ABSTRACT

The arrival of Covid-19 led to an almost complete shutdown of sport across the globe. Professional leagues and organizations addressed the unprecedented public health issue by suspending, postponing, or canceling sports events. As a result, established social media strategies were disrupted and sport organizations had to adapt and reimagine the fan experience to engage fans while games were on hold or played in empty stadiums. With few physical products to deliver, fans continued to consume digital content, which provided sport organizations with new opportunities to focus on fan engagement and remain relevant. The emotional reactions when live sport was put on hold emphasized the important role sport plays in our lives and for the foreseeable future, digital will be at the center of the fan experience. In this chapter, we present findings of a study on managerial perspectives of seven Australian professional sports organizations regarding their social media strategies and the impact of Covid-19. These perspectives, coupled with the authors’ observations, uncover the changing shift of a digital strategy purpose, and how social live streaming services were used to maintain, and in some cases enhance, fan engagement during a period when there was no longer a live sports product.