Amazon Planning to Launch Standalone App for Sports Content, Per Report

By Andrew Cohen

Amazon is planning to launch a standalone sports app to house the company’s portfolio of sports programming, according to a report from The Information on Wednesday. The news comes amid a separate report from Puck News that says Amazon’s executive chairman Jeff Bezos is widely considered a leading candidate to buy a stake in the NFL’s Washington Commanders.

Amazon is currently in the first year of its $1.2 billion per year deal with the NFL to exclusively stream Thursday Night Football through 2033. Those games currently stream on Amazon Prime Video, which costs $8.99 per month as an entertainment service that hosts plenty of non-sports content.

In the U.S., Prime Video also streams the WNBA, Overtime Elite basketball, One Championship, as well as Seattle Sounders and New York Yankees games in local markets. Prime Video’s international portfolio has included UEFA Champions League matches in Germany and Italy, the NBA in Brazil, the French Open and Ligue 1 in France, and U.K. rights to the Premier League, ATP and WTA Tours, and US Open tennis.

“The plan for a separate app suggests Amazon could be thinking about new ways to squeeze revenue out of the billions of dollars in deals it has inked to stream live sports events,” reports The Information. In October, Amazon’s VP of Global Sports Video Marie Donoghue told Andrew Marchand and SBJ’s John Ourand that Amazon is interested in buying streaming rights to the NBA and major college football conferences.

“It would be excellent to have Thursday Night [NFL] lead into Friday, potentially Saturday big college football, so we’re very interested in that,” Donoghue said on the Sports Media Podcast. “We’re very interested in big time college sports, anybody would be. We’re [also] really interested in the NBA. We’d love to be in more business with the NFL, with baseball,” she said in October.

ESPN MegaCast Returning for College Football Playoffs, Alternate Broadcasts to Feature Camera Tech

By Tom Friend

ESPN will again produce extra MegaCasts for this weekend’s college football playoffs, as its tech-savvy alternative broadcast platform enters its ninth season.

Since 2014 — when ESPN and vice president of production Ed Placey first implemented MegaCast for the Auburn-Florida State BCS title game — it has become a network staple to televise the college championship on multiple Disney-owned channels with various camera angles and technological options. But, in a repeat of last year, the Dec. 31 semifinal games of Michigan-TCU and Georgia-Ohio State will also get the same multi-cast treatment. The technology featured in the college football semifinals MegaCast includes AllCam, Pylon cameras and multiple skycams.

The initial Auburn-FSU MegaCast nine years ago featured eight separate screens, including “BCS Title Talk,” “BCS Film Room,” “Sounds of the BCS” and “BCS Command Center.” But this year, the network will roll out 13 productions for the two semifinal games, which are as follows:

  • ESPN: Main Telecast
  • ESPN2: Field Pass with the Pat McAfee Show, presented by Mercedes-Benz
  • ESPNU: Command Center
  • ESPNEWS: AT & T 5G Skycast
  • SEC Network: Georgia Hometown Radio
  • ESPN Deportes: Spanish language broadcast
  • ESPN Radio: National radio broadcast
  • ESPN +: All-22 angle
  • ESPN+: TCU Hometown Radio
  • ESPN+: Michigan Hometown Radio
  • ESPN+: Ohio State Hometown Radio
  • ESPN + Georgia Hometown Radio
  • ESPN+: Marching Bands

The network is expected to produce even more alternative broadcasts for the Jan. 9 National Championship Game, including film rooms, coach’s talk and skycams.

Argentine Football Association Signs Multi-Year Deal With Blockchain-Based Gaming Platform Upland

By Andrew Cohen

The Argentine Football Association has signed a multi-year deal with blockchain-based gaming platform Upland to create licensed digital collectibles of players and clubs in Argentina’s top-tier Primera División soccer league. Upland has more than three million registered accounts in its metaverse, which lets users buy and sell virtual items and property through its in-game cryptocurrency.

