Perform, a new training app for runners that also pairs them with personal coaches, announced a $1.2 million pre-seed round led by venture fund Defy and joined by Techstars and technology executives from Calm, Uber and Fitbod. American marathoner Meb Keflezighi also joined the company’s board of advisors.
Users of Perform are matched with a human coach who devises training plans and remains in contact for support and advice through calls and messages. The running app was released in beta earlier this year and builds upon the company’s previous product, a running app that collected data on heart rate and pace and used AI to generate a custom music playlist. Perform’s co-founders are Eric Brownrout, Christian Mathiesen and Leonard Adler.
Keflezighi is the only runner in history to win the New York City and Boston Marathons while also medal in the Olympics. He participated in four Summer Games, claiming silver in Athens 2004. Also joining the advisory board is his brother, Merhawi Keflezighi, who is CEO of Hawi Management, an agency for elite track and field athletes.
Facial recognition cameras and drone surveillance will be used for crowd security purposes during the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar, according to AFP. Qatari organizers will use more than 15,000 cameras to monitor fan activity across the eight World Cup stadiums and on the streets of Doha.
CCTV cameras on Doha’s city streets will reportedly utilize facial recognition while researchers from Qatar University are said to have developed drone surveillance systems capable of estimating the number of passersby on city streets. The data and footage will be transmitted to the Aspire control center, which Qatari officials developed as a headquarters to monitor gate security, transportation systems and maintenance issues across the World Cup stadiums and city streets.
"We have eyes on the ground, we can view all of the 15,000 cameras across the eight stadiums,” Aspire CTO Niyas Abdulrahiman told AFP. He added, "What you see here is a new standard, a new trend in venue operations, this is our contribution from Qatar to the world of sport. What you see here is the future of stadium operations.”
All local and international fans attending World Cup matches must fill out a Hayaa Card , a digital identification app from the Qatari government that requires fans to upload a photo of their face and to scan their passport.
AFP’s report did not specify the developer of the facial recognition technology that will be used in Qatar. Russian technology company NtechLab previously deployed its facial recognition system at the 2018 World Cup in Moscow, which local authorities used to identify and arrest more than 40 suspects during events related to the soccer tournament. The 2014 World Cup in Brazil featured facial recognition stadium security from Japanese firm NEC , which also supplied its facial recognition cameras at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics .
The Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club has signed a player development partnership with TOCA Football, an operator of tech-infused indoor soccer training facilities. CRYSC will send more than 150 male and female youth players each week to train at TOCA’s Denver facility, which includes ball delivery machines and smart targets with sensors to enhance training sessions.
The sensor-enabled targets track the accuracy of a player’s shots and passes during drills, with the data shared to TOCA’s connected mobile app. Former US national team midfielder Eddie Lewis is the founder of TOCA Football, whose 21 facilities make it the largest operator of indoor soccer training venues in North America. Toca has secured more than $100 million in funding, and its investors include English soccer star Harry Kane .
More than 13,000 youth players aged three to 19 are part of CRYSC, which runs leagues, camps and tournaments across Colorado and was named a top-15 youth soccer club in the US by Soccer Wire . TOCA’s advisory board includes former USWNT star Abby Wambach, former NFL marketing executive Julie Haddon and former Topgolf CEO Erik Anderson.
Uplift Labs, a smartphone-based motion capture company, has announced an additional $2.5 million in seed funding on top of the $3 million it had raised in January. This latest round included Brooklyn Nets guard Seth Curry, his wife Callie Rivers Curry, former Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro guard David DeCastro and several investment firms.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based Uplift has developed technology that uses two iPhones—and, soon, just one—to generate 3D motion capture of both elite athletes and general health and wellness patients. The NBA included it in the league’s inaugural cohort of startups for its Launchpad program. A half-dozen MLB clubs and Golftec are also users. It worked with LAFC on a project in conjunction with Verizon 5G Labs, the Global Sports Venture Studio and UEFA.
