Fans want to enhance their in-person professional sports experiences through technology

Advances in live sports broadcasting and streaming help fans feel closer to the action without having to leave the comforts of home. Fans have grown accustomed to watching sports from home with features like live analysis and commentary, player and team statistics, and even access to alternate broadcast feeds adjacent to their view.¹

Even so, it’s often difficult to replicate the excitement of a live event: the roar of the crowd, the shared exultation of a buzzer-beating win, or the despair of a last-minute loss.

While the general atmosphere and sharing the experience with friends and family are the top reasons among survey respondents, fans have many motivations for attending live professional sporting events. Data analysis from Deloitte’s 2023 Sports Fans Insights survey revealed that fans prefer more interaction with the event while in the venue. In fact, 58% of sports fans say that when they are at a live professional sporting event, they wish they had access to the same statistics, analysis, and replays that they get while watching at home. This figure jumps closer to 70% for Gen Z and millennial sports fans surveyed.²

So, while the at-home viewing experience continues to improve, sports leagues and organizations should think about how to give fans more of what they want when they’re attending events in-venue. Technology—and mobile devices, specifically—may be part of that winning equation.

Mobile devices may be bridging the gap between the in-venue and at-home experiences. More than 8 out of 10 (82%) sports fans say they use their mobile phones in some way while at a live professional sporting event. Around a quarter of sports fans surveyed use their mobile devices to post to social media during the live event, and a similar segment uses them to look up player or team statistics.

When asked about what additional capabilities they would want on their mobile device while attending live professional sporting events, 77% said they would like to watch replays, 68% would want the ability to view the action from a different angle, 59% want to watch the game from a player’s point-of-view, and 35% of respondents would want to look at augmented reality overlays with player stats. Unsurprisingly, younger sports fans (Gen Zs and millennials) are more likely to be interested in these enhanced capabilities. Some leagues, teams, and stadiums are ahead of the game–so to speak–with platforms and apps that allow fans to watch replays, see live stats, play interactive games, and chat with other attendees.³

But with high mobile device usage in-venue comes the need for reliable mobile networks. And despite many stadiums for major sports leagues having 5G service,⁴ nearly 40% of sports fans surveyed say it’s hard to use their mobile phone the way they want to while at live sporting events because of poor connectivity.

At the same time, 68% of sports fans say people are on their mobile devices too much during live professional sporting events, suggesting that venues and organizations face a balancing act. Finding ways to engage attendees digitally in the stadium—without taking away from the event and the electricity of the atmosphere—will likely not only improve fans’ experience at the venue but could also keep them coming back for more. The future lies in integrating the physical and digital worlds and offering the best of both to sports fans, regardless of where they’re sitting.

Key considerations for sports leagues, teams, and organizations:

• The in-venue spectator experience should be memorable and unique so fans keep coming back. Augmented reality technology can likely be used to make experiences interactive—think holographic displays, immersive games that put attendees into action with digital twins, and real-time statistics.  
• If they haven’t already, stadium operators should invest in private 5G networks that deliver mobile experiences simply and seamlessly to every device in the venue. They should also think ahead to potential partnerships around 6G technology.
• Sports leagues, teams, and organizations should be leveraging their own digital properties (and mobile apps) to collect and leverage fan data.⁵ Building out a proprietary and comprehensive fan database could allow sports entities to better understand and monetize their fanbase by personalizing experiences.