Sports Technology And Media Rights - The Year In Review 2020/2021

2020/2021 has been a year like no other for everyone, and the commercial sports world is no exception. The COVID-19 pandemic shook the world in early 2020, largely bringing sport to a complete standstill until May (and in many cases, much later). For an industry which is based on the exploitation of sporting content, having no sport being played at all was a seismic and unprecedented problem for the industry. Thankfully, as soon as governments around the world permitted the return of professional sport, much sport returned to our lives, albeit in COVID-19 secure environments and (largely) without the presence of spectators.

Now, over a year into the pandemic, it is a good time to consider how the commercial sports world has spent the last year dealing with a period of global turmoil for the industry. In doing so, we will consider the following topics:

• the impact of COVID-19 on broadcasting deals;
• technological innovation in sport exploitation;
• esports and streaming; and
• an assessment of the investment and sponsorship landscape over the last 12 months.

It will become apparent that the pandemic has also brought significant opportunity for stakeholders in the industry to innovate, evolve and improve their commercial offering on turbocharged timelines. This article finishes with a forward-looking assessment on what trends and developments from the last year are expected to continue in the forthcoming 12 months.