Track description n°13

(e)Sports, Gaming and Meta-Sports

Track Chairs

Daniel Westmattelmann

PHWT Vechta University of Münster – Center for Management

daniel.westmattelmann@wiwi.uni-muenster.de

Daniel Westmattelmann is a Professor of Business Administration at the PHWT Vechta and at the Center for Management, University of Münster, Germany. He holds a PhD in Business Administration from the interdisciplinary research training group “Trust and Communication in a Digitized World,” funded by the German Research Foundation. His methodological expertise spans a broad spectrum of quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Daniel’s work in the Journal of Management Information Systems examines fairness and adoption of meta-sports competitions in immersive virtual environments. In the European Journal of Information Systems, he analyzed how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated virtual sports event formats. His Journal of Business Research article explores user motivations for mixed-reality platforms, while in the Journal of Decision Systems he investigated factors shaping acceptance of decision support systems for sports refereeing.

Daniel regularly presents his work at ICIS and ECIS, where he also co-organizes the ICIS workshop on sports digitalization and served as co-track chair for ECIS 2025. His editorial contributions were recognized with the Best AE Award at ECIS in 2022. In 2023, he organized the AoM Symposium on “Relational Aspects of Working from Home.” Moreover, he serves as a consultant in corporate health management and sports management. For twelve years, he was active as a professional cyclist, winning international races and participating in events like the World Road Championships.

Willem Standaert

HEC Liège – Management School of the University of Liège

Willem.standaert@uliege.be

Willem Standaert is an associate professor at HEC Liège, where he is a member of the SportsLab and visiting professor at Ghent University, where he is a member of “Victoris” and of the Virtual Sports Research Network, which are both consortia focusing on technology and innovation in sports.

His research interests are in the areas of virtual and hybrid meetings, diversity-equity-inclusion, and digital innovation in sports. Willem has published papers related to sports digitalization in academic journals such as Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Information Systems Frontiers, and Information Technology & People. Currently, he is working on research at the intersection of diversity, equity, and inclusion and social media engagement, a project supported by UEFA. In addition, Willem has published several teaching cases on sports digitalization, namely about Formula E, the Royal Belgian Football Association, Drone Racing League.

Willem has served as a track co-chair at ECIS 2022; ECIS 2023; ECIS 2024 and ECIS 2025 (for this track); and as an AE for several ICIS tracks and for a special issue in the Information Systems Journal on Digital Platforms and Ecosystems.

Xiao Xiao

Copenhagen Business School

xx.digi@cbs.dk

Xiao Xiao is an associate professor at Copenhagen Business School, Department of Digitalization. She received her PhD in information systems from Washington State University. Her main research areas include digital services and digital entrepreneurship with a specific focus on digital commerce in China, qualitative research methodologies, and sports digitalization. Her research has appeared in premier IS journals such as MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, Information System Journals, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Journal of Information Technology, Information and Management, and MIS Quarterly Executive, as well as in conference proceedings such as the International Conference on Information Systems. Xiao was the recipient of the AIS (Association for Information Systems) Early Career Award in 2019 and the AIS Sandra Slaughter Service Award in 2018.

Xiao has published three conference papers on the subject of sports digitalization: Xiao et al. (2017), Tan et al. (2017), and Shollo and Xiao (2019). She also (co-)organized three Pre-ICIS workshops on sports digitalization in 2019, 2022, and 2024.

Xiao currently serves as AE for MIS Quarterly, European Journal of Information Systems, and Information Systems Journal. She is also on the editorial board of Journal for the Association of Information Systems. She served as a track co-chair at ECIS in 2015 and from 2022 to 2025 (this track). She also serves as a track co-chair for ICIS 2023, 2024 and for PACIS 2021, 2025. She has served many times as AE for ECIS and ICIS.

