Monday, Sept. 16, 2019 — A roundup of some of the key sports technology news you need to know, including SportTechie’s own content and stories from around the web.
- Researchers at the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank at Boston University have found evidence of Stage III CTE in the brain of deceased hockey Hall of Famer Stan Mikita. Mikita played 22 years in the NHL for the Chicago Blackhawks. He is the eighth former NHL player diagnosed with CTE by the Brain Bank, which is a collaboration between the VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston University CTE Center and the Concussion Legacy Foundation. “We hope Stan Mikita’s pledge and CTE diagnosis will inspire greater participation in research from the hockey community,” said Chris Nowinski, CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation. “Without greater participation from the hockey community, we have little hope for treating or preventing CTE within our lifetime.”
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- This weekend, the USGA will host the U.S. Amateur Championship esports event at Topgolf Las Vegas, in partnership with the World Golf Tour. The event will take place on Saturday from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. PT inside the TCL Lounge at Topgolf Las Vegas. The winner will receive a custom 2019 Virtual U.S. Amateur Championship trophy, gift cards, a Phigolf golf simulator and a trip to either the U.S. Amateur Championship or U.S. Open in 2020. Four players from the U.S., Canada, Germany, and Brazil will compete in the live final, which will stream on Twitch, YouTube and Periscope.
- AMC has begun screening live out of market Sunday NFL games at select movie theatres across the country. Tickets to watch the games are advertised as free but patrons must purchase a $10 prepaid food and beverage credit card to enter the theatre. Visitors must also sign up for a free AMC Stubs membership and download the AMC Stubs mobile app. The app stores tickets and the prepaid food and beverage virtual card to scan at concessions inside AMC theatres.
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- Gambling operator Scientific Games will become the first platform to use IMG Arena’s golf betting product, starting in January 2020. IMG’s Golf Event Centre will deliver shot-by-shot data, odds making services, live streaming video, and interactive course visualizations from both the PGA Tour and European Tour to Scientific Games’ OpenSports online betting platform. OpenSports will then distribute the data to sportsbooks across the U.K., Europe and the U.S.
- VC firm KB Partners has raised $40 million for a venture fund focused on the intersection of sports and technology. The fund will target early stage startups covering areas such as connected fitness, immersive media and fan engagement, smart-venue technologies, youth sports, esports, fantasy sports and sports betting. KB Partners’ initial investments include backing golf simulator distributor Full Swing, cycling computer platform Hammerhead, and ANGLR, a tracking intelligence app for fishing.
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