Fresh off Argentina’s World Cup victory, the AFA will launch digital Primera División memorabilia that spans real match footage, tickets, and player and club NFTs. California-based Upland raised an $18 million Series A in Nov. 2021 that included investments from Animoca Brands and OneTeam Partners. The company has signed previous digital collectibles deals with the NFLPA, FIFA, and FC Porto.

Upland is powered by the EOS blockchain and can be played on the web or iOS and Android mobile apps. Its metaverse aims to be similar to the classic Monopoly board game, with recreations of 22 real-world cities mapped in Upland’s virtual world.

80% of Fans Found Wicket at Citi Field a ‘More Convenient and Engaging Way’ to Enter Ballpark, Mets Survey Finds

By Andrew Cohen

A survey from the New York Mets found that 80% of fans who used Wicket’s facial ticketing to enter Citi Field last season felt it was a “more convenient and engaging way” to enter the ballpark versus traditional methods. The survey also found that 90% of respondents would like to see the Mets expand Wicket’s facial recognition to support in-venue transactions among other experiences.

Wicket’s opt-in facial ticketing system was piloted at Citi Field in 2021. It expanded last season to have Wicket’s kiosks placed at all main entry gates for the Mets Entry Express program. The survey was based on responses from 194 Mets Entry Express users, which represent 0.58% of the 33,308 average crowd at Citi Field in 2022. The Mets plan to expand Wicket’s facial recognition in 2023 to include additional express lanes and new premium spaces for fans who register for Wicket via the MLB Ballpark app.

The Mets’ survey said it took six seconds for a family of four to enter Citi Field via Wicket’s express gates. Other teams partnered with Wicket include MLS club Columbus Crew and the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and Cleveland Browns. Not all New Yorkers are supportive of the Mets’ facial recognition usage, as the NY-based privacy group Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP) formed a petition in September that seeks to remove facial ticketing from Citi Field. In a separate facial recognition deployment, Knicks and Rangers owner James Dolan has used the technology to ban lawyers from firms suing him from entering Madison Square Garden.

“Fans shouldn’t have to give away their faces when a barcode will do just fine,” STOP director Sam Van Doran said in a statement. “Surveillance vendors push tech solutions for problems that don’t exist, without considering the consequences. As a Mets fan, I’m an optimist – but when biometric data is collected by a private company for unknown purposes, we all lose.”

Washington Capitals Launch AR Platform for Fans to Celebrate Alex Ovechkin’s 802nd Goal

By Tom Friend

In recognition of Alex Ovechkin becoming the NHL’s No. 2 all-time goal scorer, the Washington Capitals have launched “AR Ovi,” an augmented reality platform that allows fans to celebrate the achievement with an immersive version of Ovechkin.

Either by visiting washcaps.com/AROvi or by activating the AR through the Capitals Instagram profile, fans can bring a 3D Ovechkin into their personal space. Other AR integrations have him shooting virtual slapshots and holding up a virtual No. 2 sign.

Ovechkin scored his 802nd career goal on Dec. 23, eclipsing Gordie Howe’s 801. He now trails the No. 1 all-time scorer Wayne Gretzky by 92 goals. The AR giveaway includes a congratulations alert and also allow users to share photos of their AR Ovi by tagging @Capitals on social media platforms.

The AR technology is powered by Baltimore-based Balti Virtual, which previously produced an AR game called “Ovi’s Os Slapshot” in 2019 that allowed users to control a virtual Ovechkin shooting cereal at moving targets. Balti Virtual also collaborated with the Caps that year on AR gamification called “Tilt the Ice,” where users could serve as an interactive goalie trying to save virtual slapshots.

Controversial Split Decision in Boxing Title Fight Could Lead to VAR Technology in Upcoming Rematch

By Tom Friend

A controversial split decision in a Scottish super-lightweight title fight last February could lead to VAR scoring in an upcoming rematch between the two fighters.

