Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] The Challenges and Opportunities of Sports Localization By Katie Botkin Sports localization is far from the biggest moneymaker in the language industry.
[00:00:10] Despite their wide international appeal, sports pose significant challenges for localization. One reason is that movement transcends language. When the rules of the game are the same everywhere, people are often able to watch or participate without translation or interpretation.
[00:00:26] For example, soccer is watched by about 3.5 billion people worldwide. While this can be a great unifying force, a way to find common ground across cultures, monetizing it can be difficult. Additionally, most amateur sports don't offer enough visibility or return on investment ROI for localization companies. If you want to make money, it has to be at the professional level, said Tokyo based localization consultant Aki Ito. Charles Bomarito, a brand advocate for pickleball equipment retailer Selkirk Sport, agrees. The biggest marketing is sponsoring the top pros, he said. But for an emerging sport like pickleball, professional players are few and far between. Moreover, for most sports, even professional teams often don't have the budget for language services.
[00:01:12] For example, the American Raptors, a rugby team in Colorado, doesn't provide interpreters for its international players and creates no localized marketing materials. In spite of these challenges, sports localization does offer many intriguing possibilities going forward, particularly in a Emerging sports Opportunities from Emerging Sports Newly invented and lesser known sports that gain enough popularity in one country often make their way to other parts of the globe, particularly if they originated in the United States. U.S. whatever is becoming popular in the U.S. is going to become popular in Japan. The question is just how soon, ito said. The inverse can be true as well.
[00:01:51] Take rugby, for example, which is most popular in Western Europe and Oceania but is gaining a foothold in the U.S.
[00:01:58] similarly, a racket sport called beach tennis began in Italy, developed popularity in Brazil, and is now played in coastal US States. As emerging sports enter new places, specialty gear needs localization, creating business opportunities for savvy language service providers.
[00:02:15] Ito emphasizes that when gear is sold internationally, there's always translation attached. And if that gear eventually becomes mainstream, international marketing budgets can grow to billions, as is the case with prominent brands like Nike. In addition, idiosyncrasies unique to each sport underscore the need for localization decisions that are informed by players themselves.
[00:02:36] Otherwise, LSPs risk missing the mark in a particular sports community. The Pickleball Example Loosely based on tennis, pickleball is played on a small court using wiffle balls and specialty paddles. The game often attracts players looking for a low impact social sport. Pickleball was invented in the US state of Washington in 1965 and has since gained widespread popularity in the country. According to the Sports and Fitness Industry association, pickleball is now the fastest growing sport in the US The Global Pickleball Federation aims to expand the sport internationally and perhaps even inspire its inclusion in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. On its website, the federation lists associations in 71 countries spanning all continents. Bomarito thinks pickleball will continue to gain popularity around the globe to a point.
[00:03:24] As far as playing it goes, I think it has all of the appeal of tennis, but it's much more accessible, he said. However, it's not as good of a spectator product as singles tennis, so I don't see it ever getting the same status as tennis globally. That said, pickleball equipment retailers can certainly capitalize on the increasing number of players. A 2025 report from meticulous Research predicts that the worldwide pickleball market will double by 2032, with the international equipment market projected to jump from $1.61 billion to $3.1 billion. Selkirk Sports started as a mom and pop shop in Idaho and is now one of the biggest pickleball brands in the world. While most US Based pickleball gear companies exclusively manufacture in China, Selkirk is one of a handful that sometimes manufactures locally to keep up with the sport's international growth. The company is in the process of establishing marketing operations in Europe and Asia to help serve these growing markets. We are expanding our reach with two new headquarters in Estonia and Malaysia, said Bryn Grissom, public relations associate at selkarexport.
[00:04:28] From there, we will be better equipped to begin the localization process in pickleball communities. The culture of the ball is important. According to Bomberito, that means that whichever brand of ball people use most often in a particular area will dominate sales in the local market because everyone wants to use the same ball.
[00:04:46] Lamarito suggests brands make their balls very accessible in those markets and also utilize ambassador programs. If the better players in your area use one brand, that very naturally trickles down, he said. Opportunities from established sports in mainstream sports Leagues Think the National Hockey League, NHL and Major League Baseball players from abroad can create opportunities for the language industry.
[00:05:10] For example, highly profitable sports teams often have the budget to provide interpreting for their international players. Ito himself once worked as an interpreter for an American MLB team or more specifically, one Japanese player. Ito would take on mundane tasks such as helping the player with grocery shopping so that he could focus on baseball. Foreign players sometimes open international marketing opportunities as well. And of course, then there's marketing for the leagues themselves, many of which are growing in popularity thanks to globalization efforts focused on local partnerships and social media. As far as multilingual website content, there's plenty of room for growth.
[00:05:47] Localization industry research firm CSA Research hasn't studied sports localization as an exclusive category, but it did include sports websites in its 2023 language strategy for Media and Entertainment report, which looked at 264 websites in the sports and entertainment sector. The site supported 73 languages total and averaged 3.5 languages per site.
[00:06:09] Almost 3/4 72% of the sites were monolingual. Only a handful of news, sports and entertainment brands can truly be said to have a large multilingual presence, said CSA Research associate Fatima Bangana. Even with its small multilingual footprint, the news, sports and entertainment categories still ranks in CSA Research's list of most efficient industries.
[00:06:30] This means sports are capturing a greater share of the total addressable market than most other sectors, said Bengana, and are doing it with fewer languages. The NBA example One league that is marketing aggressively to international audiences is the National Basketball association NBA, Ito said, and it's paying off. The league's international broadcasting rights bring in millions of dollars annually, and 70% of its social media followers are outside the U.S. according to a Wolfstone Group blog post called the Globalization and Localization of the NBA.
[00:07:03] The league has dozens of localized social media accounts and collaborates with local influencers and brands to gain visibility.
[00:07:10] To localize content like game recaps, the league uses a combination of LSP services and generative artificial intelligence.
[00:07:18] One of the key pillars for us internationally is to reach fans wherever they're consuming content, no matter which country they're in, said Matt Brabantz, the NBA senior vice president and head of international content partnerships, as reported by the Wolfstone Group. Conclusion from product localization for fast growing sports to international marketing for established leagues, the possibilities for language services in sports are wide ranging. Despite the common challenges faced in sports localization, enterprising LSPs can still find plenty of avenues for increased business.
[00:07:51] This article was written by Katie Botkin. She is a freelance writer with a master's degree in linguistics. She has worked in the localization industry since 2008. Additionally, she is the executive director of a land use nonprofit specializing in planning for a more resilient future.