Motivation for the track:

Digitalization of professional and recreational sports is an emerging area in the IS and management fields. Sports digitalization is an interesting research subject for IS. On the one hand, in traditional sports, we observe that despite a lot of digital innovation, the physical component remains primordial. On the other hand, for born-digital and hybrid sports (e.g., esports, meta-sports), sports performance and consumption are being redefined. We have run this track at ECIS since 2022. Also, some of us were involved in organizing three pre-ICIS workshops on sports digitalization (in 2019, 2022, and 2024).

Track description:

Traditional boundaries between physical and digital sports are dissolving at an accelerated pace, paving the way for a new generation of immersive experiences, expanding global reach, and reshaping business models. Leveraging advanced digital platforms, big data analytics, AI, blockchain, and XR technologies, sports at both professional and recreational levels are undergoing profound changes. At the same time, newly emerging “meta-sports”, which blend physical performance with virtual technologies, are shifting conventional notions of competition, identity, and regulation. A prime example of this ongoing transformation are the Inaugural Esports Olympics scheduled for 2027, signalling a historic merger of eSports culture and Olympic values.

Already, professional sports leagues are experimenting with AI-assisted refereeing, major tournaments are shifting to hybrid or fully virtual formats (e.g., Supertri E World Triathlon Championship, The Golf League), and fans can now engage in real time through augmented or virtual reality layers (e.g., NBA VR, Man City Virtual Etihad Stadium). These phenomena raise critical questions around fan participation, algorithmic integrity, business model innovation, and the evolving responsibilities of sports organizations.

This track explores how the interplay between technology and different forms of sports, exercise, and gaming offers a rich context to discuss organizational, societal, and technological implications of digital innovation, which is aligned with the ECIS 2026 conference theme of “Re-imagining Digital Technology for Business, Management, and Society.” This track aims to provide a forum for examining how diverse stakeholders (e.g., sports organizations, platform owners, athletes, fans, entrepreneurs) leverage digital tools for improving sports performance, offering novel fan experiences, and enabling equitable governance structures. We invite both theoretical and empirical contributions with varied methodological approaches.

Track topics

Potential topics of interest include (but are not limited to)

The institutionalization of meta-sports and their social and economic impact (e.g., Olympic Esports)
AI-driven refereeing and anti-doping solutions: balancing fairness, data governance, and trust
Generative AI for training and content creation: opportunities and ethical concerns
Immersive fan engagement: AR, VR, or blockchain-based initiatives for sports communities
Data privacy, ownership, and interoperability: new standards for digital sports ecosystems
Sustainability, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and sports washing: social and ethical dimensions in virtual and hybrid sports
Business model transformations: how digital revenue streams and partnerships reshape sports organizations
Hybrid sports bridging physical and digital contexts (e.g., VR cycling, Drone Racing League)
Measuring success : redefining performance metrics for eSports and meta-sports

By illuminating these developments, the track aims to foster a vibrant dialogue on digital transformation in sports, its deeper societal ramifications, and how we can envision responsible, inclusive, and forward-looking ecosystems for the future of global athletic competition.

References

Aishvarya, D. T., Kumar, U. D., Muniz, M., & Flamand, T. (2024). Decision support system for policy-making: Quantifying skill and chance in daily fantasy sports. Decision Support Systems, 182, 114237.
Goebeler, L., Hukal, P., & Xiao, X. (2024).Four roles of physicality in digital innovation: A theoretical review. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 33(4), 101862.
Meier, M., Maier, C., Mattke, J., & Weitzel, T. (2022). Esports: explaining willingness to pay for streaming services. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 50(1), 11.
Westmattelmann, D., Grotenhermen, J. G., Sprenger, M., & Schewe, G. (2021a). The show must go on-virtualisation of sport events during the COVID-19 pandemic. European Journal of Information Systems, 30(2), 119-136.
Westmattelmann, D., Grotenhermen, J. G., Sprenger, M., Rand, W., & Schewe, G. (2021b).
Apart we ride together: The motivations behind users of mixed-reality sports. Journal of Business Research, 134, 316-328.
Westmattelmann, D., Stoffers, B., Märtins, J., & Xiao, X. (2025). Exploring the new playing field: The input-output principle of meta-sports.Journal of Management Information Systems, 42(1), 70-104.