Sport’s Billion-Dollar Blind Spot

Sport’s Billion-Dollar Blind Spot

“What percentage of Americans do you think pay for AI?”

“25%? 20%?”

The answer given was 2%.

I paused when I heard that exchange. The figure needs context: payment captures only part of adoption. But the surprise stayed with me.

Spend enough time around people immersed in a technology, and you begin to assume the whole world has caught up.

As you build your 2027 business plan, how much of your strategy rests on that assumption?

In this series, I have explored the opportunities sport can open for businesses. This brings us to a market that deserves more attention: Tier 2 and Tier 3 clubs.

The market outside your circle

We attend the same conferences, follow the leading clubs and discuss technology with people who already understand its possibilities.

Eventually, those possibilities feel obvious.

Imagine an executive at a club such as Bayern Munich, surrounded by specialists and technology partners.

Now picture a commercial director at a smaller club, managing sponsorships, ticket sales and partner relationships with a handful of colleagues.

Something familiar to the first could change the second’s commercial plan.

Who has shown that director what is possible? Who has connected it to an immediate priority and explained how to begin?

Established knowledge inside your circle may still be an undiscovered opportunity outside it.

At HYPE, we connect technology companies with sports organisations. That position gives us a responsibility to help both sides see beyond their familiar networks.

For technology companies: develop a new market

Consider a hypothetical club struggling to renew sponsorships. Partners want clearer evidence of value. Its commercial team spends hours gathering information and preparing reports.

Elsewhere, a growth-stage technology company already helps businesses organise customer information and measure commercial outcomes.

There may be a fit. Neither side has started the conversation.

Across Tier 2 and Tier 3, where could your existing capabilities solve a recurring problem?

These clubs need to grow revenue, serve supporters and make limited resources go further. Some also need help discovering which solutions could work for them.

A buyer’s silence tells you very little about an opportunity they have never been shown.

For your 2027 plan, identify a specific need, test willingness to pay and establish how to serve similar clubs profitably. A suitable offer could become a repeatable revenue channel.

For clubs: put discovery into your plan

“That is for bigger clubs.”

How often does that thought end an exploration before anyone checks the cost, effort or potential return?

Choose one challenge you have learned to live with: sponsorship renewals, supporter service, content demands or repetitive administration.

Investigate what is possible today. What would implementation involve? Who would own it? What result would make it worthwhile?

Give the exploration an owner and a deadline. Otherwise, next year’s plan can carry forward this year’s assumptions.

Leading clubs should ask these questions too. A useful capability may sit outside your usual suppliers, in another industry or within another department.

For brands and leagues: help clubs move

A league could bring members together around a shared challenge. A commercial brand could help partner clubs adopt a useful capability through technology, training and agreed measures of success.

That could become a concrete 2027 initiative, strengthening several clubs and the communities they serve.

The starting point is understanding what those clubs know, need and can realistically implement.

Final Thoughts

Before you finalize 2027

At HYPE, our commitment is to help turn these connections into business opportunities.

Tier 2 and Tier 3 deserve a place in that work. Their commercial potential requires careful testing, relevant solutions and practical support.

Before you finalise your plan, speak to a club outside your usual shortlist. Reopen a challenge you stopped exploring. Show a partner a possibility you consider obvious.

Your next growth market may be full of people who still need to discover what you already know.

With Love for Sports and Innovation,

AR
CEO, HYPE Sports Innovation