Cybersecurity in Sport - Thematic Research

Cybersecurity in Sport - Thematic Research

Summary

The industry must ‘overprepare’ for the cyber threat. By 2025, global cybersecurity revenues will have reached $198 billion and partnerships and sponsorships with IT specialists and cybersecurity vendors should be top of the agenda for the 2022/2023 season, due to a lack of in-house skills. Intel and Oracle are the IT companies investing the most into sport sponsorship, with total sponsorships of $549 million and $441 million, respectively. Cybersecurity vendor Cisco is also active in the sports industry, partnering with the NFL to ensure end-to-end security for the Super Bowl LVI and NBCUniversal to protect Olympics coverage. The most successful clubs, federations, and broadcasters will be those with strong partnerships with cybersecurity vendors.

No company is safe from cyberattacks, but sports organizations are more vulnerable than most. Data and revenues make sports organizations cyber targets. The business of sport naturally accrues a large amount of sensitive data. This is everything from customer data from fans to performance data on athletes. The UK National Cyber Security Centre survey found that more than 70% of sports organizations had experienced a cybersecurity breach, more than double the UK average. Sports teams, federations, broadcasters, and sponsors are vulnerable to attacks due to the vast amount of revenue, exposure, and data available, as well as the multiple entry points from distributed communications.

Scope

• The global AR software market is projected to rise exponentially over the rest of this decade. In 2020 AR software was worth $6bn globally, and by 2030, GlobalData forecasts the AR software market will be worth $100bn.
• AR adoption in the sports industry is specific, but increasing, and fan engagement will drive AR in broadcasting and on mobile devices.
• Tech sponsorships and partnerships will advance AR in sport. In 2021, telecommunication operators accounted for $420.56M of sports sponsorships deals and IT services companies spent $205.85M.
• Improved infrastructure from tech sponsorships and partnerships will advance AR in sport, however smaller sports federations will miss out on large-scale technological partnerships and investment. For example, Verizon is the official 5G partner of the National Hockey League (NHL) and is trialing its 5G network for in- stadium AR experiences on mobile.
• Leading sports federations and teams adopting AR are the NFL, NHL, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and Manchester City Football Club.
• Leading sponsors and vendors supporting AR in sport are Verizon, Sony, Douyin (TikTok), Brainstorm, and Vizrt AR

• Market size and grown forecasts of the cybersecurity market
• Case study examples of high profile cyberattacks in the sports industry, and case study examples of cyberattack prevention strategies in the sports industry
• Alternative datasets and analysis showing cybersecurity patent, company filings, and hiring trends in the sport sector
• Comparison of the major sports federations and whether they employ a chief information security officer (CISO).
• Comprehensive analysis of challenges facing the sports industry, and impact assessment of how these challenges increase the need for cybersecurity
• Cybersecurity value chain and in-depth descriptions of key cybersecurity software, like identity management, network security, endpoint security, threat detection and response, cloud security, unified threat management, and more.