The Impact Of Technology On Sports (Part 2)

I.  Introduction

This is the second of a two-part article which discusses the evolution and state of technology deployed in sports today, the impact of the use of such technology in sports, and the legal and ethical issues arising from such use. The first part of this article (which may be found at https://law.nus.edu.sg/trail/theimpactoftechnologyonsportsp1/) had examined the state of technology deployed in coaching, training, nutrition, sports equipment and apparel, and in the making of on-field decisions. In this second part, I will look at technology that has evolved in the provision of sports media content and entertainment, new opportunities which technology has offered to allow sports fans to enjoy and connect with sports, how technology has enabled challenges posed by pandemics and physical handicaps to be overcome, as well as the legal and ethical issues arising from the use of cutting-edge technology in sports.

II.  The State of Technology Deployed in Sports

1.  Media Content and Entertainment

Technology has changed the way fans consume sports content. Sports fans can now tune into live action whenever and wherever they wish to thanks to the internet, and can use multiple devices to access media content on-demand thanks to Over-The-Top live-streaming, virtual private networks, and smart phones and tablets.

New platforms for sporting engagement have also emerged. Fantasy sports – where participants manage and draft virtual teams of real professional sports players and compete against the fantasy teams of other people – is today a multi-billion-dollar global industry. This has also facilitated the forging of deeper fan connections and enhanced knowledge of the sport, the teams and its players.[1] E-sports is also now an official medalled sport at the Southeast Asian Games and is soon to be as well at the rescheduled 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.[2] The first-ever Olympic Esports Finals was hosted in Singapore in June 2023 and featured players who competed in the finals of ten active virtual sports.[3]

Social media has increased connectivity, which means that fans can now interact with their favourite athletes online. Anyone wishing to go to a sporting event can now buy tickets on the team’s official website or a third-party ticketing service, increasing the global visibility of an event and creating secondary markets for tickets. High-definition screens at stadia which allow instant replays of goals to be watched have also enhanced the on-site sporting experience. ATP Media, the global broadcast production and distribution arm of the ATP Tour, also recently teamed up with WSC Sports, a global leader in AI-powered video content, to create short and long-form highlights from ATP Tour matches and deliver personalised and localised player-specific content to fans all over the world.[4]

2.   New Commercial Opportunities

Technology has also created new opportunities for fans to engage with sports. For example, virtual reality allows fans to get a taste of the in-stadium experience when circumstances prevent them from attending a sporting event in person. In the 2020 National Basketball Association (NBA) season restart in Orlando, virtual courtside seats created using Microsoft technology were assigned to fans to simulate a live game, which the NBA hoped would give players a distinctive and high-energy in-venue experience and the ability to get closer to the game.[5]

The Summer Olympics to be hosted by Brisbane in 2032 is already inspiring the development of various technologies, including the world's first flying racing car that is being tested in the South Australian desert. The development of the eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft will not only make drone deliveries and transport spectators to games venues, there are also plans to have them race against each other in a demonstration sport at the 2032 Olympic Games. Meanwhile, smart technology will be developed and used to monitor the crowd's emotions and gauge potential pockets of crowd trouble to enable the police to be alerted promptly in the event of spectator unrest and violence. The development of holographic technology and virtual reality could also allow spectators at home or overseas to experience the atmosphere of a real stadium, speak to Olympians and race with former athletes.[6]

Sports betting is another area ripe with revenue generation opportunity. Many sports spectators today are not merely fans, but also punters who place bets on the event’s outcome. Sports betting often takes place using sophisticated mobile applications that enable punters to bet on a range of international sports events. The development of technologies such as AI Predictive Analytics, a branch of artificial intelligence that uses statistical algorithms and machine learning models to identify the likelihood of future outcomes based on historical data, could enhance a punter’s ability to accurately predict sporting outcomes and prove to be a game changer for sports betting.[7]

Bookmakers on their part have entered into major sponsorship, advertising and naming rights deals with owners of sports stadia. One example is the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints which struck a US$138 million naming rights deal with the Las Vegas casino Caesars Palace and Stoke City Football Club's Bet365 Stadium, named after the United Kingdom bookmaker that invented in-play betting which allows for betting on events occurring within a short window period during the match itself.

Tokenisation is a recent means by which fan loyalty has been monetised. Football clubs from FC Barcelona to Paris Saint-German, AS Roma and Juventus have all introduced fan tokens which can be traded online. In some cases, tokens may even entitle a token holder to vote on club matters like in-stadium music choices and social media designs.[8] During the 2022 World Cup, FIFA also partnered with Algorand to launch its NFT platform, FIFA+ Collect, for fans to collect officially licensed digital world-cup collectibles.[9]

3.  Meeting Challenges Posed by Pandemics

Simulation technology was employed when lockdowns and social distancing requirements in 2020 and 2021 imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic meant that many athletes could not train normally during that period. Swimmers and divers were barred from the pool, and there was little they could do to replicate actual training conditions. Restrictions on permitted numbers for social gatherings in many countries also ruled out participation in many team sports. On top of that, social distancing rules meant that no contact sports were allowed to be played. Even chess players had to sit more than 1m apart, although many chess players had, for some time, already been playing against computers. For example, in 1996, the chess-playing supercomputer Deep Blue played the then reigning world champion Garry Kasparov in a 6-game match and lost 2–4. The computer software was then upgraded, had a rematch with Kasparov in 1997, and beat Kasparov 3½–2½.[10]

