps not in that order). There was a wealth of experience and insight on sports law covering a range of topics including employment law, current rulings from the court of arbitration (CAS), transgender athletes, governance, and athlete representation in governing bodies. The session hosted and chaired by Sean Cottrell, founder and CEO of LawInSport was excellent, fast paced, informative and well humoured. I wasn’t aware of the associated website beforehand however was impressed with its breadth, detail, and content, well worth a look (www.lawinsport.com). Worth noting was that CAS were considering how to amend guidelines for testifying in cases that included sensitive content or whistle blowers. They also acknowledged that arbitrators needed more education to deal with cases that involved allegations of abuse. Both categories are, it seems, on the rise. These are sensitive yet important issues that the panel and members of the audience dealt with in a compassionate manner.? The debate also highlighted the guidelines and processes around individuals and organisations accessing legal aid through CAS, something I had not appreciated before the session.

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The issue of transgender athletes was dealt with in an equally sensitive and compassionate manner with honest and frank perspectives shared. Brent Nowicki from World Aquatics shared a perspective that in his role what was required was ‘evidence enough’. The data from previous competitions showing the disparity between the biological sexes was sufficient to prohibit transgender females competing met this threshold. Caution was noted by Prof. Yannis Pitsiladis, a geneticist who has researched distance runners in Africa. Yannis posited that previous results could not be relied upon when considering future performance. The essence of the argument was that socio economic and geopolitical influences on performance in sport were far greater than genetics. By assimilating transgender athletes into the category of their choice performance will normalise over time and any benefit inferred in those who experienced the adolescent growth spurt as a biological male would dissipate.

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The guideline issued by CAS was also discussed; any advantage would need to be outside the performance range already established to be deemed as unfair. In response to this Jonathan Taylor of Bird and Bird LLP made a pertinent point; a transgender female athlete who posts performance in the mid-range of the sport, although not preventing another athlete from being awarded a medal, may still be preventing someone from being selected for a team, competition or just a position change within the world rankings. There is still much work to do in this area, for now, however, each sport will need to interpret the guidelines of CAS in its own way and regulate accordingly. I recently read Testosterone by Carole Hooven which I thought gave a balanced and informed view on this subject and would recommend to anyone interested and looking for an accessible jumping off point to explore the science and associated research in this area.

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The IPACS workshop was useful in communicating the five principles of governance and 50 action points contained therein. It provided a useful resource for sporting organisations of various sizes and level of resourcing. The principles covered a range of topics that would not look out of place on a Company Directors course however had the feel of making sports less agile at a time when the world around them demanded a more nimble approach. When confronted with the increasing number of disruptive technologies and competition in the attention economy, sport needs to ensure its governance is as agile as it is robust and does not become a box ticking exercise that prevents innovation and new ideas. The governance principles are available on the IPACS website (https://www.ipacs.sport) and cover the areas of Transparency, Integrity, Democracy, Development and Solidarity, and Checks and Balances.

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Health

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Athlete health was also covered in the conference with a focus on mental skills. The session on mental health in Golf made me a little uncomfortable and reminded me of the many excesses sport indulges in. We learnt that Golfers at competitions in the Middle East are offered palatial settings in which they can spend time journaling, relaxing and restoring some mental calm. Of course, it is important for everyone to be cognisant of their mental health and, where possible, engage in activities that improve their condition. My sense was that the way the initiative for Golfers was positioned was elitist, an approach that for many sports and the population more generally is out of reach, something that seemed a juxtaposition with the inclusive nature of the conference more generally. At a time when so many issues face the global community, including wars, famines, pandemics, and deteriorating living standards for many, focusing on luxury elements of a Golfers preparation in a country like Dubai made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

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Of much greater interest on the topic of health was the proposition put forward by Podium Analytics. This company is answering some big questions in the realm of injury and young people through the provision of a free platform that clubs and schools can use to catalogue their injuries. Once catalogued, researchers can analyse, interpret and, hopefully, use the data to improve how young people are coached and cared for post injury. Certainly a space to keep an eye on as a I suspect the results will be very interesting, especially to those of us who have children playing sport.

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Dr. Neil Gibson is a fellow of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences, researcher, author, and Director. He was responsible for delivering Scotland’s sports performance centre in Edinburgh (Oriam) and more recently the redevelopment of an Olympic legacy site in Sydney (https://www.bestblacktown.com.au).

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