New Orleans stages the National Football League’s Super Bowl in February and in Formula One another marathon season revs up in Melbourne in March, with veteran Lewis Hamilton making his debut in Ferrari colours. REUTERSTennis, too, is moving into the future at pace, with tradition making way for innovation and the need to capture market […]
New Orleans stages the National Football League’s Super Bowl in February and in Formula One another marathon season revs up in Melbourne in March, with veteran Lewis Hamilton making his debut in Ferrari colours. REUTERSTennis, too, is moving into the future at pace, with tradition making way for innovation and the need to capture market share in an increasingly saturated landscape.However, the world’s best are on board for a venture designed to hook a generation of fans who no longer have the time or patience to watch five-hour rounds.Whichever of the seven candidates wins will need to steer the Olympic juggernaut into an increasingly fractured world of geopolitics, climate change, gender issues and doping.But that is what fans will witness at the All England Club in 2025.Novel ways of delivering sport to a high-tech generation are now paramount and the Christmas decorations will hardly have come down before golf – arguably the most conservative of all sports – welcomes the aptly named Tomorrow’s Golf League (TGL) which kicks off in Florida in January.More on this TopicJoin ST’s Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.Golf ended the year with a contrived Showdown between PGA Tour players and those of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit in Las Vegas. Looking ahead, in September, American Ryder Cup players will, for the first time, be paid to take on Europe when the biennial clash takes place in New York.Rugby fans have a Lions series in Australia starting in June to look forward to, while in cricket England host a five-test series against India before another eagerly awaited Ashes series Down Under.“We’re mic’d up, you’ll see our personalities. It’s almost a totally different sport.”Created by former world No. 1s Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, the new made-for-TV indoor team format featuring state-of-the-art golf simulators and shot clocks resembles a cross between an arcade game and crazy golf.In athletics, a blue-riband sport which often struggles to attract eyeballs outside of Olympic years, American great Michael Johnson is launching a lucrative Grand Slam Track league in April with a US.6 million (S.1 million) prize fund split over four events – but not including any field events.While it has many critics, it will certainly be a tournament that, unlike previous editions, will be hard to ignore.“The most interesting and fun aspect about TGL is the fact that it is an arena and you get to see us up close and personal,” American Wyndham Clark said.But that is not the nature of a sports industry continually evolving to slake the thirst of a demanding public that seemingly can never get enough of their chosen product.Other sports will also see big changes in 2025 – a year lacking the biggest global showpiece events but still busy.While there are no Olympics, the movement faces a pivotal year all the same as the International Olympic Committee elects a new president in March to replace Thomas Bach.Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s insatiable appetite to keep reshaping the sporting map is unlikely to diminish any time soon and many will see the kingdom’s staging of the inaugural Olympic E-sports Games as a precursor to a future bid for the real thing.LONDON – As a jam-packed sporting year featuring a much-praised Olympic Games rolls to a close, it is tempting to expect that 2025 will be a more sedate one.Women’s football takes centre stage in July with the European Championship in Switzerland with England aiming to retain the title, while September offers the World Athletics Championships in Japan as well as the Ryder Cup.Who would ever have thought Wimbledon, of all places, would get rid of line judges from its lawns in favour of Hawk-Eye technology and computer-generated voices?Thanks for sharing!What is becoming increasingly clear is that tradition and maintaining the status quo no longer cut it in a competitive world intent on wringing every dollar out of sporting endeavour.
“We’re revolutionising the track landscape,” said four-gold Olympic champion Johnson.
