How Sportainment is Revolutionizing Sport and Entertainment

The purpose of this presentation is to highlight the transformation of the sport industry into sportainment. In this regard, how does the latter represent a new era, not only for sport, but also for entertainment? Sport, music, performing and visual arts, video gaming, social media, TV, streaming, betting, cryptographic assets and other forms of entertainment are competing for consumers’ time and money. Even more so since the world of entertainment is becoming a hybrid combination of the virtual and physical in how an organization can deliver its brand promise, as well as a value-added brand experience through spectacle and technology. Admittedly, sport has evolved from a physical activity or match on the pitch to an event where entertainment is an integral component of the experience, through the initiatives of both traditional and non-traditional stakeholders. Though this combination of sport and entertainment should ideally be organic, excesses emerge that can damage the integrity of the sport, as we shall illustrate. Schumpeter’s ‘creative destruction’ theory enables us to understand the reshaping of the sport industry boundaries into sportainment. This theory is complemented by Debord’s society of the spectacle, Gabriel’s age of entertainment and Derrida’s epoch of desire and enjoyment. Moreover, the presentation shall address the impact of the ‘tech-celeration’ on sport and entertainment, such as the use of Artificial Intelligence for delivering immersive brand experiences, in line with the concept of ‘gamification’. In conclusion, sportainment might well be just the beginning of a revolution that will impact sport and entertainment globally.