TAYLOR’S TAKE ON THE WEEK IN SPORTS TECH: March Madness is back. The annual college basketball tournament kicks off next week as millions around the country try to fill out the perfect bracket. If you’re looking to stream live games when the first round action starts Thursday — it’s certainly a work distraction — you can access NCAA March Madness Live online or via apps for iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Windows 10, Xbox, and Roku. There is also support for Chromecast and AirPlay. Here’s the full schedule of games all the way to the championship on April 2. Turner Sports and… Read More
From inside a lab at the University of Pittsburgh to a local Dunkin Donuts shop and finally to Major League Baseball, it’s been a quite the sports technology adventure for Diamond Kinetics. The Pittsburgh-based startup launched in 2013, initially using technology to properly fit amateur baseball players with the correct bat. That idea evolved over the past five years as Diamond Kinetics developed bat sensors to help analyze a batter’s swing. The product is used by more than 15 MLB teams and 52 NCAA programs, in addition to thousands of younger players. The latest chapter began this week as the… Read More
The Seattle SuperSonics played their last game at Key Arena in 2008, a few months after Amazon planted its flag just down the road with a 1.7 million-square foot office campus in the South Lake Union neighborhood. Fast forward a decade, and Amazon’s campus is more than four times its original size, with more to come, and a group of billionaires are preparing to renovate the Seattle Center stadium in pursuit of a professional hockey team. Amazon figures to have a significant impact on the project, both through its 50,000 downtown workers that could serve as a potential built-in fanbase… Read More
The premium YouTube TV video service has struck a multi-year deal with Seattle Sounders FC to become the exclusive live streaming provider for the soccer club starting this year. The deal makes Sounders FC the only MLS club to offer a streaming option in combination with traditional over-the-air broadcast games. The deal, announced today, is the second Major League Soccer deal for the Google-owned streaming service, following an agreement between YouTube TV and the expansion team Los Angeles FC a month ago. The MLS deals are part of a broader competition among major streaming providers and technology companies, including Amazon, Twitter,… Read More
Rep the Squad today announced the addition of MLB jerseys to its marketplace, as well as a new trade-in program that aims to reduce the amount of counterfeit items. The Seattle-based jersey rental service now offers Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers jerseys, with more MLB teams to be added later this year. Rep the Squad uses a Netflix-like model, charging customers $19.95 per month to receive selected jerseys in the mail, one at a time. When you’re done wearing one, you can return it and receive a different jersey as long as you maintain your subscription. It launched last year with… Read More