Co-founded and led by CEO Sukemasa Kabayama, the former president of Tesla Japan, Uplift has now received $8.5 million in total investment. Previous individual investors included All-Star basketball players Marc Gasol and Renee Montgomery.
Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, after trialing an aboutGOLF simulator in his home, has become a brand ambassador for the company.
Specializing in virtual golf competitions, aboutGOLF produces an accurate simulator based on what it calls proprietary camera technology. Its flatscreen simulators , priced starting at $46,500, can be upgraded to 4K, while the curved simulators start at $69,500. The curved product can be customized to fit in different sized rooms and is equipped with a high-performance 23-inch touchscreen.
The aboutGOLF simulator recreates as many as 50 golf venues, including the Old Course at St. Andrews and Pebble Beach. Herbert, named to the Pro Bowl last season, is an avid golfer who last month hosted the Justin Herbert Invitational tournament in Eugene, Oregon that raised money for the non-profit organization Kidsports.
Noah Basketball’s sensor-powered analytics platform is being adopted by another NCAA men’s basketball team, Florida Gulf Coast University.
FGCU set a school record for converted three-pointers last season with 347 and attempted the sixth-most three-pointers in the nation last season. Noah Basketball’s cloud-based shooting system—marketed as “ Noahlytics ’’—will provide players with individualized dashboards that can be accessed in real time during practice to pinpoint the metrics behind makes and misses.
Virginia and Alabama are among the other men’s programs that have deployed the platform, which relies on sensors mounted on the backboard—along with cameras, artificial intelligence and facial recognition—to correct inconsistent shooting habits via audio feedback.
The system can quantify the position of a basketball at 30 times per second, as well as the arc of a shot and its location within the rim when it goes through. The Noahlytics are the subsequent data points shared with the player, which are filtered by shot length, player name, court placement, makes and misses. Through machine learning, a player receives a diagnostic grade with data-driven suggestions on how to improve their shot-making.
According to Noah Basketball, its expertise is based on the study of over 400 million shots taken by players of every level. The product has been installed in the practice facilities of 24 NBA teams, including the reigning champion Golden State Warriors , Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks , Toronto Raptors , Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers . The Big3 also recently installed the sensors during games this season where—alongside Microsoft’s Kinect motion sensors—it is providing players with metrics on shot depth and rotational spin.
The New York Yankees have expanded their partnership with T-Mobile to add 5G connectivity for fans on their phones at Yankee Stadium. T-Mobile customers with 5G-enabled devices can now connect to the company’s Ultra Capacity 5G network while seated in select sections at Yankee Stadium.
Fans at Yankee Stadium can use the network to share high-resolution photos and livestream video on their phones at speeds up to 10 times faster than 4G, according to T-Mobile. Former Yankees greats Hideki Matsui and Bernie Williams are featured in a flyover drone video of Yankee Stadium that was post-produced on T-Mobile's 5G network and uploaded to the team’s YouTube .
T-Mobile expects to add more 5G enhancements to Yankee Stadium for the 2023 season. T-Mobile is a long-time sponsor of the Yankees and they worked together last year to provide free internet-connected devices to 11,000 students in the Bronx .
UFC will begin a pilot program with virtual advertising company 4D Sight to digitally overlay sponsor branding into the Octagon during streams on UFC Fight Pass. UFC is the first major sports league to partner with 4D Sight, which has previously added on-screen virtual ads for esports competitions organized by Activision-Blizzard, Krafton, Riot Games, Tencent and Ubisoft.
4D Sight’s cloud-based, computer vision software will debut Saturday on UFC Fight Pass’s Spanish broadcast of U FC 278: Usman Vs. Edwards 2. The fight’s stream will feature a virtual logo in the Octagon from Stake.com , a cryptocurrency-based sports betting company that serves as the UFC’s betting partner in Latin America and Asia.
