GRIT PR’s 2023 Sports Industry Predictions

2022 was a big year for the sports industry, with everything from massive name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals to an instant classic in the World Cup final. As the curtain closed on 2022, here are eight predictions about the future of sports in 2023.

  1. Female athletes will continue to overtake male athletes for name, image, and likeness deals involving content creation. According to Opendorse, female athletes use social media 19.6% more than fellow male athletes. Expect a further bump in 2023, as many athletes, agents, and brands see the profound value in female athlete content creators. 

  2. Female sports sponsorship will grow another 20% in 2023, built on the backs of content creation. According to Sponsor United, sports sponsorship grew 20% for women in 2022, with a large portion leveraging social media. GRIT PR predicts that female sports sponsorships will grow another 20% in 2023, primarily due to name, image, and likeness deals and growing sports properties like San Diego Wave FC, whose star forward Alex Morgan is tied for the most sponsorship deals at 27 with Serena Williams. 

  3. The PAC-12 will fill out the holes left in the conference with West Coast teams. The final piece in the USC and UCLA departure plan occurred in December 2022, when UCLA’s Board of Regents approved their departure for the Big 10. With USC and UCLA set to join the Big 10 on August 2, 2024, officially, the Pac-12 has one year to fill the enormous gap in the market left by these teams, With six wins against Pac-12 teams since 2016, eyes are on San Diego State. 

  4. More high school athletes will sign NIL deals in 2023. According to On3, “more than half of the high school athletic associations in the country allow athletes to sign NIL deals.” What was a slow trickle in 2022 might be floodgates opened wide in 2023 as colleges continue to get more creative in the recruiting process. 

  5. With a new NCAA president Governor Charlie Baker, starting in March 2023, expect more NIL guidelines and perhaps crackdowns. By their own admission, the NCAA stated that the current NIL landscape is an “untenable patchwork of individual state laws.” Expect to see the NCAA use the political acumen of Governor Baker to broker what they consider to be mutually beneficial guidelines. With his guidance, it would not be a surprise if collectives are also reprimanded for going against these rules.

  6. Live broadcasting will continue to be more interactive. As the XFL returns and promises to push the boundaries of live broadcasts like its pre-COVID version, its unique tactics will be seen in other leagues, especially on ESPN properties. Think more in-game interviews and mic’d-up athletes. 

  7. One NFL team will be sold. With a secret bidding process underway for the Washington Commanders, the publicly disgraced owners Dan Snyder is likely to sell the franchise or, as some propose, play a billionaires game of keep away. While the D.C.-based NFL team is the most fitting for sale, there are other teams that could shake things up. CBS Sports published a list “looking at the five NFL teams most likely to be sold next.

  8. Viewership for the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™ will eclipse two billion viewers for the first time. An influx of interest and money in women’s soccer – due to the success of the 2022 Men’s World Cup and the level of competition expected in the women’s this summer – has us predicting that this year’s tournament will exceed the 1.9 billion viewers recorded in 2019.

Looking for more 2023 predictions? Check out “13 figures to watch in the NIL landscape in 2023” by Andy Wittry or this article from Extra Points with Matt Brown.

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