Could net neutrality impact sports funding?
In 2015 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) brought into action an Open Internet Order to prevent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from blocking access to certain websites, products and applications. Most commonly known as ‘net neutrality’, this legislation was introduced to facilitate access to all content and applications regardless of their source, and without offering preferential treatment to more prominent organisations.
However, in November 2017 the FCC approved the repeal of this net neutrality legislation in a 3–2 vote; an action which has sparked outrage from many individual users, small businesses and large corporations alike. These concerned parties warn that the repeal of net neutrality could severely prohibit individual users from accessing their favourite websites as well as enabling big businesses to dominate the market by purchasing faster loading times for their services which smaller companies simply cannot afford.
You may be wondering how the repeal of this net neutrality legislation will impact sports funding and the international sports industry as a whole. Well, without the protection net neutrality, ISPs would be able to charge you higher rates in order to access your favourite sports streaming services and blog sites. These ISPs could even slow down your connectivity speeds to specific sports websites because they do not have a vested financial interest in them. As a Hero Sports article illustrates;
“With deregulation, the NFL only need to pay a premium to ISPs to slow connection speeds to competing sports websites while speeding up its own connection speed, forcing the consumer’s hand to visit the NFL’s website to get up-to-the-second highlights or fantasy sports updates. The league will no longer need to police 32 teams, fan blogs, another other content sources but rather go straight to the hand that feeds. That’s not to mention they can now charge a premium for that content”.
In this manner, the deregulation of net neutrality could significantly hinder sports funding because small-scale teams would have to pay higher rates to access online fundraising resources. ISPs would also have more power over blocking access to specific websites; thereby enabling them to favour certain sports organisations by speeding up the page loading times of their websites whilst simultaneously slowing down the connectivity speeds of their competitors. As an article The End Of A Free & Open Internet? explains;
“The end result would mean that even if you paid a more expensive monthly fee for high speed internet, the loading times of certain websites could still be significantly lower if the site in question did not have a deal with your ISP. For example, if your ISP had a partnership with Netflix then they could slow down the loading times of sites such as Amazon Video in order to make their own TV and movie services more appealing. These strong-arm tactics could also be used to dramatically reduce the page loading times of free streaming websites or any other services which your ISP does not want you to see”.
Fortunately, clubs and players could avert the dilemma of net neutrality by investing in new blockchain decentralization platforms such as Globatalent. These innovative blockchain decentralization platforms enable sports team to attain funding from the sale of future revenue rights to fans across the globe. Globatalent facilitate this process by enabling individual sports fans to unite, support their favourite teams and benefit from their success without an intermediary entity.
Only time will tell the true impact of net neutrality upon sports funding and how it will change the international sports industry as a whole. Until then, you can learn more about the future of sports funding and the ways in which you can benefit alongside your favourite teams by investigating the Globatalent system today.
By Amber Tanya
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