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The 2015 Consumer Electronics Show set a record for attendees with over 170,000 people making their way to Las Vegas to check out the latest consumer technologies from around the world. This was not only a good year for the show overall but also a great year for the sports tech space as it was the first time CES had a sports tech marketplace.
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Now the Sports Tech marketplace is about to kick off its second year at CES 2016 on Tuesday and it’s shaping up to be bigger and better than last year.
Just like last year, the Sports Tech Marketplace will be in the CES Tech West, which is at the Sands Expo in the Venetian and Wynn/Encore. Between the sports and fitness exhibits there will be a wide variety of sports tech companies present and demonstrating their latest technologies and partnerships.
In fact, the sports tech exhibit floor space sold out in June so it was expanded to accommodate the demand. The exhibit square footage has more than doubled since last year.
And it’s not just the companies with a product to pitch that are coming to CES at an increased rate this year. There will also be additional panels and speaker events coinciding with the Sports Tech Marketplace.
Most notably, Turner Sports will have a big presence via the first-ever CES Sports Business Forum, an eSports Showcase and live broadcasts featuring TNT’s Sports Emmy Award Winning Inside the NBA. These will happen on Thursday, January 7th at the Sands Expo.
The Turner eSports showcase comes on the heels of their recent partnership with WWE/IMG to form an eSports league and air it on TBS. The showcase will have live coverage of the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Championship.
“Sports and technology go hand-in-hand, from the interconnected sports world to enhanced consumer viewing experiences, competitive eSports is becoming an explosive category at CES,” explains Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, Consumer Technology Association. “We are especially thrilled to welcome Turner Sports to CES 2016 along with its sports-fueled programming, competitions and broadcasts which will feature NBA legends live from the CES show floor.”
Speakers for Turner’s events will be some of the biggest names in sports and tech: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Randadive, Raine co-founder and partner Joseph Ravitch, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Additionally, TNT’s Sports Emmy Award winning Inside the NBA broadcast with the studio team of host Ernie Johnson and analysts Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal will be on-site as well.
And perhaps the most important sports tech event at CES will be the Sports Tech Conference put on by the Sports Fitness Industry Association (SFIA). This will be on Thursday, January 7 in the Venetian. As SFIA says, it will aim to highlight advancements in sports technology that enhance athletes’ performance and aid coaches by analyzing player data.
During the following three educational tracks sports tech industry executives will discuss their company’s respective innovations and how they are changing the sports industry, both from a professional level and from the everyday athlete’s perspective.
- “Smart” Meets Sporting Goods Industry, 1-2pm – Sports and technology experts from Easton, Sony and others will address how organizations are connecting the everyday athlete to analytics enabling maximum performance.
- The Data Drives the Elite, 2:15-3:15pm – Presented by Zebra Technologies, the official on-field player-tracking provider for the NFL, industry experts will analyze real-time tracking and its applications to the professional playing field.
- Virtual Reality: The Next Playing Field, 3:30-4:30 – STRIVR, the leading virtual reality solution platform for sports, will discuss how virtual reality is changing the way teams prepare for game-day. Former celebrity athletes and coaches who were early endorsers of STRIVR’s technology will join the discussion.
Last year’s Sports Tech offerings at CES showed us some really innovative sports tech companies and products. We are excited to see what this year has in store with the sports tech presence shaping up to be even bigger and companies like SFIA, NBA and Turner significantly adding to the proceedings.