“UFC tried and discovered we couldn’t use any of the traditional, mature technologies for digitally placing our partners’ logos in our broadcasts,” Alon Cohen, UFC’s SVP of research and development, said in a statement. “Those technologies are upstream and use sensors attached to cameras. We needed a downstream solution—one that could place logos on the Octagon canvas using a broadcast-level solution. 4D Sight is the only platform that could provide that technology for us, and we’re proud to work with them to produce this first-of-its-kind deployment in IRL sport.”
The NFL, NFLPA and Dapper Labs are fully launching NFL All Day, an NFT platform for digital video highlights in the style of Dapper’s market-defining NBA Top Shot product. Kansas City Chiefs superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes will serve as the face of the franchise for the 2022 season.
The NFL All Day marketplace, which had a soft launch last fall, will curate officially licensed video highlight NFTs called “Moments” for fans to buy, collect and trade. All users can receive one free 2022 NFL Season NFT with Mahomes’ photo by signing up for the platform. The first Series 1 pack—known as Headliners—will drop on Friday, Aug. 19 at 2 pm ET and feature Tom Brady, Derrick Henry, Jonathan Taylor and more.
Dapper Labs, which won the 2022 Sports Business Award for Best in Sports Technology, initially partnered with the NFL and NFLPA in September of 2021. The blockchain-based company made its name working with the NBA and NBPA, but also has struck a deal with the UFC. The NFL’s other foray into NFTs has come via its commemorative ticket program, in which it partnered with Ticketmaster to issue a free digital keepsake for attendees of select games.
Bally Sports+, the subscription streaming service that launched regionally in June, will become available to all its markets beginning on September 26 in time for the 2022-23 NBA and NHL seasons.
Those who live in any of the 19 markets served by Bally Sports now can choose to subscribe to the direct-to-consumer service instead of a cable or streaming bundle to watch the local RSN. Bally Sports+ began distribution in five regions over the summer—Detroit, Kansas City, Miami , Tampa and Wisconsin —at a price point of $19.99 per month or $189.99 per year.
In those five launch markets, Bally Sports+ included the local rights to th e appropriate hometown MLB club, but that will not be the case initially for the other markets. Other regional programming, such as college and high school sports, will be included.
Sinclair Broadcast Group , which introduced virtual control rooms last summer, acquired what used to be the collection of Fox Sports RSNs in 2019 and then rebranded them as Bally Sports in partnership with the casino and sportsbook operator. A subsidiary of Sinclair, Diamond Sports Group , is the operator of the Bally Sports+ .
“Today is a significant step for the RSN industry as we offer local sports fans across our Bally Sports footprint a new way to watch their hometown teams,” Sinclair Broadcast Group CEO Chris Ripley said in a statement . “We view Bally Sports+ as a great complement to the incredible value our distribution partners provide our linear networks; and with both models, we are uniquely positioned to help our team partners grow their fan bases for years to come.”
Mobile ordering startup CHEQ has reached a deal with PepsiCo to launch co-branded concession stands at sports stadiums that use CHEQ’s point-of-sale system and offer its ordering app to in-venue fans. The partnership will initially target stadiums, restaurants, retail locations and universities in South Florida, starting with the Miami Marlins' loanDepot Park, before eventually expanding to venues and pro sports stadiums across the U.S.
In July 2021, the Marlins became the first pro sports team to partner with CHEQ to add its mobile ordering app to its ballpark, which lets fans order from concession stands and have the food delivered to their seats. CHEQ’s other sports deals are with the Washington Commander’s FedEx Field and Miami Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium , which will have five co-branded CHEQ/PepsiCo concession stands this upcoming NFL season that will sell PepsiCo’s beverage products such as Pepsi, Sierra Mist, and Mountain DEW.
CHEQ’s mobile app also offers a social remote gifting feature at various restaurants, as well as loanDepot Park and Hard Rock Stadium, that lets users (from anywhere in the world) pay for food and drink orders sent in real-time to their friends currently seated at those restaurants or stadiums. “ Eventually, users will have the ability to send/receive Pepsi products with each other in real time, from anywhere in the world,” CHEQ’s CRO and co-founder Jake Stone said in an email to SportTechie .