The champion Josh Taylor of Scotland narrowly defeated challenger Jack Catterall of England on Feb. 26 even though Catterall knocked Taylor down in the eighth round and appeared safely ahead on points. The judges, however, awarded the victory — along with the WBO, IBF, WBA and WBC titles — to Taylor with scores of 114-111, 113-112 and 112-113.

“Today I should have been waking up with all of the belts,” Catterall posted on Instagram 24 hours after the verdict. “…Boxing, shame on you…Dreams stolen.”

Since then, promoter Ben Shalom has worked to secure a rematch that could potentially include VAR technology similar to what is deployed globally in soccer. A second fight is now tentatively scheduled for March in Glasgow, Scotland, alongside discussions to implement automated scoring in boxing for the first time.

“I actually spoke to Robert Smith [chief of the British Boxing Board of Control] about that,” Shalom told talkSport.com. “We’re going to be putting a lot of pressure on for this fight to have [VAR]—we’ll see. I hope next year is when we’ll see a different way of judging the top fights. Look at what we’ve got now with football, with VAR.”

“[It] could [be] two judges…in a truck [watching on screens] as well, judging at the same time as the three next to ringside. There’s opportunities now perhaps if everyone is open-minded to take boxing into a place where it’s never been before. That fight is so significant because of the outrage it caused, and that’s what’s giving us the impetus to try and make a change.”

February’s split decision created vitriol in Europe, starting with an investigation by the British Boxing Board of Control and incendiary remarks by the British House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, a native of Catterall’s hometown who called the scoring “a travesty of justice.”

At the same time, an incensed Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs) made it clear he would grant Catterall (26-1, 13 KOs) a re-match in the super-lightweight 140-pound weight class. Taylor then ducked so many other mandated opponents in the past year — in order to make a second fight happen — that he was stripped of his IBF, WBA and WBC titles.

That publicity, in part, led Shalom to pursue VAR: “That is something that we’re really trying to push and also very confident that we could see in the next year or two, yeah…We’re talking about help from technology, and we’re talking about perhaps judges that can watch things back at the very highest level.”

HID Acquires Janam Technologies to Expand Event Access With Handheld Readers, Mobile Pedestals for Ticket Scanning

By Andrew Cohen

Biometrics identification and security company HID Global has acquired Janam Technologies, a maker of mobile reader devices used to scan tickets at sporting events and other venues. The companies recently collaborated at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where HID produced paper tickets with RFID codes that venue security officials scanned with Janam’s handheld hardware for fans to enter stadiums.

Austin, Texas-based HID Gobal has partnered with FIFA over the past three World Cups, helping produce about 2 million paper tickets in Qatar that were embedded with an RFID inlay as opposed to traditional barcodes to reduce the threat of counterfeits. Janam’s NFC mobile readers allows for “tap and go” access control and support Apple Wallet and Google Pay transactions. Venues using Janam’s ticket scanners include the Baltimore Orioles’ Camden Yards.

HID Global’s biometric security solutions include facial recognition and fingerprint verification. Founded in 2006, Janam is headquartered in Woodbury, N.Y. and will be part of HID’s Identification Technologies Business Area division.

Soccer Star Andrés Iniesta Named Ambassador for Blockchain Game ‘Captain Tsubasa – RIVALS-’

By Andrew Cohen

Soccer star Andrés Iniesta has been named an ambassador for Captain Tsubasa — RIVALS, a new blockchain game based on the popular Japanese manga series Captain Tsubasa. The game is set to debut Jan. 13 and will let users compete in soccer challenges and buy and sell in-game NFTs.

Iniesta has played for Japanese club Vissel Kobe since 2018 and will promote the new blockchain game on his Twitter. As a star midfielder for FC Barcelona from 2002-2018, Iniesta won nine LaLiga championships, four Champions League titles, and UEFA’s 2012 Best Player in Europe Award. Iniesta joins Japanese soccer player Yuto Nagatomo, who plays for FC Tokyo, as ambassadors for Captain Tsubasa — RIVALS.

