Increased Participation

The balance of player, team, fans, and media has shifted. Fans no longer just watch. They participate, analyze, critique, deconstruct, fantasize and connect with their favorite players and teams in real time. Thanks largely to digital innovation, being a sports fan has never been so emotionally charged, or fun, as it is today. Over time as fans have gotten more and more organized, the virtual monopolies teams and leagues have enjoyed have been broken. You can’t drown out a crowd if you flagrantly do things that they don’t believe in. Organizations have to be able to react a lot faster in this new world and have an increased tolerance for mistakes and missteps. You have to figure out your values and be true to them. Leagues and teams will have to learn how to communicate with authenticity or be ignored.

Kyle Bunch

Group Director of Mobile and Social Platforms for Digital Agency R/GA