Portas Consulting recently launched their annual CEO review into the UK sports landscape. The review captures unique perspectives of c. 60 leaders across UK sport, including those from Clubs, Leagues, Investors, National and International Governing Bodies and Corporates. The review covers four main themes that require CEOs to ‘challenge the status quo’.
An optimistic outlook, a more diverse future
CEOs are more confident on growth and have a renewed sense of optimism and enjoyment for working in the industry. However, CEOs still face challenges on technological innovations and digital disruption of sport, with only 30% of CEOs stating they feel ‘ready’ to capitalise on these trends.
Capitalising on the opportunity of women’s sport
The survey reveals a gap between the perception of how prepared CEOs are for women’s sport and the reality of the current plans and resourcing. To overcome this gap, CEOs need to develop long-term business plans to navigate short term commercial imperatives and deliver long-term growth.
The future role of a Federation
The sports landscape is evolving rapidly, growing in complexity and these changing dynamics are placing traditional structures of sport under increased pressure. Federations, in particular, need to identify what their role is and how to deliver value as the wider sports ecosystem has lost confidence in them as lead decision-makers.
The innovation imperative
The final theme centres on the need to innovate and to adapt to changing technologies and consumption habits. CEOs recognise that there is a ‘deficit’ within their organisations when it comes to innovation.
