Future Economics and Investment Opportunities in Arab Sports

Dr. Hamada Eid Alantably

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Amidst global economic development, sports—with all their human and material resources, and the services and products they offer to a vast base of beneficiaries—have become one of the best fields for generating profit. In developed countries, sports have transformed into an industry aimed at achieving financial gains from all their activities. This is achieved through player transfer markets, leveraging facilities, equipment, and stadiums, and marketing sports tournaments and matches.

However, in Arab countries, sports have not reached this level due to various challenges within the sports sector that have led to a decline in investments. These challenges include investor apprehension about entering the sports field, insufficient care for organizations, facilities, and equipment, and finally, shortcomings in laws and legislation related to sports investment.

The global sports arena, particularly in sports investment, has witnessed the emergence of numerous modern economic concepts and investment horizons that speak the language of the future. Examples include blockchain technology and its associated digital currencies, such as Bitcoin. These modern technologies significantly support the sports industry—an industry generating billions of dollars and forming a vital component of the global economy. Numerous sports institutions and clubs worldwide have leveraged these technologies to achieve massive revenues that were previously unavailable. Maximizing the benefits of digital transformation helps forge new horizons for the future of local and global sports industries. There are numerous examples of successful experiences confirming that blockchain is a vital tool supporting and documenting the successful implementation of digital transformation for sports institutions—or what is known as the digitization of sports organizations—in a fast-paced world striving to maximize benefits within the sports industry. Digital rights can also become an investment yielding huge returns for the sports field. Furthermore, the sports industry has discovered the impact of financial technology (Fintech), and global plans exist to effectively apply its tools and purposes.

Blockchain technology stands out as one of the most prominent modern innovations whose prominence in the global economy has grown in recent years. It is recognized as a critical component of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, contributing to reshaping the global economy and possessing the potential to open new horizons for enhancing development, driving innovation, and improving people’s lives. Consequently, nations and institutions are competing to integrate these modern technologies into their management practices.

Given that Arab sports institutions are closely linked to global technological and economic changes—especially amid global sports institutions’ keenness to actively utilize blockchain technologies within a digital economy that serves as a new window for international sports organizations—this has been demonstrated by FIFA and UEFA issuing Euro 2020 tickets utilizing blockchain technology through the release of over 20,000 tokens. This represents a serious attempt to combine proponents of blockchain transition with sports fandom as a new investment horizon. It also opens new avenues by utilizing smart contracts as a blockchain application to verify ticket authenticity, thereby eliminating the black market, parallel markets, and counterfeit tickets.

Consequently, it has become imperative for our sports institutions to keep pace with the times—or what is known as modernizing their management—in alignment with this evolution by relying on the fruits of these technological achievements to digitize sports institutions administratively. Blockchain has generated advanced programs and applications that have created a new administrative reality capable of driving a qualitative shift in sports institutions. This transforms administrative structures, transactions, and performance standards to accomplish tasks beyond the limits of time and space, ultimately achieving a service level characterized by speed, integrity, and transparency, while adopting modern methods and developing management practices to align with contemporary developments, particularly amid the expansion of digital technology usage to enable institutions to deliver services with the highest degree of efficiency and quality.