Can Technology Facilitate the Return of Fans to Stadiums?

Lead image credit: ph.FAB / Shutterstock.com

Here we are, May 2021, beer gardens and shops have reopened. We are tentatively opening indoor restaurants and most importantly for so many big stadium’s, sports and events. We can even hug now, should you choose to be the hugging kind.

Over recent weeks we’ve seen a number of pilot events happening. From the Snooker World Championship with over 900 fans to a gig by Stockport’s finest, Blossoms, in Liverpool with over 5,000 attendees. So far so good, for those couple of hours I can only imagine that life felt pretty euphoric, the noise, the commotion and the feeling of being surrounded by complete strangers.

Celebration in the Sporting World.

In the last weekend alone there was cause for much celebration in the sporting world. Especially for Leicester fans, who saw their true underdogs secure their first-ever FA Cup final win. Aside from watching a real live Final Football match on our screens. We also got to see something we haven’t seen for well over a year… 20,000 fans in Wembley Stadium. We’re of course yet to see the outcomes of this momentous occasion, and hoping everyone was safe and compliant. We might get to see more of these large-scale live crowd sporting events!

“Fan data will fuel the potential return to stadiums. Data and analytics have been used in the sports industry for some time now but there is more work to be done. Let’s take football, for example. Right now teams should be analysing previous and predicted future ticketing data. Such as fan purchases, how many tickets they usually buy, and seating preferences. As well as stadium layouts to anticipate how to get fans back into the grounds.” – Nick Jewell, director of product marketing at Alteryx.

The use of Technology in Sport.

As we return to live matches, games and events. And as we pour back into the stadiums there will be so much that has changed in the way we engage and approach willingly sitting with 20,000+ random people. One of the biggest changes we started to see, even pre-pandemic time (remember those days?). Was the use of technology in sport, particularly football, for both live matches and for performance or conditioning.

“The digital shift was already well underway in many stadium and arena venues pre-pandemic,” says Rak Kalidas, commercial director, Levy UK + Ireland.

“In September, the UK government announced the formation of the Sport Tech Innovation Group as a way of exploring how technology could enable fans to safely return to live sporting events.” – Verdict Magazine

A World of Opportunities Opening for Sports Technology Jobs.

These significant shifts in the use of technology in sports performance development, as well as spectator safety, is hopefully going to lead to c. We have seen a major hiatus in hiring in the sports sector over the last year, due to a lack of funding, and well, events. But as we start to see this pretty impressive bounce back and with many firms reinvesting in technology. We are anticipating the job market to be awash with exceptionally exciting sport tech jobs. As well as seriously impressive candidates who have been out of work for over a year!

We know it’s been a seriously tough year for the sports sector, and it’s been hard to not be able to offer a solution to any of our network or colleagues. However, we are starting to see the tides turn and well, we can’t miss the opportunity to say it… Football is coming home!

If you’re looking to expand your sports tech team, or you’re wanting to get back into your sports technology career then please do give me a shout, I’d be happy to have an informal chat about how I can support your next move!

Eleanor Carter
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