#72 Sports Tech AllStars Recap: Innovation in Sports Organisations

March 29, 2024

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Sports Tech AllStars Recap: Innovation in Sports Organisations

We spent a bit of February and all of March talking to sports teams, leagues and organizations to understand the challenges around innovation. 

This was in lead up to a report we’re working on with Teamworks about the Key Innovation Challenges at various Sports Organisations. The report will consist of a survey of these leaders, going across sports, geographies and cultural backgrounds, alongside presenting key trends, insights from data analysed and case studies around Sports Innovation. 

You can download the preview here and keep an eye on your inbox for the full report, to be released soon.

We spoke to:

 Fee Beyer (Business Development) and Hayden Gutry (Head of EMEA) – Teamworks

 Sven Körner – Digitalization and Innovation Lead at Swiss Unihockey

 Niels Henrik – Head of SportsTech at DIF Innovation Lab

 Luc Mureau – Innovative and Advisory at Johan Cruijff ArenA

Top News from the World of Sports Tech

Esports lounge network True Gamers announced plans to build a large-scale $280 million ‘esports island’ in Abu Dhabi which will include training facilities, a tournament venue & content creation spaces.

 ESPN will streamline things for sports fans by integrating links to video feeds from regional sports networks into its main app and website.

 TGL has confirmed tee off dates, with the first 3 matches scheduled for the first 3 Tuesdays of Jan 2025.

 Liverpool FC joined forces with Google DeepMind to create TacticAI, an AI based assistant capable of predicting where deliveries from corners will land.

 Global enterprise SaaS platform, Kitman Labs’ data analytics platform to be deployed across Luton Town FC’s men’s first team following the academy deal with Premier League.

 The Chicago Blackhawks and NBC Sports Chicago announced a collaboration with the NHL to bring fans the first-ever local animated real-time sports telecast on April 6.

 Blackhawks fans can buy physical tickets embedded with highlights from game nights, developed in partnership with fan experience company Eventshop.

 ATP announced a partnership with DreamFight acquiring a stake in the platform to develop a product to reimagine the tennis fan experience for the ATP Challenger Tour.

 NBCUniversal revealed multiple new features coming to the Peacock, streaming service for 2024 Paris Olympics in July, including multi-view display, stakes for events, elimination risks and data on competitors.

Not Sports Tech but you should know:

 The German Football Association (DFB) announced that Nike will be the official kit supplier for national soccer teams from 2027 until 2034, ending a 7 decade partnership with Adidas.

 The 2024 NCAA Tournament averaged nine million viewers per window through Saturday’s second-round games, the most ever in the first 3 days.

 Viacom 18 owned Jio Cinema clocked 200 million viewers in the first six matches of the Indian Premier League, with a target of 650 million this season

Money Talks:

 Australian sports social media platform Forever Network raised $6 million in a Series A round led by Yolo Investments.

 Basketball Forever raised $4 million in a Series A funding round led by Yolo Investments, for their new North American venture.

 Audio technology specialist Edge Sound Research raised $1.9 million in a seed round led by VC fund Potential Capital.

 Romanian sports tech startup Nordensa has raised €1.65 million ($1.78 million) in seed funding to grow the world’s first fan-powered platform for football talent discovery.

 Minneapolis-based referee focused sports startup, Refr Sports, raised $535k in pre-seed funding, led by Groove Capital.

 AI sports tech challenge platform LILLIUS announced an undisclosed investment from GSR.

 Sleep fitness company Eight Sleep announced Taylor Fritz as their athlete ambassador and investor (amount undisclosed).

 Revelyst acquired a skill-based golf simulator competition platform PinSeeker for an undisclosed amount. It will be integrated into Foresight Sports in Revelyst’s Precision Sports Technology platform.

 US based Gordon Brothers completed the acquisition of Catch Co., a portfolio of fishing brands, for an undisclosed amount.

 Bahrain based sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, acquired full ownership of McLaren, from 60 to 100 percent for an undisclosed amount.

Latest from our channels

 #197 Johan Cruijff ArenA: Smart Stadium in a Smart City

In the last leg of our theme of talking to sports teams, leagues and organizations, we have Luc Mureau, Innovative and Advisory at Johan Cruijff ArenA. On this episode Luc talks about innovation being at the heart of the arena. He also talks about why innovation is so necessary in this day and age, about their program reimagine football, then sustainability, fan experience and sport performance being the key areas of interest, different challenges faced while implementing these innovations, and what’s coming up in the ArenA. Watch the full video here.

 STX Weekly: Last week’s newsletter, in case you missed it.

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