 Welcome to the Sports Playbook where we discuss solutions to issues that impact sports. I'm your host, Angela Hazlett. Today's guest is Catherine Noir, Chief Innovation Officer at Sports Futurists. Today we're going to discuss the future of sports, where we will be in 10 years. Today's episode is going to follow a different format. In advance of the show, I asked previous guests of the Sports Playbook to share with me their questions on the future of sports. Catherine, I am grateful to have your expertise on the show as the Chief Innovation Officer of Sports Futurists. Welcome to the show, Catherine. All right. Thank you, Angela. It's great to be here. Catherine, we should start off by explaining that the responses we give our forecast 10 years or more into the future. We're not giving predictions, rather we're creating a vision of the future and what it might be. So let's get to it. Our first question is from Skip Gilbert, the CEO of US Youth Soccer. His question is, what is the biggest challenge that will impact the future of participation and fan engagement within the world of sports? Catherine, why don't you start? Okay. I think we're going to talk about what everyone's talking about around the world and that is AI, artificial intelligence. And it's going to have a huge impact in sports. However, I think the impact will be different when you're looking at different regions of the world based on economic and cultural and technological capabilities. It's kind of interesting that when we're looking at 10 years in the future, there's a lot of these things that are happening in AI now. However, it's going to AI kind of changes every 48 hours. It's such fast moving and growing phenomenon. And with AI, right now, it might take a while to implement some of these things. But in the future, and I don't know if it'll be three years, five years, 10 years, but kids will be taking classes about AI in high school. They'll be just like algebra, they'll be taking AI. And that will fuel this AI kind of integration in so many different areas, including sports and recreation. We're talking about sports today, and it's going to be a huge impact. We're looking at the balance between technology enhancement and maintaining the human element that is central in sports. First of all, let's look at authenticity versus AI integration. Okay, sports are fundamentally about human competition. And the problem with AI is that clearly we're talking about machines. And as AI becomes integrated into sports through virtual reality experiences, AI augmented broadcasts or even AI in decision making like umpires, there's a risk of losing that authentic experience that fans and participants value. Now let's talk about probably the biggest risk, and that's data privacy and security. And that will be part of the challenge here. AI systems require vast amounts of data to be effective. And in sports, this might include biometric data of athletes, statistics about performance, personal data about fans to enhance engagement. Ensuring that the data is handled securely and ethically is a significant challenge. Okay, so now let's talk about fairness and bias. That's a lot of people are talking about that with regard to AI right now. AI systems are only as good as the data they are trained on. There's a challenge in ensuring that AI in sports does not perpetuate existing biases or create unfair advantages, whether it's in player selection, performance analysis, or a fan engagement experiences and strategies. Okay, so and then I kind of alluded to this before, but accessibility is a big issue with regard to AI. And while AI has a potential to make sports more accessible to diverse audiences by providing personalized experiences and content, there's also the risk that it could widen the gap between those with access to technology and those without. Heather, and I think you've brought up a lot of really interesting and valuable points about artificial intelligence and the impacts that it may have in the sports realm. I'm particularly intrigued about the piece on how it can impact player well-being and how we might be able to better predict their athlete's ability to play and perform, maybe when they would return to play after injury, or maybe what their load is, their player load, and as far as what's their maximum capacity, how hard can we push these athletes before preventing some injury from happening. So that was really impactful and important. And I love what you mentioned about the bias that could go into artificial intelligence. And I hope that AI might actually be used to remove some of that inherent bias that we have as individuals and hopefully remove some of that and help us make better, more objective-based, informed, data-based decisions. So that to me is really exciting for the future. Yeah. Oh, I was just going to say, you know, yeah, you have great points there. And I haven't quite gotten to fan engagement. So I do want to kind of delve into that. Do we have any other—asides from fan engagement, do we have any other issues related to AI that you'd like to discuss? Well, I think AI is really important for making informed decisions, as I mentioned before, about our coaching decisions, about our scouting decisions. I think