The Future of Sports Looks a Lot Like Video Games
With sporting events on hold until 2021, the industry needs a plan B
March came and went without any Madness. UEFA Champions League football declared no champions. Baseball closed the door on opening day. And the NFL had to hold a virtual draft in lieu of a real one. The global coronavirus pandemic halted every major sporting event around the world this year, so I fought boredom by digging my Nintendo Classic console out of storage and switching on Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter II.
My choices may have been decidedly old school, but I wasn’t alone in my detour from sports to video games. Verizon reports that online gaming overall has increased 75% during peak hours across North America in recent weeks. Valve Corporation, the maker of game-distribution network Steam, reported record numbers of users in March — peaking at more than 20 million players at a time. Microsoft buttressed its Xbox Live service to meet surging demand, and to prevent interruptions like those that afflicted Amazon’s Twitch.
Hundreds of millions of people are locked down at home with no live sports to distract them, so it’s no wonder many turn their attention to gaming — with these new habits likely to outlast the outbreak. It’s time for the incredibly lucrative live sports industry to…