Captain Tsubasa, whose main character is the fictional soccer player Tsubasa Oozora, began as a comic book in 1981 and has sold over 80 million copies while being adapted into a Japanese TV series and several video games. Its new RIVALS blockchain game is being developed by BLOCKSMITH&Co., a subsidiary of game development studio KLab and developer Thirdverse Group. Animoca Brands, whose subsidiaries include blockchain-based gaming platform The Sandbox, is an investor in BLOCKSMITH&Co.

Netflix to Stream Nike Training Club Video Workouts Starting Dec. 30

By Andrew Cohen

Nike is launching at-home fitness content on Netflix starting Dec. 30. All Netflix subscribers will be able to stream more than 90 Nike Training Club video workouts that require minimal to no equipment and span yoga, strength and high-intensity exercises.

More than 30 hours of Nike training sessions will be released on Netflix, beginning with five training programs this month with other workouts being added throughout 2023. A dozen Nike trainers will lead the workouts, including Joe Holder, Kirsty Godso and Betina Gozo. Netflix’s more than 223 million worldwide members will be able to stream Nike’s fitness content in 10 languages and access videos from a custom Nike tab on the streaming service.

Subscribers can also search “Nike” to find the workouts on Netflix and search videos by workout type or duration, while also being shown curated workouts based on their viewing history. Nike’s Netflix fitness offering comes as smartwatch company Garmin reported earlier this month that out-of-home exercise activities have climbed back to pre-pandemic levels. Many companies that saw growth during the pandemic’s at-home fitness boom underwent layoffs this year, including Whoop, Tonal, Peloton, iFIT, Mindbody and ClassPass.

Serie A Set to Implement Semi-Automated Offside Technology Starting in January

By Joe Lemire

Serie A is poised to become the first domestic soccer league to implement a version of the FIFA-developed Semi-Automated Offside Technology that debuted at the recently completed World Cup. Multiple reports indicate that it will launch on Jan. 27 in Italy’s top league. 

FIFA first tested the Semi-Automated Offside Technology — which uses optical tracking cameras from Hawk-Eye Innovations for precise player positioning — at last year’s Arab Cup and again at February’s FIFA Club World Cup before its grand debut in Qatar. That system also includes a Kinexon sensor embedded in an Adidas ball that syncs the moment of impact for a pass with the player tracking data to help referees make the call more quickly and more accurately. The SAOT system was widely seen as a success at the World Cup with no notable controversy.

SportTechie has learned that Serie A’s Semi-Automated Offside Technology will not initially have the ball tracking sensors, although there is an expectation that it will be tested later in 2023. UEFA introduced a similarly pared-down version of SAOT in the Champions League group stages this fall that used the Hawk-Eye optical camera system without the sensor-laden ball. Both UEFA and Serie A already use Hawk-Eye as their performance data provider.

Serie A and official technical partner Puma recently introduced a new winter match ball that would be used in January that did not mention any embedded technology. After publication, a Serie A spokesperson confirmed that the league would not be using the sensor in the ball this season.

Youth Sports Organizer and Content Platform 3STEP Partners With Cerebro Sports

By Joe Lemire

Youth sports organizer and content platform 3STEP is partnering with Cerebro Sports to bring objective evaluation tools to club and grassroots programs. 

Cerebro Sports uses proprietary performance metrics to help scouts and coaches identify and recruit talent. The company, which bills its collection of basketball player data as the most comprehensive in the world, has partnered with multiple college and NBA teams. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban led Cerebro’s pre-seed funding round in September.

Massachusetts-based 3STEP operates more than 1,800 club teams in nine sports across 43 states with a total reach of 3.2 million youth athletes. Previous tech-focused activity includes a partnership with Blast Motion and the acquisition of training platform Sports Made Personal.