Tuesday, Aug. 6, 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.
- Startup fantasy sports app Fantasy Life announced it will begin seeking Series A funding. ESPN fantasy insider Matthew Berry co-founded Fantasy Life. The company’s investors include MLB All-Stars Josh Donaldson, Evan Longoria, David Price and Adam Wainwright, NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, and Atlanta Hawks part-owner Jesse Itzler. “We wanted to create a powerful breaking news engine, combined with an engaged community, to help fantasy sports players and sports bettors alike make faster and more informed decisions,” Berry said in a press release.
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- The second annual Jr. NBA Global Championship youth basketball tournament will feature an array of tech activations from several NBA partners. Basketball training app HomeCourt will be integrated into the Skills Night competition to provide 3-point contestants with shooting statistics and video footage, while EA Sports will add gaming stations at the Player Lounge. The tournament, which takes place Aug. 6 through Aug. 11 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, will stream across Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, the NBA Africa YouTube channel, Sony India, Tencent in China and Twitch (see note below).
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- The NBA and USA Basketball announced that Twitch will serve as the exclusive streaming partner for USA Basketball exhibition games this summer. Twitch will live stream all U.S. men’s national team games games this summer and select women’s national team friendly games. Coverage will also include select USA Basketball three-on-three events, the 2020 Nike Hoop Summit, and parts of the men’s and women’s training camps. Twitch will allow users to view the content on-demand after each live broadcast and will also work with USA Basketball to incorporate interactive custom overlays to enhance the fan-viewing experience. Select games from this week’s Jr. NBA Global Championship will be streamed on Twitch.
- Formula 1 announced it will launch live in-race betting odds in 2020 through its partnership with Sportradar. The deal was announced in partnership with Interregional Sports Group, an F1 sponsor and data rights partner. Sportradar will leverage never before released historical F1 data to create new live odds models set to be launched at the Australian Grand Prix in Albert Park. The new in-race betting options are part of a $100 million deal that F1 signed with Sportradar and ISG in September 2018.
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- Serie A has selected the sports data firm Genius Sports Group to be the league’s exclusive data supplier for betting. Starting with the upcoming 2019-20 season, Genius Sports Group’s sports betting arm, Betgenius, will capture data using pitchside technology and instantaneously distribute the live feed data to licensed sportsbook operators outside of Italy. Serie A is the latest European soccer league to partner with Genius Sports for betting data after the company also secured deals with the English Premier League, English Football League, Scottish Professional Football League, and Bundesliga.
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