The global sports industry is expected to slow down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the growth of esports will be accelerated, according to a survey published by consulting firm PwC, the vice chair of the Sports Industry Special Committee of the China International Import Expo Enterprise Alliance, in November.

Through collating the responses from 780 questionnaires disseminated to sports industry leaders in more than 50 countries, PwC’s Sports Survey 2020 predicted that the global sports market would slow to an annual growth rate of 3.3 percent in the next three to five years because of the pandemic.

David Dellea, Head of Sports Business Advisory at PwC, said, “This situation may favor the emergence of changes that have long been considered but never achieved to their full extent, whether it be hybrid sports, new revenue streams, drastic governance reforms or enhanced collaborative models.”

The report stated that sectors like simulated sports and esports have been presented with opportunities to grow as the pandemic has significantly accelerated the development of virtual entertainment. Eighty-six percent of industry leaders said they believe that live sports viewing will become significantly richer, immersive and interactive.

Benefiting from unprecedented exposure in the mainstream media, esports has emerged as the big winner in this lockdown period. The simulated sports genre, which temporarily turned into a substitute for real, physical sports, was ranked first by respondents in terms of potential for revenue growth.

The survey results also showed that leaders in the sporting industry fully recognize digital fan experience as a top priority as the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly weakened physical entertainment.

“COVID-19 has been a digital accelerator and an enabler for change. Vision and strategy suddenly became must-haves to secure sports’ future legacy,” said Guido Betti, TV & Marketing Director at Federation Internationale de Volleyball, in the survey.

The overlap between real and virtual sports has been increasingly converging, which merges sports-like physical efforts with esports’ virtual rendering, the survey stated. This hybrid can be seen in innovative cases within professional sports, such as Digital Swiss 5, and Virtual Tour de France. Circumventing most health restrictions, the model can also be applied to mass endurance events, as already experimented with by Asics and runDisney, the survey noted.

The survey also forecast that mobile games will become a key part of future games and esports strategies. As such, in-depth cooperation between mobile game developers and sports organizations may lead to new business models.

While many sports properties utilized virtual competitions to entertain their audiences, COVID-19 has amplified the underlying trend. This unprecedented period has given rise to promising cases at the crossroads between sports and video games, the survey stated.

Around 61 percent of the respondents of the survey said their organization has already engaged with esports, and the discourse around esports has evolved from skepticism to embracing and learning.

The third China International Import Expo Enterprise Alliance consists of 156 exhibitors, all of which are Fortune 500 companies or industry leading enterprises. They have established seven special committees at the CIIE across different sectors -- public health and epidemic prevention, dairy, industrial digital transformation, auto innovative development, smart supply chain, daily consumer products, and sports.

Nine sessions of activities, such as policy exchange conferences, roundtable talks, and subforums were held by the special committees at the CIIE, during which relevant industrial reports were published and the CIIE will share here to better serve our professional exhibitors and visitors.

The Sports Industry Special Committee, chaired by Decathlon, consists of 10 other members such as Nike, Asics, Asian Electronic Sports Federation, Skechers and PwC.

Source: China International Import Expo Bureau