Ethical boundary and governance path of commercial application of sports event data

Abstract

In the current era of deep integration between digital technology and the sports industry, sports event data is gradually evolving into a commercial asset with diverse value. Relevant forecasts indicate that its global market size will surpass the trillion-dollar mark by 2025. However, the unrestricted expansion of data collection technologies and the excessive pursuit of commercial interests have led to frequent ethical controversies such as privacy breaches, algorithmic biases, and data monopolies. This study employs methods including literature analysis, questionnaire surveys, and field research to systematically explore the ethical dilemmas and governance paths faced during the commercial application of sports event data. The results show that despite the rapid development of China's sports industry (with total output reaching 3.67 trillion yuan by 2025), there are still some pressing issues that need to be addressed. From a policy and regulatory perspective, the current Sports Law does not include specific provisions on data ethics, highlighting the lag in policy and regulations; in terms of industry self-regulation, statistics show that about 70% of relevant institutions have yet to establish an ethical review mechanism, indicating a lack of self-discipline; in terms of technical governance capabilities, there are also shortcomings, making it difficult to effectively address various challenges in the process of data commercialization. In response to these issues, the study proposes a three-tier composite governance framework. Firstly, construct a legal system centered on the Sports Data Law to clarify ownership and circulation rules of data, providing solid legal protection for data commercialization; secondly, strengthen industry self-regulation by formulating detailed ethical guidelines and establishing a tiered supervision mechanism to ensure that data applications within the industry comply with ethical standards; thirdly, promote technological innovation by leveraging technologies such as layered encryption and blockchain to embed ethical rules into code, ensuring the legality and rationality of data applications from a technical perspective. The research recommends that through interdisciplinary collaborative governance, joint governance by multiple stakeholders, and the organic integration of localized and international rules[1], while releasing the commercial value of data, ethical constraints should be strengthened to provide theoretical and practical references for the sustainable development of the sports industry.