Monday, Apr. 22, 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.
- EPL Stars Raheem Sterling and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Invest in STATSports: Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling and Liverpool’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have invested in wearable technology company STATSports. According to the Financial Times, both players have each committed at least $1.3 million. The company will use the investment to help accelerate its expansion into the consumer fitness market. STATSports devices are currently used to track player performance data for soccer teams and governing bodies including U.S. Soccer, Manchester United, Barcelona, Juventus, and the Chinese Football Association.
- Disney and Amazon Could Soon Compete for Streaming Rights to NFL Sunday Ticket: The NFL is courting Disney and Amazon as potential buyers for streaming rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, according to a report from NBC News. The NFL is expected to opt-out of its current Sunday Ticket deal with AT&T at the end of the 2019 season. The league also reached out to rival media and tech giants Netflix and Google to discuss the Sunday Ticket package. Google has so far appeared undecided about whether to bid for the rights, while Netflix has shown zero interest, according to NBC.
- STATS LLC Launches New AI Betting-Line Platform for Sportsbooks: Sports data company STATS LLC announced the launch of STATS VQ, a platform that will allow sportsbooks to create player prop bets using machine learning. The product is currently implemented for NFL and NBA-related bets, and will eventually expand to cover all major U.S. sports. “Our award-winning predictive analytics team is now armed with granular machine learning generated predictions to provide predictive information which can power markets that currently don’t exist,” said Dr. Patrick Lucey, VP of Artificial Intelligence at STATS, in a press release.
- Puma and VC Firm SeventySix Capital Create Sports Tech Pitch Contest: Sports apparel brand Puma and venture capital firm SeventySix Capital have teamed up to launch the “Ralph Sampson Pitchfest.” The contest is open to Houston-area entrepreneurs pursing innovative sports technology ideas, and will reward the winning participant with $20,000 in funding. Interested participants can submit their business proposals for consideration on SeventySix Capital’s website. The companies will select up to 10 startups to present their ideas on Thursday, May 2 at WeWork Houston in front of a panel judges.
- Australian Sportsbook PointsBet Looks to Expand From New Jersey to Iowa: PointsBet, which operates a New Jersey sportsbook, is planning a multi-year partnership with Catfish Bend Casino, based in Burlington, Iowa. The Iowa senate recently submitted a bill to legalize sports betting in the state, according to Legal Sports Report. Though PointsBet’s only current U.S. operations are in New Jersey, the company the deal with Catfish Bend opens the possibility of launching mobile and retail sportsbooks in Iowa if the state legalizes sports gambling.