Friday, May 24, 2019 – A roundup of some of the key sports technology stories you need to know, including SportTechie’s own content and stories from around the web
- Arsène Wenger Joins PlayerMaker as Investor and Partner: Former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger has joined soccer analytics and player-tracking company PlayerMaker as an investor and operating partner. PlayerMaker’s motion-based sensor can track technical, tactical, biomechanical, and physical movement from a player’s cleats. It is currently used by soccer clubs such as Fulham, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Atlanta United, Philadelphia Union, and Toronto FC. “Science can help make players stronger when used with data well—you can measure everything, after that it’s about how you use it. I believe that PlayerMaker is the best available solution to measure performance,” Wenger said in a press release.
- U.S. Soccer Launches “WNT Everywhere” Ahead of France 2019 World Cup: U.S. Soccer debuted a new website and mobile app as part of its “WNT Everywhere” campaign. Eleven murals of select women’s national team players have been painted across San Francisco, Atlanta, Orlando, St. Louis, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Portland, and Cincinnati as part of the campaign. The U.S. Soccer Official mobile app is integrated with object recognition technology that allows fans to unlock exclusive content about USWNT players when they point their phones at the murals. The app is available for free on both iOS and Android devices and launches two weeks before the start of the France 2019 World Cup.
- FanDuel Group Becomes Official Sportsbook to fuboTV Streaming Service: FanDuel Group and fuboTV announced a partnership that will make FanDuel Group the exclusive sportsbook, online casino, horse racing and DFS partner of the sports streaming service. FanDuel’s betting odds and data will soon be integrated into fuboTV’s platform. Horse racing channels TVG and TVG2, which are subsidiaries of FanDuel Group, will be added to fuboTV as part of the deal. This is FanDuel’s second push into live streaming after the company announced in late April that it will begin streaming tennis and European soccer matches as part of its partnership with Sportradar.
- DAZN Acquires MLS Rights in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and Brazil: DAZN announced it has obtained media rights to Major League Soccer games for the company’s streaming services in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and Brazil. The agreement starts immediately and covers four seasons from 2019 to 2022. In all of those countries except Brazil, DAZN will exclusively stream every MLS match. Earlier this week, DAZN also revealed it secured exclusive rights to this year’s Copa del Rey final featuring Barcelona and Valencia in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Japan, and non-exclusive rights in Italy.
- La Liga Renews Partnership With EA Sports for Five More Years: La Liga has renewed its advertising partnership with EA Sports for five years according to SportsProMedia. The agreement will see EA’s FIFA game series integrated into La Liga’s broadcast production and digital content through the 2023-24 season, while La Liga’s brand will continue to be promoted within the FIFA video game. “The collaboration between both organisations will offer a number of integrations in the game, including a full broadcast package, and bring the authenticity of La Liga to life in stadiums, banners, players and more,” La Liga said in a statement.