Friday, Apr. 5, 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.
- FC Barça Pushes Further Into Esports: FC Barcelona announced it has purchased the esports team formerly known as “Savage!” to compete in the Rocket League Championship Series. Rocket League is a soccer video game where players drive rocket-powered cars. The new team will mark Barça’s second venture into esports after the club launched its Pro Evolution Soccer squad last year. French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain also fields an affiliate in the RLCS, which kicks off its fourth season on Apr. 7.
- UFC Expands to Russia with Broadcast/Streaming Deal: UFC and Russian company Media-Telecom launched UFC TV, the world’s first linear channel devoted exclusively to UFC. The 24-hour channel will carry all UFC content in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, including live events. It will broadcast on Rostelecom, a state-owned TV network in Russia and will also stream via Rostelecom’s OTT platform, Wink. “We are confident that the new TV channel will bring UFC content to a bigger audience than ever before, providing an important platform to grow our fanbase and cement UFC as a leading sports brand in Russia,” said Andre Gromkovski, UFC Vice President, Russia and CIS.
- MLB’s Indians Add Solar Power to Stadium: The Cleveland Indians will install solar panels at Progressive Field as part of a new partnership with solar energy company Powerhome Solar. The stadium’s new solar array will be located on the roof behind home plate and will help reduce energy costs and expand the Indians’ sustainability initiatives, according to a press release. “We understand the responsibility of being environmentally conscious within the walls of Progressive Field and beyond,” said Jerry Crabb, Indians Senior Director of Ballpark Operations. “Using sustainable technologies is not only good for the community, but good for baseball.”
- Basketball Scouting/Analytics Company Partners with Coaching Platform: Synergy Sports Technology will integrate its video scouting and analytics tools into digital basketball coaching platform FastModel Sports. The integration will allow teams to tag video clips in Synergy’s Editor using the play calls they have logged in the FastDraw solution from FastModel Sports. Synergy and FastModel’s software is currently used by the majority of NCAA DI teams and all NBA, G-League, and WNBA teams, according to a joint press release. “We could not be more pleased that Synergy Sports Technology and FastModel Sports are working together to make our staff more effective and efficient,” said University of Kentucky men’s basketball team head coach John Calipari in the release.
- Twitch will Livestream No-Helmet, No-Pads Football League, American 7s: The American 7s Football League announced a broadcast partnership with Twitch. Entering its fifth season, the A7FL is a seven-on-seven full-contact tackle football league where players are without helmets or pads. The A7FL’s Twitch channel will livestream two games per week and feature exclusive interactive content and functionality starting with the league’s season opener on Apr. 7. The league claims that its style “significantly reduces” concussions and other repetitive head impacts. “We’re excited to build on this traction by partnering with Twitch to empower its community via Co-Streaming to help us create a football league designed for the 21st century,” the A7FL stated in its press release.
- AS Roma to Tweet in Pigdin English: AS Roma has launched a Pidgin English Twitter account for fans in Nigeria and neighboring countries. @ASRomaPidgin will operate from Lagos and is the first official social media profile created by a European soccer club to target followers in Nigeria. Roma now communicates in 13 different languages through its social media channels. In December, Roma became the first Italian soccer team to sign a streaming deal with Twitter to broadcast exclusive live matches.