that's really exciting. That goes into the training, better training decisions. But let's go ahead and transition into the fan engagement because I think the customer experience is really important and how powerful AI can be for the customer experience. So what do you envision in 10-plus years? How is AI going to enhance fan engagement? Okay, first I'll start by telling you a little bit of story about what happened to me yesterday. Okay, I was traveling back from Las Vegas. And while in Las Vegas, you know, of course I had my phone with me. It was probably listening to everything I was doing. And my friend that I was traveling with and we went to the Ramawa store and we were talking about Ramawa a lot because I have a Ramawa luggage. And so we went in the store, we're talking to the Ramawa people. And then we also went to Starbucks a number of times. Of course, I had my phone with me and my watch that were listening to me. And in the airport, when I was heading to baggage claim, before I got to baggage claim, I went to Starbucks and got a hot chocolate. And so then I go and I'm waiting for my luggage and I'm sitting on a bench right in front of a billboard. It was kind of a video billboard. And then it shows this ad for Ramawa. And I thought, wow, that's pretty cool that it's showing that ad from Ramawa. Then it goes into a Starbucks ad that showed a hot chocolate. I realized that there was facial recognition and that it had recognized me and was tailoring the ads to me. So when we're talking about fan engagement, facial recognition is a big part of it. And fan engagement with AI is going to allow a much more personalized experience just as I experienced at the airport when it had ads that were actually directed right at me. So AI will enable hyper personalized fan experiences, tailoring content, advertisements, and interactions to individual preferences, perhaps even adjusting in real time during live events. So you could imagine everything targeted to the people that it is recognizing. Catherine, one of my favorite apps to use on my phone is the Waze app. And I love that kind of crowdsourcing of data that helps interpret whether I should take, you know, a certain route home and if I'm going to encounter traffic along the way. I could see incorporating this into being engagement experiences for parking, how they navigate through stadiums or facilities and kind of making the experience much better and helping them not to get lost. The days of wayfinding signage, kind of as you alluded to, can be more engaging and interactive with the human experience. Absolutely. And I, you know, further reference to my trip to Las Vegas, I went to the sphere and they have these AI robots that were born in March of 2023 and they've been trained on data since that time. And they're like one year olds. That's what they call themselves. And I had the opportunity to engage with several of them asking them questions. And it's easy to surprise them with things, but they do recognize, they recognize, after I introduced myself, one of them would call me Catherine and she would engage with me that way. And then another one just called me human. Hey, human. But, you know, that's, they're in their infancy at that level. And I can see 10 years in the future that if you go into any kind of stadium or arena, that you're going to have robots that are going to help you. And they're going to be much more sophisticated. They're going to, you know, probably address you by name. They will be able to discuss with you the game and players and, and they can, they can probably even walk along with a group and, and lead them to a particular area. They're, you know, it's amazing what we, what will happen 10 years into the future. It seems so incredible now, but in 10 years that will be normal for us. Come in place. Absolutely. Absolutely. And even recommend for them to purchase tickets to the next event before they even leave the stadium. I think that's incredible. And Catherine, that answers actually another one of our questions from Jeff Wilson, who is a global sports strategist. And his question was about the role that AI will play in terms of fan engagement. You know, the way I see the next 10 years playing out for participation and fan engagement, I see the exponential growth in women's sports. And I think it's phenomenal. It's already happening. I think it's going to continue to grow and thrive. And more women participating at the semi-professional, professional level, more teams, women having opportunities to not only compete more, but to get paid more equitably to their male counterparts. And I think that's a really exciting future for females. There'll be a great role model. I know there's concern for the future of grassroots programs and whether or not the youth of tomorrow will continue to participate in sport. And I think it's really exciting to think about how these role models may influence the next generation. In addition to women coming more into sports in the next 10 years, think about the residual impacts to other sports-related industries, like the sports betting industry and the growth of that. Social media engagement of fans through, you know, their favorite sports, following their favorite sports