Standing On The Cutting Edge
Article by Nick Keller, Chairman of Sport Industry Group
Many themes have been associated with sport over the last twelve months: society, youth, inclusion, disability, obesity, role models, leadership, corruption, fix, racism, domestic violence, bullying, gender…I could go on.
And it raises the point – while sport has become serious business, it has also become serious.
As our world becomes more digitalised and globalised, sport is providing a way for people to interact, share, and connect – tapping into the passions of young people who love to watch, talk about, and connect into sport.
Sport captures the hearts and minds of people around the world – we know this – but are we properly using this power to engage them?
The global population is not only young – more than half of the world’s people are under 25 – but they are also more socially conscious and thinking about charity in a different way than ever before.
In the UK we are faced with 750,000 young people (16-25 year olds) out of employment and feeling a sense of exclusion from society. In a fast developing economy and populous country like Nigeria, 43.6% are under the age of 14. This is a country expected to have the third largest population in the world by 2100.
These are just two examples, from staggeringly different regions, but they express the urgent need for an authentic interaction with young people. Sport provides a nearly unparalleled platform to reach millions of people, irrespective of who they are and how old.
As our industry takes us on a journey of new ways to communicate and consume, I see an opportunity of finding new ways to reaching out to young people to create a conversation using sports as a vehicle to talk about inclusion, collaboration, leadership and opportunity. And this is what Cutting Edge Sport is all about.
SportIndustry.biz’s new online hub will be capturing the most up-to-date trends as they happen: from data to analytics, from social to digital, from enterprise to crowd-funding. But more importantly, it offers us new ways for sport to reflect on its position in the world, the leadership role it has and that the desire to innovate in this industry is something of consequence not just for your business but for society as a whole.
My own entrepreneurial journey began when I became a rugby agent the day the sport turned professional. I knew the impact sport has, and would have, on my life and now people really know sport matters. With this understanding, we should prepare ourselves for a thrilling ride towards the heart of society.
I hope you can also share your views and contribute to Cutting Edge Sport and see the potential it has to educate us on how we can reach new people, regions, markets, all through sport.
Join the discussion #CuttingEdgeSport
