In the ever-evolving landscapes of sports and entertainment, innovation and disruption play pivotal roles by which to continue growth. Some say that more innovation and disruption is needed as both industries face saturation in areas of revenue growth, where ticket sales, merchandise and sponsorship deals are under greater investment scrutiny. On the flip side, there are some in the community who believe that there is innovation and disruption fatigue, where the value is just not coming through in time at scale.
For example, from a Sports/Entertainment organisation’s perspective, the media distribution dynamic is in a state of flux. Whether its D2C, DAZN being the ‘buyer of last resort’ of media rights or the abdication of fan relationships to Big Tech as they better align with Gen Z and Alphas habits, it seems all a bit non-stop with no stability in sight. Coupled with the fact that the jury is out on the ROI’s, it seems that at less than 5% year on year growth, that the same envelope of money is doing the rounds and just changing distribution channels.
Or Fan Engagement. How much more can the genuine fan pay to follow their passion before retiring to their mobile phone to just watch the highlights on YouTube? What depth of relationship can be had with transitory fans (not the same as the “prawn sandwich eating brigade”) if you do not engage with genuine care for the fan beyond them opening their wallets? Even worse, how much more can you keep spending to prevent piracy when it’s already worth $28.8B in lost revenue with no signs of it abating?
Research co-conducted with PlayitForward has estimated that deeper fan engagement could be worth over £150m per season just for the Premier League.
So, what kind of 'innovation' and 'disruption' has been done so far and are there tools are available to help unlock new value from your fans? More importantly, can you combine them to create a sustainable force of good growth that could reshape entire industries? Some in your community say it can, but that is then called Transformation. According to Mimo research, getting it right shows that the top 6 US sports could be sitting on a $3B per year goldmine of new fan revenue.
So, let’s review what has been done to date across the Sports and Entertainment industries, and then share the tools to unlock this new growth.
Innovation: Incremental Improvements Creating New Value
Innovation typically refers to the process of making incremental improvements to existing products, services or processes. It's about making things better, faster or more efficient within established frameworks.
Sports Example: When the NBA introduced the shot clock in 1954, it revolutionised basketball without changing its fundamental nature. This innovation dramatically increased scoring, eliminated stalling tactics and transformed the game into the fast-paced spectacle fans love today. Similarly, when Formula 1 implemented the Drag Reduction System (DRS), it cleverly increased overtaking opportunities without sacrificing the sport's competitive essence, making races more exciting for viewers.
Entertainment Example: Disney's pivot to create Marvel's interconnected cinematic universe represented brilliant innovation within the established film industry. By weaving characters and storylines across multiple films, Disney created unprecedented audience investment that transformed standalone superhero movies into a cultural phenomenon grossing over $25billion. The innovation came not from inventing new technology but from reimagining how stories could be told across multiple films.
Disruption: Radical Changes Redefining Industries
Disruption involves radical changes that fundamentally alter industries, often displacing established players. True disruption typically starts by serving overlooked segments before moving upmarket and challenging incumbents.
Sports Example: When Red Bull created action sports competitions like the X Games and Crashed Ice, they didn't just sponsor events—they invented entirely new sports categories. By appealing to younger audiences seeking extreme experiences, Red Bull transformed from a beverage company into a media empire that owns teams, creates content and hosts events watched by millions. I personally love the RB Soapbox Challenge! Traditional sports organisations now struggle to match their cultural relevance among Gen Z and Alpha viewers.
Entertainment Example: When Spotify launched in 2008, the music industry was still fighting illegal downloading. Rather than merely digitising albums, Spotify completely reimagined music consumption by offering unlimited streaming for a monthly fee. This model not only disrupted CD sales and iTunes downloads but fundamentally changed how artists release music—shifting from album-centric to single-centric strategies—and how royalties are distributed. The industry's entire economic model was overturned in less than a decade.
Transformation: The Sum of Innovation and Disruption and Beyond
Transformation represents a complete reimagining of business models, customer experiences and value propositions. While often described as the combined effect of both innovation and disruption, transformation is actually more than just their sum—it's a holistic reinvention that creates exponential rather than incremental change.
When the UFC transformed combat sports, they combined innovations (octagonal cage, unified rules) with disruption (reality TV promotion, social media-friendly personalities) to create something entirely new. The result wasn't just better boxing or wrestling—it was a complete reimagining of fighting as entertainment that grew from a $2 million struggling business in 2001 to a $4 billion valuation in 2016.
