2021: A great summer of sport?

A year ago, world sport was heading into an improvised summer.

The wave of suspensions that followed the opening weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic had forced back the end of seasons in European club football and the NBA, shuffled calendars in sports like Formula One, and forced the cancellation of tennis and golf majors and the postponement of global events.

The aftermath of Covid-19 in sports

In 2021, many of those regular schedules are back in something like their rightful place – even if there is a crunch approaching when it comes to time and attention. Major League Baseball is running through its season almost as normal while minor league teams, fresh from their first shutdown in 120 years in 2020, are back on the diamond. French Open and Wimbledon tennis, golf’s Open Championship and cycling’s Tour de France have also returned to their usual dates.

It does not take long, however, to find reminders of the unique challenges that the ongoing public health emergency has created. In South America, where the coronavirus is in highly dangerous circulation in several countries, Conmebol has fanned a political firestorm by switching football’s Copa America from Colombia and Argentina to Brazil at less than two weeks’ notice. That move has served the agenda of Brazilian president Jair Bolsanaro, under heavy fire for his neglectful handling of Covid-19, but not Brazil’s players or fans. Many observers have questioned whether the tournament should be taking place at all.

How the Olympics and its sponsors have been affected

The same is true, in different circumstances, of Tokyo 2020 and Japan, where the safety risk is considerably lower but the complexity of staging the world’s biggest multi-sport event is leading to significant compromises. Having fared relatively well through the first year of the pandemic, especially compared to nations in Europe and the Americas, Japan suffered some of its worst times in the opening months of 2021. The result has been a paring-back of plans for the Games, as well as a collapse in public support.

The loss of international fans is a blow to the original vision of Tokyo 2020, as a showcase for the city’s culture and ingenuity. It has also necessitated a change in approach for brands. The International Olympic Committee’s ‘clean venue’ regulation means that its leading partners are not able to get their logos on to billboards in competition, as they would be for other top events. Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter has also historically limited athletes’ freedom to promote other companies during Games-time – although some national bodies have been allowed to revisit those conditions this year. As a consequence, nonetheless, physical set-pieces and demonstrations of value to Olympic fans become more valuable.

With those activities limited by public health measures, more of that focus will now shift online. Sponsors, broadcasters and the IOC have been working to build more of a bridge and a presence for Olympic content between events, and this year could provide an unusual opportunity to experiment with a different range of storytelling techniques.

A growing number of companies in the elite ‘TOP’ tier of global Olympic sponsors – such as Intel, Chinese ecommerce and cloud computing giant Alibaba, and IT provider Atos – have been making more of a business-to-business play as they underline their role in the digital transformation of the Games. At the same time, consumer-focused and FMCG brands like Samsung, Procter and Gamble and Coca-Cola will be integrating themselves into the event in other ways, amplifying stories about how athletes interact with their products, as well as maximising the potential of their rights to use Olympic marks on packaging and above-the-line advertising.

Euro 2020 partners to watch out for

meet fans where they are. Another of the year’s biggest events, the delayed Uefa Euro 2020, should have no problem capturing the attention of football fans across Europe and beyond. However, many of the hallmarks of the biggest tournaments – international travel, full stadiums and city-centre fan zones – will be in shorter supply during this unique, 11-country edition, even if they are not absent altogether.

With that in mind, it will be worth watching some of the incoming partners very closely. Food delivery portal JustEat will be well placed to capitalise on the interest of fans getting evening meals in together during key games, grabbing some market share and tying its identity to that of the footballing summer.

Short-form video platform TikTok, meanwhile, will be using its status as an official Euro 2020 partner to bring its version of content creation to the fore. As supporters prepare for a very different set of experiences this summer, the means they use to communicate them will be fascinating to explore.

Ultimately, the same is true of those at the centre of it all: the athletes. Amid these tumultuous, unprecedented and unanticipated times, those brands finding ways to connect sports stars with their fans have been creating real value. If they can do so this summer, they have a chance to build something to outlast the months ahead.