The sports industry is already in the sights of the main world leaders. This is demonstrated by the publication of ‘Sports For People And Planet’, a report prepared by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the strategic consultancy Oliver Wyman and published on the occasion of the organization’s annual meeting in Davos (January 19 to 23).
The report draws on more than 130 documentary sources, as well as original research that includes consultations with more than 125 organizations. In it, the components of the sports industry are outlined, whose income in 2025 amounts to 2.3 billion dollars, and the paths that await them in the coming years are outlined.
“Today, the sports economy is a multi-billion dollar and rapidly growing ecosystem. It unlocks business opportunities, inspires commerce, creates jobs and increases productivity,” begin Sebastian Buckup, ‘Managing Director’ of the WEF, and Nick Studer, CEO of Oliver Wyman, in the introduction to the dossier.
The document maintains that the projection of income from the sports industry could reach 8.8 billion dollars in 2050. However, two latent threats endanger around 20% of that turnover (1.6 billion dollars): the decrease in physical activity and climate change.
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The four legs of the sports industry
The sports industry, for the WEF, is made up of four ‘core’ industries and five connected industries. The first, whose turnover amounts to 2 trillion dollars in 2025, are professional and elite sports, participatory sports and physical activity, sports goods and sports tourism. Contrary to what it may seem, it is not elite sport that contributes the most income, but sports tourism, which totals 672,000 million dollars in 2025 (34%), with 140,000 million from the professional sector (7%).
Connected industries include live broadcasting, gaming, nutrition, technology software and wearables, and sports services. In 2016, its turnover was 100,000 million; by 2025, it has tripled, with gaming (sports-themed video games and betting) as the main source of income (39%).
The authors of the report find four ways for the sports industry’s operating account to grow until it reaches forecasts. The first is to promote sports tourism, which is already growing (28% compounded annually) faster than the average for tourism in general (22%). The second is to present sport as an investment asset, something that is already beginning to be appreciated with the various sources of financing in the industry, from sovereign funds to the athletes themselves.
The third is the popularization of women’s sports, in which, at the moment, football and basketball account for 80% of their income. And the fourth is the search for balance between sports growth and emerging economies, which are intervening in this sector through the organization of tournaments (Morocco, Brazil), collaboration with major leagues (Rwanda), investment in teams (Saudi Arabia, Qatar) or their own growth (India, China).
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Health and the environment, keys to growth
However, they also detect two threats: the decline in sports practice and climate change. WEF data indicates that a third of adults do not do as much sport as health authorities recommend, and that percentage is growing, which, according to the text, “dwarfs the fundamental consumer base behind participation, sports tourism, marketing sales and long-term hobby.”
Furthermore, the dossier recalls that a good part of the sports industry (90% of the exploitation of audiovisual rights and 76% of sponsorship income) are related to outdoor activities, which cannot be practiced with guarantees on a planet that increasingly suffers from extreme weather events.
Nor is the impact that sport itself has on the environment forgotten. Significantly, in the UK alone, 100,000 tonnes of sporting goods end up in landfill each year (around 950 t-shirts per minute); or that tennis regulations require balls to be thrown away (325 million a year) after very limited use, and it is not a material that can be recycled.
Given these facts, the WEF proposes three paths for change: improving resource management, with special focus on water management and the promotion of the circular economy; put sport at the center of city development, with long-term beneficial infrastructure for residents; and channel capital flows, whether from investments or sponsorships, with a strategic sense, aligned with the values of sport.
“Together, we can ensure that the future of sport is not only competitive and inspiring, but also sustainable, inclusive and resilient, for both people and the planet,” conclude Buckup and Studer.
With information from EFE.
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