What can sports do to be considered an essential service?

Sports has essentially been furloughed by society as authorities around the world have deemed it a non-essential service. Even worse, a risk factor to be managed in efforts to keep people apart and “flatten the curve.” If this is not a sign that sports needs to reinvent itself in order to remain relevant, I don't know what else could be.

Sports’ traditional mentality has been very evident over recent weeks as its actors have made laudable efforts to help support those affected by the pandemic. “It is sad that, at a time of elevated need for togetherness, sport has not played a bigger role than it has,” said impact agency Enso’s Sebastian Buck. And he’s right.

And the discussion among leaders across the industry has not been any the more inspirational, with most focusing on the economic impact of the fallout and sports as purely an entertainment product. No one seems to be talking about how to move beyond simply rebooting sports’ old operating system, a system which COVID-19 has already proved to be redundant.

What we need right now is a radically different approach that takes an infinite view on the role that sports can play in building a resilient society. In short, sports needs a just cause — a purpose beyond just delivering entertainment and $$$ — that it can rally all of its stakeholders around and leverage to fuel the birth of Sports 2.0 as an essential service to society.

Excitingly enough, while the business of sports clearly hasn't been paying attention, intoxicated by the trappings of the success of its 40-year-old business model, there are several opportunities lying in plain view. One is the latent power that exists within sports to build community and bring people together. Unsurprisingly, the NBA has been one of the first to identify this opportunity with its NBA Together platform that aims to support, engage, educate and inspire youth, families, and fans in response to the pandemic. Another basketball property, the Golden State Warriors, are also showing signs that they are leaning into this space with their recent partner activations highlighting their vision of becoming a community asset.

The other cultural phenomenon that sports should be leaning into is people’s increasing desire to do good and their rapidly evolving expectations that organizations stand for something more than just profits. People today are OK with businesses making a profit just as long as they do it in a way that is good for their customers, the people that work for them, the communities in which they operate and the environment at large. They want to buy from, work for, invest in, advocate for and support organizations that take a stand. 

Nielsen research from April confirms that this sentiment is alive and well among sports fans. Seventy percent of sports fans surveyed say they would support a sports league based on how they conducted themselves during the crises, 78% agree that brands that lead during times of crisis are stronger than those that follow and 57% say they would try watching a new sport or sports league based on how that sport conducted themselves during the pandemic.

Imagine if we could redesign sports’ value proposition beyond just entertainment to tap into these evolving fan expectations, and sports’ latent power to build community. Imagine if sports were designed with purpose in mind and in such a way that it could rapidly activate and mobilize its fan community in service of good, and in the name of the teams that they passionately follow whether their team was playing or not. Now that would be an essential service. Brazilian club Recife did just this in 2012 with their “Immortal Fans” initiative in which they mobilized over 50,000 of their fans to sign up for an organ donor program that reduced the waiting list for heart transplants in the city to zero, and saved many lives. 

As Buck points out, “This isn't about pivoting from a for-profit model to a nonprofit model, it's about finding ways of creating more value for your community, which in turn unlocks more brand and business value for your organization.” A sentiment echoed by Mike Kitts, senior vice president of partnerships at the Warriors, when he says, “In the eye of this challenge comes the opportunity to innovate. It has the potential to be a real area of growth.”

Yes, we will one day soon be able to again watch and attend live sports events. But my wish is that we will also see sports taking its rightful place in society as an essential service that adds indispensable value that the authorities cannot simply switch off.

Neill Duffy is CEO and founder of 17 Sport, working at the intersection of sport, business and purpose.