Another sport that can have recourse to technology to weather the challenges posed by a pandemic is table tennis. Singles play is possible even if the social gathering limit is 2 persons. Alternatively, a player can train by playing against a robot. The Chinese have invented a ping pong-playing industrial robot called the Kuka Agilus, which faced off against top German player Timo Boll in a 2014 marketing video that was produced for the opening of Kuka’s manufacturing plant in China. The robot led 6-0 before Boll discovered the robot’s few limitations (its arm could not reach near the net and the sides of the table), and eventually caught up and won the game 11-9.[11]

Robots are not vulnerable to pandemics as social distancing rules do not apply to them, and they make more than competent sparring partners. It will not be long before robots are used not only as training partners on a regular basis across multiple sports, but also against each other in competitive sports.

4.   Disabled Athletes

Nowhere is the impact of technological innovation more evident than in the area of disability sports. For a long time, athletes with talent, determination and drive have been excluded from competitive sports because of their disabilities. Major advances in the prosthetics industry and wheelchair technology have not only put competitive sports within the reach of many disabled individuals, but also enhanced the levels of performance of disabled athletes and allowed them to achieve previously unimaginable feats.

Prosthetics, once crude, heavy and uncomfortable, are now lighter, stronger and more flexible. Sophisticated engineering technologies have created prosthetics with greater movement, comfort, strength and durability. The pace of innovation in this area is so rapid that the prospect of bionic limbs becoming available is no longer the stuff of fiction.

One example of an elite athlete who benefitted from the use of prosthetic limbs is Oscar Pistorius, a South African double amputee sprinter who was born with a congenital condition that left him without the fibula in either of his legs. Pistorius used carbon fiber blades which were cut into a “C” shape to take full advantage of the strength and flexibility of carbon fiber. The blades simulated the spring action of a normal foot and allowed the user to run and jump. Using these blades, Pistorius won the 200m gold in the 2004 Athens Paralympics, as well as gold in the 100m, 200m and 400m events at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

III.  Technology and Even Playing Fields

From high technology swimsuits to spaghetti-strung tennis rackets and carbon fibre running blades, technology has enabled the user to achieve greater heights in sports and, all other things being equal, have an edge over non-users. This has raised questions of uneven playing fields and inequities.

After winning gold at the 2004 Paralympics, Oscar Pistorius then attempted to participate in non-disabled international competitions, but this was met with persistent objections by the International Association of Athletics Federations, which viewed his artificial limbs as giving him an unfair advantage over able-bodied athletes. Pistorius successfully appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which cleared the way for him to be eligible to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. However, he failed to qualify for the South African team that year, although 4 years later, he became the first amputee athlete to compete at the Olympics in London, where he reached the semi-finals of the men’s 400m race.[12]

Pistorius’ case raises an interesting question of technology doping – i.e., gaining a competitive advantage by using advanced sports equipment not accessible or affordable to or useable by other athletes, and which enables the athlete using that equipment to outperform the competition using the same or less effort. Another example is Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge, who in 2019 became the first person to have run a marathon distance in under 2 hours using the Nike Vaporfly shoes. The design of these shoes had been proven to enhance runner efficiency by 4% over other running shoes.[13] Kichoge’s version of the Vaporflys has since been banned from competition by World Athletics.[14]

Finally, there is the fast-developing area of gene doping, which involves the transfer of genes or genetically modified cells into an individual to enhance his or her body’s natural abilities and in turn athletic performance.[15] Quite apart from the medical risks that are likely to arise from gene manipulation, there are also ethical issues posed by the unfair exploitation of science to genetically manipulate humans to allow them to go beyond the maximisation of their inborn genetic potential.[16] While the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has already banned gene doping and all forms of gene editing, the detection of illegal gene doping and DNA tampering is far from straightforward and is currently still not achievable, leading WADA to invite applications on 15 February 2023 for research projects on the development of gene doping detection methods.[17]

IV.   Conclusion

The immense impact of technology on sport is beyond doubt. The wave of technological development will continue, as artificial intelligence gains widespread adoption and accessibility to smart equipment increases. Next generation technology will see heart rate monitors that strap to the chest replaced by “smart tattoos”, and cumbersome sensor devices by “smart clothing” with biosensor fibres woven into them.[18] There will likely also be better speech and facial recognition, real-time language translation, body motion sensors, smart glasses, blockchains and broader network bandwidth, all of which will lead to more unique applications in sports.[19]

In the final analysis, no matter how advanced technology becomes, sport remains about recognising human endeavour and spirit, and goes beyond the relentless strive to be the fastest, highest and strongest with the aid of technology.

