Key Takeaways
-Emerging leagues are redefining innovation in sports, using technology not as an add-on but as the foundation of their identity.
-From AI-driven analysis to immersive AR and VR experiences, new leagues are transforming how fans watch, interact, and connect with sports.
-Experimentation fuels growth: by embracing technology early, these organizations are building a foundation for fan engagement and setting new standards for the entire industry.
By any traditional measure, the inaugural season of TGL was a resounding success.
The indoor golf league, co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, averaged 498,000 viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, up 10% over the programming it replaced in comparable windows in 2024. All in all, TGL reached 23.4 million viewers for its matches in season 1. Season 2's opening match, scheduled for December 28, will consequently air on ABC, the league’s broadcast network debut.
But what really stands out is the age of TGL’s audience. With a median age of 52 — 13 years younger than what the PGA Tour draws — TGL is on par with the Premier League and NHL, trailing only the NBA among major US stick-and-ball sports. In the coveted 18-49 demographic, TGL is ranked second (behind the NBA) with 41% of its viewers falling within that range. Which is not surprising, given the role advanced technology plays in the competition.
The Course of the Future
Technology's role in TGL starts with its venue. All league matches are played inside the SoFi Center, a 250,000-square-foot built-for-broadcast golf arena in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, with 73 camera sources in, around, and above the field of play to provide footage for ESPN and TGL’s social media and content teams. To put this in context, a standard NFL broadcast features around 35 cameras.
The field of play, roughly the size of a football field, is divided into two sections: the ScreenZone and the GreenZone. Each team tees off from a real grass tee box to start each hole, hitting into a 64-by-53-foot simulator screen. When the ball lands within approximately 50 yards of the pin, the players transition to a physical, custom-built GreenZone, which features a 360° rotating turntable and can adjust its topography using nearly 600 actuators.
“For a long while, I’ve thought that technology would become infused into the act of playing sports and not just used around it,” said Andrew Macaulay, TGL's chief technology officer. “TGL is, I believe, the first real implementation of that. Over time, I could see more technology being infused into the act of playing golf on a real outdoor golf course. This digitization of golf – and other sports – will benefit both players and the fans.”
Charting New Waters Through Technology
Another emerging sport leveraging digitization for the benefit of competitors and fans is SailGP. The international racing series is at the forefront of integrating AI, with features like:
– AI-powered anti-crash technology that warns teams of an impending collision, while anomaly detection tech enables teams to proactively manage the catamaran’s moving parts should an issue with a particular component arise.
– AI-led analysis and diagnostics, processing billions of data points, allow SailGP’s catamaran engineering teams to identify parts that might be about to fail and preemptively replace them.
– AI cameras on SailGP’s F50 catamarans analyze more than four billion data points to capture the most exciting content from each race.
In addition to using AI, SailGP employs artificial and virtual reality (AR and VR) to enhance the fan experience on its mobile app. Fans at the venue can point their smartphones at the race to see live, interactive graphic overlays on the water, including race stats, catamaran tracking, and boundary lines. At home, fans can follow the VR experience through 360-degree viewing angles, on-water graphics, overlaps, and leaderboards.
While technology is central to their operation, said Melissa Lawton, Chief Content Officer at SailGP, “We don’t do it for its own sake. We do it because sailing is a really cool sport, and we want to open the doors for more people to enjoy and understand it. We have a mission, and many of these innovations help us work towards this.”
Innovation as a Playbook
You'd be hard-pressed to find a league that places more value on innovation than MLS. Since striking a landmark 10-year deal with Apple TV in 2022, MLS has been focused on growing its global audience. To that end, the league invited emerging sports and broadcast-centric technology companies to take part in its Innovation Lab program.
As part of the program, MLS is co-developing a bunch of products it believes can transform surface-level engagement into long-term commercial value. A good illustration of this is the collaboration with Camb.AI. The audio dubbing and translation service received hundreds of hours of footage from MLS to train its AI translation models, so that the league could soon offer local commentary in every market where Apple is available.
“Whether that's the work we're doing with Camb.AI, with Edge Sound to see if we can process AI sound differently, or in the creation of highlights with a company like WSC Sports,” said Chris Schlosser, Senior Vice President of emerging ventures at MLS, “we're starting to see real use cases, and that's what's so fascinating to us.”
From Underdogs to Disruptors
For emerging sports and leagues, innovation isn’t a luxury; it’s a survival strategy. When you’re not yet part of the establishment, you have to build relevance one breakthrough at a time. That’s why organizations like TGL, SailGP, and MLS aren’t just adopting new tech — they’re turning experimentation into identity and technology into storytelling.
From AI-powered content to immersive experiences that redefine what fan engagement looks like, technology helps these organizations reach fans who crave interaction, personalization, and novelty. In the long run, their bet on technology will pay off. Because in a world where attention is fleeting, the only sustainable edge is to keep reinventing the experience.
Actionable Insights
-Experiment with technology: start small by testing new tools that enhance storytelling and fan interactivity.
-Turn tech into narrative: don’t just showcase innovation; use it to tell stories that highlight your sport’s uniqueness and bring fans closer to the action.
-Design for curiosity: create content experiences that invite participation. Immersive, personalized, and dynamic moments keep fans exploring long after the final whistle.