In entertainment, Netflix's transformation journey illuminates this concept perfectly. Beginning with the innovative DVD-by-mail model, Netflix later disrupted cable TV with streaming. But its true transformation came when it integrated these approaches with original content creation, advanced viewer analytics and global distribution—creating an entirely new entertainment ecosystem that fundamentally changed how stories are funded, created, distributed and consumed worldwide.
New Growth Opportunities with a Transformation Mindset
Sports and Entertainment organisations that embrace a transformation mindset look beyond short-term innovations or single disruptive technologies. They envision entirely new possibilities. Some examples that are in the pipeline or can be leveraged include:
- Enhanced Fan Engagement: Leveraging social media, interactive apps and AR/VR experiences can create personalised and immersive interactions that drive loyalty and revenue. Imagine watching a soccer football game where you can toggle between pitch side seats, a player's perspective or coaching views—all while interacting with other fans globally. These innovations foster deeper connections, making fans feel like an integral part of the action and enhancing overall engagement.
- Community-Owned Entertainment: Blockchain and tokenisation technologies have the potential to transform ownership models in sports and entertainment. Fan collectives could own stakes in teams, artists or content, creating new economic relationships between creators and consumers. This shift empowers fans, fostering a sense of ownership and investment in their favourite teams and artists whilst promoting a more equitable distribution of value within the industry.
- Hyper-Personalised Viewing Experiences: Imagine watching an NFL game where you can select not just camera angles, but completely personalised audio commentary tailored to your knowledge level, favourite players and betting interests. Using AI, viewers could even create "what-if" scenarios mid-game, exploring alternative play calls and probabilities while sharing these simulations with friends in virtual viewing parties—turning passive watching into interactive entertainment.
- Athlete-to-Fan Direct Economy: The traditional model of teams employing athletes who perform for fans is being transformed by direct relationships. There is a transition from the LeBron James' Uninterrupted platforms or athlete-led NFT projects to allow direct monetisation of fan relationships with fans directly funding athlete development through tokenised shares of future earnings is all speculative investments. But what if it could be de-risked for fans and fundamentally transform sports economics, with a new asset class pledged as a hedge? It would certainly be more fan friendly.
- Physical-Digital Integration: Theme parks like Disney continuously explore transformation by blending physical and digital experiences. Imagine attending a concert where your smartphone doesn't just provide information but becomes an essential part of the experience — controlling lighting elements, contributing to interactive visuals and creating personalised souvenirs blending your biometric responses with event highlights.
- Narrative Universes Instead of Products: Entertainment companies are transforming from content creators to universe builders. Rather than producing individual movies or games, companies like Epic Games (with Fortnite) are creating persistent worlds where narratives unfold across multiple media types simultaneously—concerts occur in game worlds, gameplay influences streaming content and physical merchandise contains codes unlocking digital experiences.
- Climate-Adaptive Entertainment: As climate concerns grow, transformational thinking will reinvent how sports and entertainment handle sustainability. Beyond carbon offsets, imagine Formula E racing where fans' collective transit choices to the event affect race parameters, or stadiums that generate more energy than they consume and distribute excess to local communities, turning entertainment venues into civic infrastructure.
Sounds interesting? So where do you start?
To help orientate yourself first, you may have asked the 3 most important strategy questions:
- Where am I?
- Where do I want to be?
- How do I get there?
From this, Mimo has developed a world’s first 360 degree framework that depicts 7 macro success criteria of a sports organisation, based across 21 categories of operations which include 184 sub-categories of measurement. This tool is unique because it maps not just the success criteria and sub-categories, but also their interdependencies. For example, at what point could financial fair play ratios impact the club's governance if the salary cap was breached? At what point could the carbon footprint for travel be impacted with greater European competition success?
Adding to the unique framework, is also the notion of “Safety Limits” in fast moving digital world.
It's not a braking system to slow organisations down. It’s more an introduction of "speed limits". These limits map a relative point beyond which a certain category’s performance may be negatively impacted by another inter-dependent category, if investment is not managed in a holistic manner. For example, when will there be an impact to player well-being with fixture congestion? Or, at what point could the club’s brand/heritage be impacted with supporter sentiment by having too many sponsor logos?
To see how the framework has been applied to the Football industry, download the free report here [INSERTLINK].
By using the tools, you can unlock a further revenue stream for your organisation that is good for the brand, deepens your fan engagement and offers all fans the chance to earn and not just spend.
If you would like to learn more about the framework to unlock new revenue, please contact us. [INSERTLINK].
Cheers!