 

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Lau Kok Keng is a Partner and Head of the Intellectual Property, Sports and Gaming Practice at Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP.
Email: kok.keng.lau@rajahtann.com

 

REFERENCES

[1] Jordyn Sava, ‘Fantasy sports leagues connect fans across the country’, The Signal (22 September 2020) <https://www.tcnjsignalnews.com/article/2020/09/fantasy-sports-leagues-connect-fans-across-the-country>.

[2] Rahul Venkat, ‘Asian Games 2022: Esports to make debut; FIFA, PUBG, Dota 2 among eight medal events’, Olympics.com (9 September 2021) <https://olympics.com/en/news/fifa-pubg-dota-2-esports-medal-events-asian-games-2022>.

[3] International Olympic Committee, 'IOC announces Olympic Esports Series 2023 with winners to be crowned at live finals in Singapore from 22 to 25 June', IOC (1 March 2023) <https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-announces-olympic-esports-series-2023>; <https://olympics.com/en/news/olympic-esports-week-2023-inaugural-oew-leaves-lasting-impression-in-singapore>.

[4] WSC Sports, ‘ATP Media to Utilise WSC Sports’ AI Video Technology to Scale Content Creation and Provide More Personalised Tennis Highlights to More Fans Worldwide’, wsc-sports.com (14 February 2023) <https://wsc-sports.com/blog/news-and-announcements/atp-media-partners-with-wsc-sports/>.

[5] Tim Newcomb, ‘Fans Virtually Inside Orlando Venue for NBA Restart’, Forbes (24 June 2020) <https://www.forbes.com/sites/timnewcomb/2020/07/24/fans-virtually-inside-orlando-venue-for-nba-restart/?sh=1bb9898b3a39>.

[6] Sally Eeles, ‘Olympic Games 2032 inspires new technologies including world's first flying race car and holographic technology’, ABC News (4 February 2023) <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-04/qld-olympic-games-2032-sport-technology-flying-car-holograms/101841388>.

[7] Ashleigh Lauren Johnson, ‘AI-Powered Predictive Analytics - Is This The Future Of Sports Betting?’, Alternar (23 February 2023) <https://altenar.com/blog/ai-powered-predictive-analytics-is-this-the-future-of-sports-betting/>. See also Al Jazeera, ’World Cup predictions: How many games did our AI get right?’ (19 December 2022) <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/19/world-cup-predictions-did-our-ai>.

[8] Reem Kassamani, ‘Blockchain in sports: fan tokens’, UBC Digital (4 March 2022) <https://ubc.digital/blockchain-in-sports-fan-tokens/>.

[9] Sander Lutz, 'FIFA Launches NFT Platform on Algorand in Run-Up to World Cup', Decrypt (3 September 2022) <https://decrypt.co/108894/fifa-launches-nft-platform-algorand-world-cup>.

[10] André Schulz, ’25 years ago: Deep Blue beats Kasparov’, ChessBase (2 November 2021) <https://en.chessbase.com/post/25-years-ago-deep-blue-beats-kasparov>.

[11] ‘Timo Boll – the spin of life’, KUKA <https://www.kuka.com/en-sg/company/about-kuka/brand/timo-boll>.

[12] ‘“Blade Runner” Back on Track’, Science (20 May 2008) <https://www.science.org/content/article/blade-runner-back-track>.

[13] Bryce Dyer, ‘Nike Vaporfly ban: why World Athletics had to act against the high-tech shoes’, The Conversation (6 February 2020) <https://theconversation.com/nike-vaporfly-ban-why-world-athletics-had-to-act-against-the-high-tech-shoes-131249>.

[14] Rob Hodgetts, ‘Eliud Kipchoge’s record-breaking Nike shoes to be banned’, CNN (31 January 2020) <https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/31/sport/nike-world-athletics-vaporfly-alphafly-ban-spt-intl/index.html>.

[15] Sam Moxon, ‘CRISPR gene doping: The next ‘big issue’ in world athletics’’, Genetic Literacy Project (31 March 2023) < https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2023/03/31/crispr-gene-doping-the-next-big-issue-in-world-athletics/>.

[16] Yael Gruper, ‘Gene Doping: When science and Olympic Sports Meet’, Weizmann Institute of Science (30 July 2021) <https://davidson.weizmann.ac.il/en/online/sciencepanorama/gene-doping-when-science-and-sports-meet>.

[17] ‘WADA invites applications for research projects on the development of gene doping detection methods’, World Anti-Doping Agency (15 February 2023) <https://www.wada-ama.org/en/news/wada-invites-applications-research-projects-development-gene-doping-detection-methods>.

[18] American Chemical Society, ‘First human tests of new biosensor that warns when athletes are about to ‘hit the wall’, Science Daily (24 July 2013) <https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130724114350.htm>.

[19] Janna Anderson, Lee Rainie and Emily A Vogels, ‘Experts Say the ‘New Normal’ in 2025 Will Be Far More Tech-Driven, Presenting More Big Challenges’, Pew Research Centre (18 February 2021) <https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/02/18/experts-say-the-new-normal-in-2025-will-be-far-more-tech-driven-presenting-more-big-challenges/>.