Wireless Connection It may not be used by everyone but pro sports photographers use Wi-fi to transfer files simultaneously without having to wait to change the memory card.
Manual Exposure Mode Even though modern digital cameras features advanced algorithms to calculate the right exposure, they still may fail some difficult conditions. Manual exposure mode in these conditions helps a lot in order to achieve correct and consistent exposure.
Manual Focus Mode Compact cameras are not great at focusing moving objects especially at low light and your camera may not even fire bacause of not locking the focus, so manual focus mode is very useful at these times.
Image Stabilization Image stabilization reduces the effects of camera shake at long focal lengths thus ensuring sharper photos during sports photography.
1200 mm Tele Lens 1200 mm reach lens will be adequate in most sports events.
Average Continuous Shooting: 5.9fps In the world of sports photography, faster is always better.
Average Max shutter speed: 1/2000s Canon SX540 HS's max shutter speed of 1/2000s is not the best in class but it will be enough to freeze the moment. A potential problem may be when you use a fast aperture at very strong light, your camera may overexpose because of slow max shutter speed
Average Ergonomics&Handling although not as good as a DSLR body, Canon SX540 HS is good enough for most conditions.
Environmental Sealings Most outdoor sports games are held in all-weather, so your camera has to be ready for difficult conditions such as rain and snow. Exposure to dust and water splashes are also very common in sports.
Focus Points In sports photography , you keep continuous autofocus (AFC) mode on for tracking the subject and more focus means better tracking.
Poor Battery Life: 205 shots In most sports events, you shoot at high speed for a long time and this drains the battery pretty quick. With a battery life of only 205 shots per charge, you may need to change batteries very frequently in the middle of an event.
No Built-in Viewfinder In the lack of a a viewfinder, holding the camera away from the body while using live view is not very stable, especial with heavy camera bodies and lenses. Besides, LCD screens are very hard to read under bright sunlight.
No External Flash Shoe When shooting indoor sports or outdoor sports at low light, an external flash may become very helpful.
Slow Lens at Tele: f6.50 You will have hard time getting fast enough shutter speeds with a lens that is slow at tele.
No RAW shooting capability RAW files contains much more color information compared to JPEGs, and gives you more room for post processing without significant quality loss. They provide wider dynamic range and option to recover shadow and highlight clipping to some degree.