teams, following their favorite athletes, increased media and broadcast rights and sponsorships. So I really see this impactful growth in the next 10 years for women's sports. Catherine, I want to go ahead and move on to our next question, which is from Katie Baker, who is the sporting director for USA Curling. And Katie's question is about safe sport. We are all really too familiar with Larry Nasser and Jerry Sandusky, who use their privilege in sports to cause sexual abuse. Just for some context, safe sport is a non-profit responsible for responding to end and prevent emotional, physical and sexual misconduct and abuse in the US Olympic and Paralympic movement. Katie's question is, how will safe sport affect the future of sports? Catherine? Well, I'm going to talk about the legal and financial implications starting with legal, okay. So let's talk about compliance requirements. Organizations will need to adhere to specific standards and regulations, potentially leading to increased legal scrutiny and the need for regular audits to ensure compliance with the safe sport policies. There's also liability concerns. And of course, as an attorney that does litigation, that's something that I think of the most. And there will be a higher focus on liability and the potential for lawsuits related to negligence or failure to protect athletes, particularly minors from abuse. And we've already seen quite a few of those lawsuits and training and education, mandatory training programs on abuse prevention. And I think that will continue on into the future that's already taking place. And we're talking, we also would have to note that there would have to be certifications and periodic refreshers and reporting mechanisms. And that will probably increase and continue. And investigation protocols. I mean, I think we saw with Larry Nasser, I think those failed significantly. Now let's look at the financial implications and I'm going to say the word that I say all the time, insurance. So as safe sport policies become more stringent insurance premiums for organizations might rise to cover increased risk of claims for abuse and misconduct, or on the other hand, they could lower. Like if an organization demonstrates that they have the adhere to strict policies and enforcement and their hiring practices are sound, maybe they can work with insurance companies to lower those premiums. Resource allocations, that's a key financial issue. More resources may be needed for development and maintenance of safe sports programs, including hiring dedicated staff, sponsorship and funding, compliance with safe sport principles may become a prerequisite for sponsorship and funding. And with possible financial repercussions for non-compliance. And then of course settlements and fines increase the financial burden on an institution. Catherine, it sounds like a lot of the same stuff that's happening currently may continue 10 years into the future. I am looking at this safe sport from the lens of participation and participation of both athletes and coaches. And those who are also included in maybe in this support staff type of role. So on one hand, I believe that safe sport has a good mission to protect athletes and sport to end the cycle of abuse that that has happened in sport. And by having a mechanism like safe sport, it does allow an opportunity for people to report issues to get better training and hopefully create a safer space, safer environment for participation. And maybe parents will feel more comfortable having their kids participate in a sport like gymnastics where they may not be as much parental oversight and have athletes feel like they're working in a safer space. But on the flip side, there are the coaches, there are the support staff who are concerned that these allegations may come forward and may change the their approach of how they how they coach of how they support the athletes. What might be considered encouragement or more of a tough love type of environment might be interpreted as abuse. So kind of a misunderstanding, potential misunderstanding of the definition of abuse and how it's applied in a particular situation. I think one of the challenges that exists now, that will hopefully in 10 years improve is the reporting mechanism in the clearinghouse. How do we quickly eliminate the any false claims? How do we quickly dismiss claims that don't have a basis? And how do we really investigate and quickly respond to cases that do have merit? So I think the timing needs to be improved. And in 10 years, I think we're going to do a better job. But my concern is that the damage will be done in 10 years, and that we're going to have a reduced number of coaches and support staff in sports. We may have an increase in athletes and parents who want their children to participate in sport, and maybe not enough support staff to support that. So those are those are my concerns and questions about the future with the safe sport issue. Catherine, and looking at our time that we have left together, I really want to get to our final question for today. So our final question is from AJ Manette. He's an account director at CSM Live. His question is, what is a trend in sports that most people aren't talking about right now, but is