Digital transformation and sports marketing: a case study of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Basketball Final Four 2021
(A2022-107592)

AUTHORS

Marcela Garza Segovia, La Salle - URL; Chris Kennett, La Salle - URL

ABSTRACT

Digital transformation is a phenomenon that is affecting a wide variety of industries, including sports. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted sports activities forcing organizations to adopt new technologies in order to continue executing sports events. This paper presents the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four 2021 case study aiming to explore how the disrupted 2021 Final Four event affected wider digital transformation process in Euroleague Basketball as an organization. Euroleague executives and managers were interviewed in 2018 and again in 2021 to explore the evolution of the digital transformation process applied to marketing strategies in the organization. The authors identified five main strategies executed at the Final Four: virtual reality, ‘Final 4 Fans’, fan wall, augmented reality, and remote access to media. Findings reveal that the technologies adopted in the execution of these strategies were key to accelerating the digital transformation process in the organization.