The Sports APP Nightmare.

So you want to sit down and chill and watch your favorite sporting event, easy?

Not really, here's why.

I don't have many pet hates in life, but one of the them is the amount of subscriptions I am required to sign up to for accessing my favorite content, in this case sports content.

It doesn't take long to work out in this day and age what global sports are run efficiently with their consumers (present and future) at top of mind.

Take the sport of Formula 1 as one example.

#F1TV has to be, in my humble opinion the greatest online app for accessing sport that has been created. In a simple click I can watch any live formula one race from anywhere in the world with access to the commentary I choose, and I can also get all of the behind the scenes stuff as well. In a nutshell, brilliant.

Then you come to rugby.

What a drama.

At present living in Mexico it is nigh on impossible to access the games I want to watch across the world due to rights issues, and various platforms owning those rights without having to sign up to at least three different apps.

Not very user friendly is it?

#WorldRugby the governing body of the game obviously doesn't care about its fans as it makes it so difficult for us to access their product, yet in the case of F1 its made super easy.

In the USA the television rights for sports is close to $30b per year. That represents 44% of the global sports market, yet when it comes to track and field the consumers are once again the losers.

World Athletics like their counterparts at World Rugby are unable to provide fans of Track and Field a one stop shop for viewing athletic meets across the world.

A recent decision to do an exclusive deal in the USA has lead athletic fans fuming with the app provider charging $30 per month for viewers to access track meets.

Based on the volume of online dissatisfaction I have researched over this topic alone, the sport has lost potential thousands of potential fans by turning them away to other sports, and choosing to ignore track and field.

All this at a time when World Athletics in their own words is trying to build its brand globally by appealing to a wider audience.

For all sports who want to grow their product globally surely the first thing that should come to mind is "how easy is it for our fans anywhere to access our content anytime".

When it comes to the sport of rugby there are some major financial concerns across the board in many countries. Competitor sports are snagging up rugby fans by offering a product that is easy to access and is priced at a point that is realistic.

I watched a video yesterday where a guy sat down and tallied up his monthly budget for entertainment apps, and it came in at over $1000.

This might be extreme for most, yet it is all relative. As more and more entertainment content gets put behind these pay walls people will choose more and more wisely about what they sign up for.

For me this model is not sustainable and we will see new models eventually come into play.

For now the world of sport is disconnected on many levels and depending on what sport you are a fan of, will depend how easy it is for to access your favorite games / events.

Good luck wherever you are, make sure you enjoy the game.

#sports #rugby #athletics #olympics #basketball