something that they should keep an eye on for the future? Okay, have you heard of the word, digital? Digital. Please tell us what that means. Let me explain. It's a blend of physical and digital experiences. I actually had a show on the wide world of sports with Hado, which is dodgeball in a digital space. And that's a great example of digital. It's kind of merging the physical and digital experiences. And this is done in different ways. There's augmented reality enhancements, which is AR. Fans and stadiums may use AR to see real-time stats and data overlays when watching the game or even see replays and alternate angles directly from their seats. Virtual reality, VR training, athletes can use VR to train and simulate specific game scenarios enabling them to practice without the physical strain or risk of injury. Okay, this is great for American football. Digital fan engagement, new platforms, could allow fans to interact with players virtually, participate in decision-making, or even influence live games through digital channels. And I already mentioned kind of an esports integration like Hado and smart equipment, the use of wearables and smart equipment to provide feedback on performance like a bat that has digital capabilities. And hybrid viewing options, streaming services may allow for more interactive viewing option that combines live physical, sports and interactive gamified elements. That sounds like a very exciting future. And I love that word, fidgetle. It kind of reminds me of fidget spinners, but clearly much more advanced with the digital capabilities. I love that the ability to engage with those experiences, even collecting data like you mentioned with the having exporting equipment that has digital capabilities embedded in it as well that can help with training and performance. Well, Angela, we had a conversation about that. And now on my phone, I constantly get the ads for soccer balls that have the dribble up. Yes, yes, I think it's really exciting when athletes can train by themselves and have some digital feedback, digital coaching. And so maybe our in the future will be less reliant on a physical coach being present and being able to give feedback and reports. You know, even having a virtual coach allows those people who live in rural areas or maybe you're traveling or training to have access to the support staff that they need to perform better. So that's really exciting. And I think the trend that we need to watch 10 years from now is the growth in flag football. And the reason for this is that the LA 2028 Olympic Games is going to debut flag football. And because of that, I see this sport as growing, as increasing. It's a different option. It's a different avenue. And it may be even an initial option for athletes, younger athletes to learn the sport of football before they get into the tackle football. I know there's concerns around football and concussions. And this is a different avenue for youth to participate and also a great avenue for women to participate in football as well. So the debut at the 2020 Olympic Games is really exciting. And it's a much cheaper alternative too that requires a lot less equipment when you don't have to worry about being tackled. So what do you think about flag football and the future of that sport? You know, I think the LA 2028 Olympic Games gives us a glimpse into the future. And I think flag football is one of those. I think we see a couple other trends and one related to the 2028 Olympics. And that is cricket. They've added cricket. And I think cricket is growing exponentially across around the world. And we're going to see that emerge as a much more a game that is even played in the West. But I think, you know, you have a great point about flag football. I think that's going to grow. And these are exciting. This is an exciting future that we can look forward to in the world of sports. I love that it's a different solution because athletes can still engage in the sport of football with a decreased risk of concussions, decreased risk of other types of injuries. And it's a way to cost effectively grow the sport. I think it's a phenomenal, phenomenal solution to continue to have engagement in the sport of football. It's amazing how popular the sport is. There's an estimated 20 million people in more than 100 countries that play the sport. And it will be really exciting to watch in 2028. So Catherine, do you have any final words for our audience on the future of sports? Well, you know, I always like to look at the future as something that we we're striving to achieve our best future. And so let's take action to make that happen. So 10 years from now that we have a vibrant and growing sports industry. I agree. I think that's phenomenal having an optimistic vision for the future and what's possible. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to everyone's questions that who sent them to us. But we really appreciate those who had questions about the future of sports. And thank you, Catherine, for your insight into the future of sports and where we'll be in 10 years. Thank you, Angela. Thank you to our viewers for joining us today on the sports playbook, where the future of sports looks bright. We will see you in the future.