We’re guessing there are a lot of happy GeekWire readers out there this weekend with the Seattle Sounders MLS Cup championship victory on Saturday against Toronto FC. GeekWire was on hand for the team’s arrival at Boeing Field on Sunday where the team was greeted by throngs of enthusiastic supporters. We caught up with Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer and Stefan Frei, the team’s goalkeeper and MLS Cup MVP. We then joined the celebration as the team shared the MLS Cup with their fans. If you didn’t make it to this afternoon’s rally, check out the video below. The team is… Read More
Data and analytics surely aren’t the only reason for the Seattle Sounders’ remarkable late-season run that’s resulted in a chance to play for an MLS Cup title on Saturday. But it’s clearly helped. As Seattle’s professional soccer club faces off against Toronto in its first-ever MLS Cup this weekend — 5 p.m. kickoff on Saturday; you can watch the action in virtual reality — GeekWire spoke with head coach Brian Schmetzer and Sport Science and Performance Manager Dave Tenney to learn more about the team’s use of data and analytics to improve the performance of its players on the pitch. The Sounders… Read More
Seattle’s Pacific Science Center is busy on your average weekend, but this past Saturday it was bursting. Between the life-sized bug exhibit and the dome of the Boeing IMAX theater, a unique competition was taking place. Students paced between swarms of supporters and the edges of four square arenas that were taped onto the carpet. They tuned out the sounds of the crowd to focus on the plastic-on-plastic crash of their robots — battling sumo-style to push competitors out of the ring. This was the scene at the first ever Unified Robotics Championship. The contest had all the trappings of a high… Read More
If you can’t make it to Toronto this weekend for the MLS Cup, FOX can get you there — kind of. The cable giant will stream Saturday’s MLS final between Seattle and Toronto in virtual reality for the first time, partnering with a company called LiveLike to broadcast the action in VR. Viewers will have five camera angles to pick from; there’s also a “virtual suite” you can enter that shows rosters and live stats. You can watch via the FOX Sports VR app — for iOS, Android, Gear VR — and you don’t need additional hardware to check out VR stream, though those with a… Read More
For an NFL player, there is a lot more to life than what goes on in between the sidelines on Sundays. Sure, competing in the world’s premier football league is a remarkable achievement. But being a professional athlete also provides numerous business-related opportunities for both current and retired players alike. Yet for many, the chance to maximize their value and influence — whether it’s inking a marketing deal, investing in a startup, or even joining a company as an employee — can sometimes be a difficult process. That’s where the NFL Players Association wants to help. The NFLPA, the union for NFL players, today launched… Read More
