Seattle is among the contenders to be one of the host cities in the United States for an all-North American FIFA World Cup in 2026, and on Thursday a brand platform and executive committee to lead the effort was announced. SEA 2026 launched under the banner of “Soccer, Innovation, Everyone,” promoting the region’s passion for soccer, its ability to act on big ideas and the fact that all are welcome to experience the city like a local. A seven-person executive committee to drive the effort is a mix of technology, sports, civic and entertainment notables. Adrian Hanauer — Chair of… Read More
News Brief: Computer scientists have trained a neural network to transform the action from pre-recorded videos of soccer games into immersive augmented-reality “holograms” you can shrink down onto a tabletop. The artificial-intelligence system developed by the University of Washington’s Konstantinos Rematas and colleagues analyzed 12,000 player models from FIFA, Electronic Arts’ soccer simulation game. Once the system learned to conceptualize the 3-D motions of soccer players, it could convert YouTube videos into 3-D renderings viewable via Microsoft’s HoloLens headset. Someday it may convert live World Cup matches on the fly. But for now, you’ll just have to check out the… Read More
TAYLOR’S TAKE ON THE WEEK IN SPORTS TECH: It was Christmas morning on Thursday for soccer fans as the World Cup kicked off in Russia. The host country breezed by Saudi Arabia in the opening match, 5-0, but as usual with this tournament, the storylines went far beyond the pitch. Uruguay took down Egypt, 1-0, in Friday’s early bout. Matches run through July 15 and will usually air live in the U.S. in the morning. Here’s the full schedule. Fox is airing all 64 matches, both on Fox and Fox Sports channels. If you have a cable log in, you can… Read More
