I’ve been spending more time on Substack lately and Joe Pompliano shared a piece the other day which I thought was really interesting.

Basically it was an investment thesis from Ari Emanuel that goes something like this: as AI makes it easier and cheaper to create ‘content’, sport (especially live sport) will become more valuable.

Why?

One reason given was that AI will give people more leisure time. I’m dubious about that one…

But the other reasons make sense to me.

1) AI is making traditional content increasingly cheap to create and personalise, leading to a massive over-supply and atomisation.

2) Sport represents one of the last bastions of authentic, communal experiences. I think as humans we will always want to experience things we know are real, and can be shared with others.

There are definite challenges with how sport (especially live sport) is presented and delivered to audiences, but I instinctively feel that sport is pretty well placed to do well in the future.

If we become more and more bombarded with AI-generated content, and the line between what’s real and not real becomes harder to distinguish, we will instinctively reach for things that we know are real and can bring us together. And sport fits that description perfectly (by the way, with a $ trillion gambling industry with a vested interest in keeping it that way).

And that means sport should remain one of the most powerful platforms for brands to make meaningful connections with people, through sponsorship.

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