By Evangelos Vrysellas, research analyst, Caretta Research

Pro-AV technology used in sports has been rapidly evolving over the past few years as clubs, leagues and federations invest in multipurpose venues and start managing their own video production.

Caretta Research’s latest analysis of the pro-AV market, showing a 21% growth to $258bn by 2030, proves that video and audio are critical to digital transformation for many industries, driven by cheaper production tools, software and a versatile industry of system design and integration services. For sports organisations this shift provides an opportunity to elevate the in-stadium experience alongside the at-home one: to grow matchday, sponsorship and fan engagement income, and create venues that can be used for other events such as music, reducing financial dependency on broadcast rights deals.

From buying hardware to buying fan-engagement

Today, pro-AV is a complex digital industry moving quickly into software and cloud services that manage, orchestrate and deliver audio and video everywhere, from stadiums and offices to transport hubs. This rapid evolution beyond simple hardware and into SaaS products is what drives more complex builds, demanding sophisticated system integration and professional services.

The pro-AV market has matured to deliver this in two key areas:

• Broadcast AV (technologies used to make professional-grade video) has democratised production and enabled sports clubs, leagues and federations to create their own content for fan engagement, in-stadium experiences and direct-to-fan channels.
• Software has had a huge impact on pro-AV growth as controls and infrastructure become easier to implement, enabling complex venue management and signage systems, powering larger LED screens and cross-media and immersive productions.

Sitting behind the growth of pro AV is the services industry, which is forecast to reach $60bn in 2030 at around 2.5% CAGR from 2025. System integrators are transforming into AV designers and consultants that can manage the complex transition from physical installation to digital workflow development in sports venues.

Shifting value: Where venues are investing

Sports investment in sophisticated AV technology and services is increasing:

• Controls and software is the biggest pro-AV segment by value across all industries, as buyers embrace networked AV. In sports, this is helping software and cloud products become part of the wider sports AV workflow for more advanced and dynamic functionality. It also enables venues’ AV workflows to be configurable to a wider variety of sports and non-sports events for off-season revenue generation.  
• Projectors and displays totalled $34bn in 2025, with strong growth, about 4% CAGR, in digital signage displays as more screens roll out in all industries. In sport venues this is happening to increase visual immersion, with direct view LED screens expanding beyond scoreboards to 360-degree ribbon boards and transparent panels to envelope the audience in content. These screens are also a vehicle for advertising and sponsorship growth.
• Capture and production equipment is a $19bn market growing at around 1.4% CAGR with demand for high-quality video production equipment tempered by the lower prices that enable it. This is a huge advantage for sports organisations that can now deploy a large number of low-cost broadcast-quality PTZ cameras throughout venues to capture and turnaround in-stadium highlights and fan moments for in-venue displays, as well as capturing footage for coaching and broadcast.
• Audio and conferencing is another high growth area for pro AV. This is due to massive hardware upgrades in large venues such as stadiums. Modern sports venues are building on meeting room technologies, using advanced microphone and speaker arrays to optimise the audio experience across every seat. The same technology is used for optimising commentary clarity and controlling crowd noise in broadcast footage.

The implications for sports production

This shift in pro-AV strategy will also have a significant impact on fans not attending the venue. As teams and leagues seek to increase production of their own direct-to-fan content, they need a mix of advanced pro-AV and broadcast tools to move away from traditional broadcast methods and achieve scale.

Having cloud-connected, broadcast-quality audio and video capture equipment permanently installed on-site helps achieve this by opening the door to an array of remote production possibilities for both teams and leagues. This can be as simple as providing existing broadcasters with these new camera feeds for inclusion in their production workflows, or creating content for social media and fan engagement apps. It could also be to achieve ambitious objectives such as supplemental live streaming of competitions and matches, or depending on the economics, replacing broadcast rights income with a direct-to-consumer streaming service.

The investment in robust AV infrastructure and professional services is what will allow sports organisations to manage and deliver tailored content across all channels, and makes audio and video investment an essential part of a contemporary media strategy.