Innovation in sport events during COVID-19

The chapter outlines how the COVID-19 pandemic forces the sport event industry to innovate. This is done against the backdrop of an explanation of how crises in general, and the recent pandemic in particular, can foster innovation. The basic argument here is that the effect of crises on the perception of the relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability of innovations make it much more likely that these are put to (a much broader) use. Against this backdrop, a model depicting driving forces behind different types of innovations in the sport event sector during the COVID-19 crisis is introduced. As exemplary innovations, the digitalization of sport events and the closely related redefinition of the physical event space are then discussed. Overall, it becomes clear that the COVID-19-related crisis of the sector has motivated event organizers to innovate to survive and event participants and spectators to be very receptive to these innovations.