Friday, Sept. 6, 2019 – A roundup of some of the key sports technology news you need to know, including SportTechie’s own content and stories from around the web.
- The NFL announced a new content and advertising partnership with Reddit. The deal will see active NFL players, NFL legends, and league and club representatives host Ask Me Anything discussion threads with fans throughout the season. The NFL will also produce a video content series to distribute across Reddit as well as league and club media channels. This partnership might portend that the NFL Streams Reddit forum, in which users share links to illegally stream NFL games for free, could be shut down similar to how the Reddit forum for watching pirated NBA streams was banned in June.
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- NASCAR is producing a new Neftlix comedy series, The Crew, starring actor Kevin James. The multi-cam sitcom is set in a NASCAR garage, where James will play the role of the crew chief. The King of Queens star and the better half of Chuck & Larry will also serve as an executive producer on the series, which is being produced in partnership with NASCAR. Matt Summers, managing director of content at NASCAR, and Tim Clark, NASCAR’s chief digital officer, will also serve as executive producers on the show. The Crew is slated to launch next year on Netflix.
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- AT&T Stadium will release several new 5G-powered augmented reality fan experiences during Dallas Cowboys games, including a 36-foot-tall virtual rendering of star players inside AT&T Plaza. Most of the 5G experiences can only be seen through a 5G-enabled device, so AT&T will provide fans with Samsung Galaxy S10 5G phones at certain locations throughout the venue. Verizon will also install its 5G connectivity at 13 NFL stadiums this season, including Bank of America Stadium, Empower Field at Mile High, CenturyLink Field, Ford Field, Gillette Stadium, Hard Rock Stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium, MetLife Stadium, M&T Bank Stadium, NRG Stadium, Soldier Field and U.S. Bank Stadium.
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- The sports data company, Stats Perform, has secured a five-year video and betting data deal with the Argentinian Football Association. Stats Perform can now distribute betting data and video streams from more than 600 matches per season to global sportsbook operators. The deal covers matches from Superliga Argentina, Copa Superliga Argentina, Argentina Cup and Recopa Argentina. Live video of games will be transmitted via Stats Perfrom’s Watch&Bet platform.
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- Vox Media’s SB Nation has partnered with DraftKings to launch a sports betting content site in time for the 2019 NFL season. The DraftKings Nation site will be powered by Chorus, the same publishing platform that supports SB Nation sites. The site’s editorial coverage will provide fantasy sports and betting advice for the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA football and basketball, and other sports. “In addition to consumers being able to access expert analysis, this partnership gives advertisers, brands and marketers a new platform to reach highly engaged and coveted sports fans,” Ezra Kucharz, chief business officer at DraftKings, said in a press release.
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