[Love sports and technology? Sign up for our sports tech newsletter to receive this rundown from GeekWire’s Taylor Soper via email every week.] TAYLOR’S TAKE: There’s only one place this week where you can catch a Cardinals game, eat mouth-watering BBQ, go on a Budweiser tour, and attend an awesome sports business conference — St. Louis, of course! I’m on the road this week in St. Louis, where Washington University is hosting the Olin Sports Business Summit. Today I’m helping emcee the event, which invites business and tech leaders from the sports world to speak on stage about the latest innovations… Read More
Playing with a ball can be a lot of fun when you throw sensors and computer chips into the mix. That’s the thought behind Play Impossible, a Seattle startup that sells a smart, connected inflatable ball which links to a smartphone app and lets people play different physical games. The company launched last year and raised $1 million from Two Sigma Ventures, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, and WestRiver Group, the firm led by TopGolf Entertainment Group Co-Chairman Erik Anderson. Its first product is a small rubber ball that looks completely normal from the outside but has a bevy of electronics inside —… Read More
A new trailer for “Breakaway,” the multiplayer action game from Amazon Game Studios, encourages participants to “play like the world is watching.” And that’s certainly the overall goal as developers have partnered closely with Twitch in hopes of becoming the next big thing in the lucrative world of streaming gaming. The trailer for the game, which is still an alpha release, was revealed at Gamescom in Germany this week. “Players fight for dominance across fabled locations such as El Dorado, Atlantis, and Styx,” according to the game description. “They battle to control the Relic — the center of Breakaway’s action… Read More
Another day, another new business vertical Amazon is aiming to disrupt. The Seattle tech giant is looking to partner with U.S. arena owners as a way to sell event tickets, Reuters reported on Thursday. The move would put Amazon in direct competition with Ticketmaster, the industry giant that controls much of the ticketing market in the U.S. Amazon already launched a ticketing service called Amazon Tickets in the U.K. two years ago and now it appears that business may be gearing up for more growth. Amazon has several job postings for Amazon Tickets which note “rapid expansion.” “If you love seeing live… Read More
Technology is shaking up the NFL, from how fans watch games to keeping players safe on the field. Attendees at our second annual GeekWire Sports Tech Summit got the inside scoop from NFL COO Tod Leiweke on how the nation’s most popular professional sports league is tapping into the latest innovations both on and off the field. Veteran NFL reporter John Clayton sat down with Leiweke, the former CEO of the Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Lightning who became the NFL’s COO in 2015, to talk about everything from the league’s new streaming deal with Amazon to the declining TV ratings… Read More
