We’re closing out our month of focusing on Innovation in Stadium & Venue Technology. Have had a great lineup of guests on our podcast – ASB Glassfloor, OnePlan, Piing & the DFL – and produced a couple of articles. Summary will be in the next newsletter.

For October our spotlight is on Innovation in CricketTech, running alongside the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup which starts on Oct 5. Our 1st podcast guest is a legendary cricketer and coach, so stay tuned for that one.

Feel free to reach out if you want to join the conversation around the second most watched sport in the world.

Feature Article

SportsInnovation 2022: Recap of an Event Focused on Innovation in the Sports Ecosystem

“Be there when the future of sports comes to life – It’s Tech Time!”

That’s the tagline for the SportsInnovation 2024, a SportsTech event jointly organised by DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga, D.SPORTS and Spielmacher. The event showcases innovative advancements, latest technologies and future trends propelling the Sports Industry.

With the next edition scheduled for Mar 20-21 2024 at the MERKUR SPIEL-ARENA in Düsseldorf, here’s a recap of the previous one:

SportsInnovation 2022 was a two-day event held on the 11th and 12th of May 2022 at the same venue, the MERKUR SPIEL-ARENA in Düsseldorf.

An invite only event, to 1200+ attendees and 62 exhibitors from 17 countries were introduced to exciting innovations and top-class speakers.

The two day event was split between:

“Sports-Performance & Technology”, “Broadcast & Content” and “Fan Experience & Stadium”, were the three broad areas of focus. Setting the mood of the event with her keynote, Donata Hopfen, CEO of DFL, made five bold, overarching predictions for the future of sports media:

1. Content production will continue to automate and become more sustainable.
2. Data will become more ubiquitous, enabling new forms of storytelling.
3. Content personalisation will progress steadily.
4. Platforms such as the Metaverse will become increasingly relevant.
5. Maximum reach will generate maximum enthusiasm.

Here is a summary of how the event unfolded:

Top News from the World of SportsTech

🎮 Commercial Sports Media launched their sports tech investment arm

🏀 NBA Launchpad launches its 3rd edition and are collaborating with the WNBA to advance women’s basketball.

🎮 Apex Capital announced their Impact Program, providing capital and resources to early stage SportsTech startups focused on Sports, Media, & Entertainment but doing so in a very clear format with set terms.

🚀 UEFA launched the Champions Innovate London 2024 start-up challenge. They’re inviting innovative, sustainability-focused start-ups to enhance the social and environmental impact of the 2024 Champions League final in London. This is in partnership with the Greater London Authority, London & Partners and commercial partners.

🏟️ FC Bayern Basketball will start their new season on an LED glass floor, the same one from the FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup, provided by German company ASB Glassfloor. If interested, we’ve had them on our podcast.

🏈 MLB Virtual Ball hosted its first regular-season game last week. Fans could watch the game between Tampa Bay Rays and the Los Angeles Angels in 3D and interact with each other on the platform

💻 Rario founders are allegedly being ousted after burning through $120m in a year through their Web3 startup

🏈 New Zealand Rugby Partners With Endeavor Streaming to Launch Global Direct-to-Consumer Service, NZR+

💰 Top Deals: Live social entertainment platform Eloelo has raised $22 Mn in its pre-Series B round led by Courtside Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners.

💰 Norwegian-based media group Schibsted acquired a 10.1 per cent stake in Nordic streaming service Viaplay.

💰 Amstelveen-based Dutch Sport Tech Fund announced an undisclosed investment in Amsterdam-based Scala Sports.

💰 SorareData raised €2m to launch Podium, a new player for NFT fantasy sports analytics.

💰 Takes, an all-encompassing sports experience app, announced its official launch out of beta after a $1.6m pre-seed raise

💰 Event-focused travel tech startup Bookseats raised C$1.4m

💰 Genius Sports kicked off their IPO process by announcing the commencement of a Public Offering

🤝 Liberty Media confirmed $313m acquisition of QuintEvents

🤝 Wasserman has acquired entertainment management and production company Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

Latest from our Channels

💻 STX Weekly #73: Bayern start season on LED glass floor, MLB Virtual Ball Park

🎙️ #181 Piing: Engaging Fans In-Stadium with Massive Multiplayer Games. Watch the full video here.

🎙️ #180 OnePlan: World’s Leading Event Site and Venue Planning Platform. Watch the full episode here.

🎙️#164 Solidsport – Leading sport streaming platform. Trusted by sport federations, leagues, clubs and events everywhere. Watch the full video here.

🎙️ #165 Factoreal – All-in-one fan engagement automation platform helping sports teams globally to engage and monetize their fan base. Watch the full episode here.

All our podcasts are now available as Vodcasts on our YouTube channel. We will be publishing new episodes and back catalogue from the year simultaneously so there’s plenty to watch.