Artificial Intelligence in Sport Business: Innovation, Strategy, and Disruption

Introduction

This special issue aims to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) in sport can generate broader insights into core areas of management and organizational theory. While focusing on sport as the primary context, the issue seeks contributions that demonstrate how AI-driven practices—such as decision-making, innovation adoption, revenue generation, fan engagement, and athlete management—inform wider debates in strategic management, technology management, HR, and data governance. The issue will highlight emerging opportunities and critical challenges posed by AI in sport, offering implications that extend beyond the sport sector. Through empirical studies, theoretical explorations, and case-based insights, the special issue will offer a comprehensive and timely contribution to both scholarship and industry. Contributions will be solicited through a targeted call for papers, outreach to leading researchers, invitations to authors of recent relevant publications, promotion via academic listservs, and, where appropriate, by encouraging collaboration with industry practitioners.

List of topic areas

• AI-driven innovation in sport business models, strategy, and operations (examining how AI transforms traditional sport business practices and informs broader theories of digital disruption, strategic agility, and competitive advantage through automation, data-driven decisions, and operational efficiency)
• Workforce transformation and human-AI collaboration in sport organizations (exploring how AI reshapes job roles, decision-making processes, and human resource strategies in sport business settings, and what these reveals about workforce adaptation across sectors)
• AI and fan engagement (examining the role of AI in fan engagement such as personalization, experience design, and behavioural insights in sport can generate transferable insights for customer engagement and digital experience management in other industries)
• AI applications in sponsorship, media rights, and monetization strategies (investigating how AI optimizes sponsorship delivery, media production, and commercial strategy, offering implications for technology management and innovation strategy in content-driven sectors)
• AI in sport retail, e-commerce, and dynamic pricing (examining AI’s role in merchandise sales, ticketing systems, and pricing optimization as a lens to understand data-informed pricing and inventory strategies in broader retail environments)
• Case studies on AI implementation in sport business contexts (research on illustrative cases of successful or failed AI adoption across teams, leagues, federations, or start-ups, emphasizing lessons learned and best practices)
• AI tools and platforms in the sport business (critical evaluation of the use and impact of specific AI technologies, systems, and platforms adopted by sport organizations such as chatbots, CRM systems, predictive analytics tools, generative AI platforms, sport-specific AI software)
• Ethical, legal, and governance considerations of AI in sport management (exploring challenges related to data privacy, algorithmic bias, accountability, and regulatory frameworks in the use and adoption of AI technologies)
• AI-based/driven research, data sources, and analytical methods in sport business (investigating the evolving landscape of data collection, integration, and analysis in AI research such as big data, real-time analytics, open data platforms, proprietary data, AI-assisted research methods)

Submissions Information 

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here. 

Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see here.

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to ““Please select the issue you are submitting to”. 

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Key deadlines

Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 31/12/2025

Closing date for manuscripts submission: 31/03/2026

Guest editors

Gashaw Abeza, Towson University, USA, gabeza@towson.edu 

David Wagner, Munich Business School, Germany, David.Wagner@munich-business-school.de