SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Embedded inside Silicon Valley, appropriately, is a high-tech sports cathedral. It is wired with 12,000 physical network ports, 400 miles of fiber optic cable, 1,300 WiFi access points, 2,000 IPTV-connected televisions, ten 4K video cameras, and an accompanying smartphone app to help fans order food from their seat and track the length of bathroom lines. Welcome to Levi’s Stadium. GeekWire recently took a behind-the-scenes tour of the privately-financed $1.2 billion stadium, which has set a new bar for professional teams seeking to transform the in-person sports experience. Levi’s Stadium opened in 2014 and is now in its third year hosting the NFL’s San Francisco… Read More
Seattle Mariners backup catcher Steve Clevenger waded into the charged atmosphere of police shootings and protests on Twitter on Thursday and a day later the team suspended him without pay for the remainder of the season. On his private account on Thursday, the 30-year-old Clevenger fired off controversial tweets aimed at protesters in Charlotte, N.C., calling the Black Lives Matter movement and President Obama “pathetic” and saying that everyone involved should be “locked behind bars like animals.” The tweets were captured and shared by various users on Twitter: #Mariners say they are "looking into" controversial tweets coming pitcher Steve Clevenger's… Read More
Ricardo Lockette’s story is one of survival, perseverance and grit. And now the former wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks — whose football career was tragically ended after a devastating hit last year in a game against the Cowboys — will join us at the GeekWire Summit on October 4th to share his inspiring story, one which he so eloquently retold in the essay “Am I About to Die?” Lockette was chosen to speak at this year’s Summit as part of our Geeks Give Back campaign, which raises money for the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship, an amazing program that provides… Read More
Twitter’s first attempt at live-streaming a National Football League game on Thursday night appeared to be a success based on performance and feedback. Now the ratings are in for Friday evening quarterbacks everywhere to dissect. According to the NFL, Twitter reached 2.3 million combined worldwide viewers total for the pre-game show (“NFL Thursday Night Kickoff”), the New York Jets vs. Buffalo Bills game, and the post-game show. Twitter reached 2.1 million viewers for the game alone, and the average audience watching on the platform was 243,000 (with each viewer watching an average of 22 minutes of game action). The league says the… Read More
So far, so good for Twitter’s NFL live streaming ambitions. The company’s first attempt at streaming an NFL game went smoothly, and the overall response from users was positive. Twitter aired the New York Jets vs. Buffalo Bills game on Thursday evening after inking a reported $10 million deal in April with the NFL to stream 10 Thursday Night Football games this season. Our bunker room @twitter we have unbelievable team️#golive #TNF #OneTeam pic.twitter.com/0W1PgXcfrH — Anthony Noto (@anthonynoto) September 16, 2016 For the most part, folks seemed impressed as the #NYJvsBUF hashtag was trending worldwide. Watching the game on Twitter on AppleTV with Tweets… Read More
