Tuesday, July 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.
- The NHL announced on Monday that it has retained the global gaming strategies firm Slane Advisory. The firm is owned and operated by Sara Slane, who previously served as the senior vice president of public affairs for the American Gaming Association. Slane will consult the NHL and its teams on developing new sports betting partnerships and legislation. Last season, the NHL signed sports betting deals with MGM Resorts, FanDuel, and William Hill. Gary Bettman, the league’s commissioner, has also said that the league plans on compensating its players for the athlete data being shared with betting partners.
- The Oakland A’s, the franchise that gave us Moneyball, will debut an analytics-themed audio broadcast of Thursday’s game against the Texas Rangers. Fans in the Bay Area can listen to the data-driven broadcast for free on A’s Cast, the team’s streaming audio station powered by TuneIn. Longtime A’s radio voice Vince Cotroneo and baseball analytics writer Eno Sarris will co-host the stream and be joined by A’s general manager David Forst and A’s scouting assistant Ben Lowry as special guests. The team’s terrestrial radio station KTRB 860 AM will offer a traditional broadcast of the game.
- LSU unveiled a new locker room for the school’s football team that puts a focus on sleep recovery. Each player now has their own bed for sleeping before or after games and practices, or in between classes. Each sleeping station is also equipped with iPad mounts to study film as well as charging stations. The locker room also has entertainment amenities such as a driving simulator and a mini theatre. The renovations totaled $28 million and ignited backlash.
- NextVR will produce a virtual reality broadcast of Wednesday’s preseason match between Liverpool FC and Portugese club Sporting CP. Yankee Stadium will host the match at 8 p.m. ET. The VR experience will be exclusively available to U.S.-based NextVR users through an Oculus Go or Oculus Gear headset. Fans can also watch via the Oculus Venues app, which allows viewers to chat with their friends during the game. “We believe that live virtual reality experiences are going to be an important way for fans to enjoy our games and we are extremely excited to be innovating with NextVR and Oculus Venues for the first time,” said Billy Hogan, managing director and COO for Liverpool FC.
- The robots move forward: The Atlantic League will use an automated system to call balls and strikes for the remainder of its regular season, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney. The league’s virtual strike zone is powered by Trackman, which uses a 3-D Doppler radar to relay the ball or strike ruling to the home plate umpire. “There’s no question that it is more accurate than any human being,” Atlantic League president Rick White told SportTechie’s Joe Lemire, who attended the Atlantic League’s All-Star Game when the automated strike zone made its debut. But as our Tom Taylor recently asked, is this a good thing for baseball’s future?
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