UTT Chairperson: Fan engagement to see more investments in sports

The panellists gave an outlook of the new playbook for fan engagement in the digital arena.

As the sporting world has been gradually getting back on track, authentic content, realtime connect and extensive use of technology are the key factors that are expected to dominate the world of sports in the post COVID-19 pandemic era.

A special webinar 'Sports Post Lockdown' by Sportzpower witnessed panellists, including Ultimate Table Tennis League (UTT) chairperson & co-owner of Indian Super League club Chennaiyin FC Vita Dani, Global Marketing Head of Bundesliga International Peer Niclas Naubert, Joyee Biswas, Director Sports Partnership (Asia-Pacific) Facebook and Joint Managing Director of Procam International Vivek Singh, giving an outlook of the new playbook for fan engagement in the digital arena and how the major leagues and stakeholders are gearing up to return in a phased manner.

The digital medium will be pertinent to attract many eyeballs and investment into broadcast technology to expedite the thrill of sports. "We will have to start using technology to create an experience for the fans. With Chennaiyin FC, we have already done major innovation on digital platforms with the launch of CFC TV in season five. We are the first and only team to do so, so we are ahead of the curve. UTT has also seen around 200 percent growth in its digital audience and engagements," said Vita Dani.

While discussing facets of the new normal in sport, panellists agreed to the opinion of how innovations could lead to opportunities and new avenues of revenue which opens the door to new concepts and ideas.

Chennaiyin FC co-owner Dani feels eSports and physical sports need to coexist. "Not just in Asia but around the world, online gaming and eSport is becoming big. I don't think they will be a threat to physical sports, they have to coexist."

Pre-empting the future, panellists felt that artificial intelligence, 5G, OTT, and benefiting from high data usage will be key trends that are highly relevant for sports going forward.