Friday, Aug. 23, 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.
- Fans at this year’s US Open tournament will be able to play against Sloans Stephens in a Mercedes-Benz-powered augmented reality experience. The activation uses a mini tennis court that includes a large video screen on the other side of the net. A virtual version of Stephens takes fans through an automated tennis lesson while they hold a racket. The AR experience was designed by Helios Interactive and Mercedes plans a similar display incorporating Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan at the Falcons’ first home game of the regular season.
- WWE is launching a podcast network in partnership with talent agency Endeavor. The WWE Podcast Network will leverage Endeavor Audio, the company’s content studio, to create several podcast series focused on superstar wrestlers. WWE already uses Endeavor’s back-end technology to power its OTT streaming service. Additional details on a launch date and content lineup for the WWE Podcast Network will be announced in the coming weeks.
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- Swish Analytics has signed on as an authorized MLB data distributor to U.S. sports betting operators. Swish Analytics builds prediction tools used to help fans with betting and fantasy sports decisions. The company is MLB’s third authorized data distributor after the league signed recent deals with DraftKings and FanDuel. “Including Swish as a distributor of our rich, reliable and fast data, in addition to their best-in-class oddsmaking and gaming-data services, will drive competition and new product innovations across the sports betting landscape,” said Kenny Gersh, MLB’s EVP of gaming and new ventures, in a press release.
- Stack Sports has acquired rival youth sports management platforms Affinity Sports and Blue Sombrero from Dick’s Sporting Goods. Both Affinity Sports and Blue Sombrero provide digital management tools to youth sports organizations. According to Stack Sports, it now has the largest customer-base in the sports tech market. The company offers cloud-based sports administration, registration, communication and payment management solutions for youth sports organizations.
- NBC Sports Group signed a four-year deal to exclusively present the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series across its platforms in the U.S. The deal lasts through 2023 and will provide more than 300 hours of rugby content on the NBC Sports Network, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, as well as the Olympic Channel and its digital properties. Programming can also be streamed through the NBC Sports Gold subscription service. The women’s tournament begins this October while the men’s tournament starts in December.
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