Is football AI-proof? Why tech investors wanted a slice of the World Cup

Fifa has been forced to U-turn on plans to sell off a slice of the World Cup after fierce opposition, with threats of future boycotts and calls for the governing body’s president, Gianni Infantino, to quit.

But why were a group of tech investors interested in the World Cup in the first place, and are similar proposals in the future inevitable?

In a world in which AI could upend human recreation and pastimes, executives at Thrive Eternal, a spin-off of venture capital firm Thrive Capital, saw an opportunity to lead a group of investors to place cash in the biggest sporting competition on the planet.

The football World Cup was seen as the latest in a new strategy from firm, which believes that sport will not only survive the AI revolution, but grow in value.

Run by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared, Thrive mainly invests in technology companies developing artificial intelligence (AI) and it has been a major financial backer of OpenAI.

But in April this year, the New York City-based entity created the new investment arm Thrive Eternal in order to invest in areas that have “qualities that cannot be replicated by technology”.

Sport is central to that strategy, and that is where football – and securing a minority stake in the World Cup under Fifa’s proposed Forward Enterprise (FFE), – became an opportunity.

The view is that the tradition, cultural and identity aspects of football will protect the sport from being upended by AI compared with other forms of entertainment such as movies and music, which are already seeing the technology start to replace humans.

Professor Simon Chadwick has worked in the global sports industry for 30 years, including working with both fan groups, football clubs and governing bodies Fifa and Uefa.

He said investment interests and commercialisation in general meant a lot of decisions were being made on behalf of football and fans “in Wall Street and Silicon Valley”.

“It is almost as though it’s crept up on us and a lot of people haven’t really thought about what’s happening,” he told the BBC.

While it raised governance questions for Fifa, he added: “Whether people like it or not, private equity investment in sport is happening.”