Digital Transformation in Sports and Communities: Ecosystems Driven by Technology Integration

Dear Colleagues,

Aim and relevance

This Special Issue examines the socio-technical transformation of sports and communities driven by the integration of AI, data analytics, IoT, wearables, AR/VR, digital twins, cloud/edge, and platform infrastructures. We seek work that explains how these technologies reconfigure relationships among clubs, leagues, municipalities, fans, residents, startups, technology vendors, and civil society to create or contest value.

Core themes

• Ecosystem orchestration and governance, including roles of clubs, cities, federations, startups, telcos, and platform firms in coordinating resources and standards.
• Datafication and platformization of sport, covering data ownership, interoperability, APIs, algorithmic accountability, and new business models (servitization, data monetization, and dynamic pricing).
• Fan and citizen engagement, such as smart venues, second-screen experiences, immersive media, community platforms, loyalty systems, and co-creation.
• Athlete and team performance technologies, including wearables, computer vision, analytics pipelines, and their organizational and ethical implications.
• Community health and wellbeing initiatives leveraging sport tech for physical activity, inclusion, accessibility, and public health outcomes.
• Inclusion, equity, and accessibility in digital sport ecosystems, addressing gender, disability, aging populations, youth, refugees, and the digital divide.
• Sustainability and climate-smart transformation, including energy-efficient infrastructure, mobility and crowd management, circular fan zones, and environmental impact assessment.
• Security, privacy, and trust, covering cybersecurity in venues, consent mechanisms, surveillance risks, and compliant data governance.
• Policy, regulation, and standards, including procurement, public–private partnerships, compliance regimes, and international data flows.
• Economic and social development through sport-led digital initiatives, such as local entrepreneurship, tourism, education, and workforce upskilling.
• Resilience and safety, including crisis response, crowd safety, and continuity planning for extreme weather or public health emergencies.
• Emerging frontiers, such as digital twins of stadiums/cities, 5G/6G-enabled services, edge AI, spatial computing, and responsible use of Web3 assets where they deliver verifiable public value.

Contexts and settings

• Elite and professional sport, amateur and grassroots clubs, esports, and hybrid formats.
• Stadiums and arenas, training centers, public spaces, schools, and community hubs.
• Urban and rural communities, smart city districts, mega-events, and local events.
• Diverse geographies, including Global South perspectives and cross-border collaborations.

Methods and data

• Quantitative studies (experiments, quasi-experiments, econometrics, network analysis, computational social science, geospatial modeling).
• Qualitative and mixed methods (ethnography, case studies, comparative fieldwork, action research, design science, living labs, participatory methods).
• Multimodal data (sensor streams, ticketing and transaction data, mobility and crowd flows, social media, broadcast, and computer vision data).
• Measurement frameworks for performance, engagement, wellbeing, inclusion, sustainability, ESG, and social return on investment.

Contributions sought

• Theory-building that advances ecosystem, socio-material, innovation, and governance perspectives in sport and community contexts.
• Empirical studies demonstrating causal mechanisms or rich process explanations of technology integration and transformation.
• Comparative analyses across technologies, sports, regions, or governance models.
• Methodological and data papers introducing novel datasets, pipelines, benchmarks, or evaluation metrics relevant to sport–community ecosystems.
• Policy and managerial implications translating findings for decision-makers in clubs, leagues, municipalities, and technology firms.
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses that consolidate fragmented evidence and set future research agendas.

Stakeholders and audiences

This issue targets scholars in sports management, information systems, marketing, urban studies, public policy, HCI, data science, operations, and sustainability, as well as practitioners in clubs, leagues, city authorities, venue operators, startups, technology vendors, NGOs, and standard-setting bodies.

Out of scope

• Purely technical algorithmic or physiological performance papers without clear socio-technical or ecosystem implications.
• Marketing or fan engagement studies that do not involve substantive digital transformation or technology integration.
• Descriptive case reports lacking conceptual contribution, methodological rigor, or evaluative insight.

In this Special Issue, contributions have to fall into one of the three categories of papers—article, conceptual paper, or review—of the journal and address the topic of the Special Issue.

Dr. Ekaterina Glebova
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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