Major League Soccer is taking its first shot at the NFT craze this week, launching a collection of street art to celebrate two weekend matches and four teams, including Seattle Sounders FC. The non-fungible tokens will be tied to nationally televised matches on Saturday between the Sounders and Atlanta United (1:30 p.m. PT on FOX) and the Portland Timbers and L.A. Galaxy (3:30 p.m. PT on ABC). On Friday, soccer fans and street art enthusiasts can go online at 3 p.m. PT to watch artists representing each club “battle” for an hour to create unique, limited edition, soccer-inspired artwork. The… Read More
Add the WNBA to the list of professional sports leagues that Amazon wants to help showcase via its Prime Video streaming platform. Amazon and the WNBA reached a multi-year agreement giving Prime Video exclusive global streaming rights to 16 WNBA games per season. The deal will feature a streamed game each week during the regular season, as well as the inaugural Commissioner’s Cup game on Aug.12. It marks the first time Prime Video has exclusive global streaming rights to a women’s professional sports league and when coverage starts on May 29 for the game between the Atlanta Dream and New… Read More
It might seem like a no-brainer to pit the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom Brady against “America’s team,” the Dallas Cowboys, in the opening game of the 2021 NFL season. But figuring out the matchups, locations and timing of the other 271 games takes a bit of computing power. The NFL leverages its partnership with Amazon Web Services to sort through some of the endless scenarios that come into play when figuring out how to match 32 teams across 17 games during an 18-week period, all while optimizing for fairness, travel, and availability of particular venues. The… Read More
Amazon and the National Football League have tacked on an extra year to a recent deal that makes Prime Video the exclusive home for “Thursday Night Football.” The reported $1 billion a year deal will now run 11 seasons and start with the 2022 season. The announcement came Monday as Amazon was taking part in the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) NewFronts, where platforms pitch media buyers for ad dollars. The existing “Thursday Night Football” tri-cast package between Amazon, Fox and NFL Network, will now expire after this season. Prime Video will carry 15 games per year and one pre-season game per… Read More
Seattle Storm star Sue Bird and U.S. Women’s National Team star Megan Rapinoe are among the female athletes getting in on the non-fungible token (NFT) craze with the release of digital trading cards next month. According to Sportico, the athletes, who are all represented by the Wasserman sports agency, will be featured on collectibles designed by Los Angeles-based artist Lauren Nipper. Athletes in addition to Bird and Rapinoe include No. 1 WNBA draft pick Charli Collier; No. 3 selection Aari McDonald; Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad; X Games gold medalist skateboarder Mariah Duran; and Paralympian Scout Bassett. Sportico said additional female… Read More
