How Technologies Might Change the European Football Spectators’ Role in the Digital Age

Spectators play a vital role in professional sports. As such, it may not surprise that many football clubs continue to pursue stadium expansion and increase seat supply. Still, as new technologies like artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and blockchain technology enter the mass market, the question arises if the strategy of ever-increasing the seat supply will ultimately be sustainable. Accordingly, in this short chapter, I attempt to predict how such technologies might change the European football spectators’ role in the digital age, specifically focusing on the potential role of augmented and virtual reality in shaping stadium attendance demand in 2040. In total, I make ten projections, cumulatively pointing to the European football spectators’ loss of significance.