Sport has always prepared people for their life challenges through playful competition. Today, the sports landscape is embedded in a context of unprecedented change: rising health care costs, techno logical disruptions, and climate change pose existential risks for society, economy, and environment. Can sport empower humanity to tackle some of the biggest issues of our time?

The answer might be yes – because the world of sports is also at a tipping point. Algorithms will replace human decision-making processes both on center stage and behind the scenes. The rise of Asia will reshape how sports are organized, financed, and performed. And athletes will increasingly use virtual platforms to act more independently than ever.

Brave New Sport indicates that the next generation of participation and spectator sports has the transformative potential to lead the way into the future. This involves not only integrating sport into the public infrastructure or sensitizing audiences for sustainability, but also redefining how humans interact with autonomous machines – in the bigger picture of how sport will empower 21st century society.