🔊 AI Robots Infiltrate An NFL Game

Welcome to The Hype Report where we curate & deliver the latest news, stories & insights around sports technology.

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Let’s dive into this week’s report…

🗞️ Top Stories

• AI Robots Attended An NFL Game. AI robots were placed in seats at SoFi Stadium during the Los Angeles Chargers’ Week 1 game against the Miami Dolphins to help promote Disney’s upcoming science fiction film called “The Creator” (more here).

• The Phoenix Suns Are Giving Fans Free TV Antennas To Help Them Watch Local Broadcasts. The reach of Suns' games is projected to expand to more than 2.8 million homes in Arizona thanks to their new rights deals (more here).

• GameOn Strikes A Partnership With LALIGA. The next-generation Web3 fantasy sports platform is joining forces with the world's most-followed soccer league to launch fantasy games built around NFTs for the US and Canada (more here).

💰 Investments & Acquisitions

• NFT Startup Rario Founders Leave A Year After $120 Million Funding. Founders of Rario, the cricket NFT startup in which India's Dream11 led a $120 million funding round last year, are leaving the two-year-old company (more here).

• Commercial Sports Media Launches Sports Tech Investment Arm. Commercial Sports Media is looking to leverage the fast growth of sports technology companies across the Nordic region with the creation of an investment arm to service the sector (more here).

• The Sporting News Has Raised $15 Million in a growth round led by Playtech, a London-based, publicly traded gambling software development company (more here).

• BookSeats Has Raised A Total Of CAD 1.4 million in a round led by major sports tech venture capital firm KB Partners, along with other notable investors Phoenix Capital Ventures and Calano Funds (more here).

• Athlete Stock Market PredictionStrike Raises $10 Million In Funding. Athlete stock market PredictionStrike announced it has raised $10 million in a Series A venture capital round led by Bullpen Capital (more here).

• Vista Equity Partners Preparing To Sell Sports Data Firm Stats Perform. Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners is preparing to put sports intelligence and data specialist Stats Perform up for sale, according to people with knowledge of the matter (more here).

• Dutch Sport Tech Fund Invests In Amsterdam-Based Scala Sports. Scala Sports says it will use the funds to streamline the organization and further scale up its operations in the US (more here).

🤝 Partnerships & Collabs

• Lockerverse Inks A Deal With CAA. The Web3 company, aimed at giving college and pro athletes a way to monetize their fan bases, will be repped by the major talent agency (more here).

• Timberwolves, Lynx, and KAGR Extend Partnership. The Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx announced the extension and expansion of their partnership with Kraft Analytics Group, marking a new phase of collaboration aimed at accelerating fan engagement and fostering new partner growth (more here).

• Tampa Bay Rowdies Partners With Piing for big-screen, in-stadium gaming. US soccer team Tampa Bay Rowdies is joining forces with Piing to host match-day interactive games on its big screens. Piing is an in-stadium gaming platform that enables spectators at sporting events to play games on stadium screens using their phones as a controller (more here).

• FanDuel Partners With Amazon Web Services (AWS). FanDuel will leverage AWS’s proven, secure, and highly performant infrastructure to scale its support of millions of simultaneous players as they place bets, watch live content, and access real-time features (more here).

• Tiger Woods’ TGL Joins Hands With U.S. Integrity For Betting Programs. The tech-forward league, in association with the PGA Tour, is scheduled to kick off sometime in January 2024. It recently announced that the USI will help provide integrity monitoring services from its proprietary dashboard service that will overlook betting data intelligence and fraud prevention (more here).

• Genius Sports Strikes Partnership With Snap. Genius Sports Limited has struck a new partnership with Snap Inc. to power immersive AR fan experiences via Snapchat Lenses (more here).

⚡ Other Hype

• FTX Paid $750k To Shaq & Thousands More On Celebrity Promotions. In the latest court filing, the failed exchange disclosed that it paid nearly $750k to former basketball player Shaq, over $300k to Tennis star Naomi Osaka, $200k to American football player Trevor Lawrence, and $270k to former baseball player David Oritz (more here).

• StatusPro Is Releasing NFL Pro Era II. Launching on September 28, Pro Era II will feature head-to-head multiplayer gameplay and provide fans with the chance to be a part of the game themselves. Gamers will have the opportunity to compete as the quarterback of their favorite NFL team and play against other gamers, no matter where they’re located (more here).

• NBA Launchpad Looks For Women’s Basketball Tech Startups. For 2024, the NBA is working with the WNBA to find innovations that can address participation concerns, prevent injury, and enhance performance (more here).

• How Barcelona Is Using Xavi-backed AI To Gain An Advantage Over Their Rivals. Barcelona is using AI software developed by Kognia, backed by Xavi. The software, which was created in 2019, uses artificial intelligence to dissect and analyze football games, providing detailed insights and generating efficient game analysis within minutes (more here).

• Sports Betting Platform Rithmm Launches Subscription Platform. The leading Boston-based startup specializing in AI-driven sports betting technology officially announced the launch of its sports betting subscription platform (more here).

• Global NFT In Ticketing Market Size. According to a new market research report published by Global Market Estimates, the global NFT ticketing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.5% from 2023 to 2028 (more here).

• A Look At Sports Betting Stocks As The NFL Season Kicks Off. ‍Now that the NFL season is underway, fans of the game are not the only ones in a frenzy. The sports betting industry has seen substantial growth over recent years as billions of dollars are wagered on sporting events (more here).

• Fanatics Hires Former Opendoor Executive To Run $5 Billion Sports Merchandise Business. Fanatics has hired a new chief executive for its largest business unit, the latest executive move for the sports platform as it continues to move towards a potential IPO (more here).

• How Sony’s Hawk-Eye Electronic Line-Calling System Transformed The U.S. Open. Since 2022, the U.S. Open has had no line judges. Instead, the tournament uses Hawk-Eye Live, an electronic line-calling system, to determine whether a tennis shot is in or out (more here)

• 7 AI-Powered Features You’ll Find On Prime Video's ‘Thursday Night Football‘ This Season. Amazon is using AI to create once-unimaginable enhancements to the football-viewing experience (more here).

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