Hosting the FIFA World Cup is one of the greatest honors that a country can boast of. It attracts international attention, economic growth, and cultural exchange. While the country has achieved great milestones in all facets, there is an obvious lack of digital and e-sporting integration, not to mention the unavailability of various media access services that might hinder its suitability as the FIFA World Cup 2034 host. The COVID-19 pandemic brought significant economic disruptions, which affected growth rates across various sectors. The non-oil GDP only grew by 0.3% during this period, indicating economic vulnerabilities that could slow down digital initiatives.
Digital Transformation: A Critical Factor for Global Events
Saudi Arabia’s digital infrastructure has improved significantly, but there are still plenty of countries with an advanced technological structure. Important segments such as broadband internet, mobile connectivity, data centers, and cloud services serve as fundamental support systems in terms of processing demands generated from a global event. An event like the World Cup cannot be hosted by an underpowered digital backbone capable of handling millions of visitors, either online or offline.
Internet Connectivity: The internet and 5G networks continue to face expansion challenges in rural and remote areas; internet connectivity is a problem that any large country still has to deal with, and Saudi Arabia is one of them. Universal internet in Saudi Arabia for a seamless experience for fans and teams is yet to be realized.
Infrastructure and Data Management: With the digital infrastructure from the ticketing system to the real-time live scores and other related information that might be available to the public throughout the match, countries such as Germany, South Korea, and the United States have, of course, illustrated how successful effective digital management would be in heightening fan excitement and operational accomplishment. More investments are therefore necessary in the appropriate digital systems needed to host the event.
Limited E-Sports Integration
E-sports is a driving force in modern sports culture, as millions of people play and engage in the activities. Hosting e-sports tournaments and integrating them into FIFA World Cup activities would be an integral part of the engagement of this younger, more tech-savvy audience. Saudi is on a positive trajectory with the Gamers8 and gaming conference, but at this point still in its early stages and is not deep enough to sustain audiences globally. At the moment, there are about 100 professional e-sports players in Saudi Arabia. This number makes up only 0.0005% of the total number of gamers in the country. This is very low compared to countries such as the USA and South Korea, which have much higher percentages of professional players.
Cultural Adoption and Support: E-sports survive through community involvement and access. The rather conservative Saudi Arabia in their gaming and digital entertainment approach could pose challenges for e-sports integration into major sporting events such as the World Cup. Achieving a balance between traditional sports and digital integration is very essential, something which countries like France and the UK have been able to do through active support from the government and private sectors.
Fan Experience and Engagement
A modern-day sports fan would expect that there should be an immersive engagement experience while following matches other than viewing the games. Important for using digital engagement are social media, virtual reality, augmented reality, and real-time content delivery. All the aspects necessary to deliver this type of experience to Saudi Arabia should be enhanced, focusing more on infrastructure deficits where there are gaps.
Social media and content sharing: Social media is where fans engage, share experiences, and interact in real time during major sports events. Saudi Arabia is not yet prepared to manage such high user engagement at a global scale with the environment as it stands currently in social media. Other powerful nations like the UK Germany, and Japan are good examples of how integrated social media should be to amplify the event experience.
Interactive Digital Solutions: Fans expect interactivity through e-sports and digital integration such as live polls, virtual fan zones, gamified content, and digital collectibles. All of these elements are more interesting, but Saudi Arabia still has much to develop when it comes to complete solutions that will address such expectations.
Challenges Facing Evolution with Global Trends
It’s more than the game of football; it’s a global show that attracts hundreds of millions of viewers from all corners of the world requiring sports and technology to be nicely intertwined. Such slow digitalization might make the Saudi kingdom look hard to adapt to the next trends that surely will change while future World Cups take place.
Adaptation of New Technology: Virtual reality, AI-powered analytics, and blockchain technology are revolutionizing the sports industry. These new technologies increasingly play a role in managing and enriching both ground-level and digital experiences. A substantial 36% of technology leaders in Saudi Arabia believe that cybersecurity and privacy issues could hinder their transformation efforts.
Global Competitive Advantage: Those countries having a full digital ecosystem have a better chance to attract fans, sponsors, media partners, and businesses. Saudi Arabia needs to approach the gap between traditional sports and modern digital integration more holistically to maintain its advantage in hosting international events.
Conclusion
Saudi Arabia is moving in the right direction in tourism, infrastructural developments, and sports. However, in the case of hosting FIFA World Cup 2034, the country will face digital and e-sports integration challenges- of which hosting a world-class event is premised. The interconnection of sports globally into technology requires that Saudi Arabia push the speed of its digital transformation and embrace e-sports to ensure that the hosting of events is holistic and well-thought-out. It risks falling behind nations capable of offering a more digital-first and integrated World Cup experience without this.
