Bud Light is taking touchdown celebrations to the next level, handing out more than 65,000 Patriots-themed Bud Light Touchdown Glasses to fans at last night’s game. The glasses light-up blue for every Patriots scoring play during the game, as well as the moment that the Super Bowl LI banner is unveiled in the stadium for the first time. In addition, the brand is making 28,300 Patriots-themed Bud Light Touchdown Glasses available for purchase at BudLight.com/touchdown. Synced through a mobile app, the glasses will light-up after every Patriots touchdown throughout the season.
Samsung launched a new ad spot during last night’s NFL game between the Patriots/Chiefs picking up from last year and reheating up the rivalry between Redskins cornerback Josh Norman and Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant. In addition the ad campaign, the ad spot will also be supported digitally with Josh Norman + Dez Bryant talking smack across their social channels to each other.
Lottsa tech/streaming news with the launch of the new NFL season. Live streaming TV service fuboTV announced plans to add more NFL programming in time for the new season, locking in a new carriage agreement with NFL Media, NFL Network and NFL RedZone to become available to subscribers of fuboTV’s sports-first offerings. NFL Network joins the “Fubo Premier” base package. Additionally, fuboTV announced the re-launch of its “Sports Plus” package, available to Fubo Premier subscribers for an additional $8.99 per month, featuring NFL RedZone and 14 other sports channels. “The NFL is constantly looking for more ways to offer NFL content on platforms where fans are spending increasing amounts of time,” said Hans Schroeder, Chief Operating Officer of Media and Business for the NFL. “We’re excited to offer NFL Network and NFL RedZone through fuboTV, a service focused on serving sports fans on digital platforms that will provide yet another option for keeping up with NFL Network’s 24/7 NFL coverage and catching RedZone’s action-packed Sunday afternoon experience.”
Zebra Technologies announced analytics enhancements that will see – in collaboration with Wilson Sporting Goods – Zebra engineer and deploy RFID tagged footballs for every game during the 2017 NFL season, allowing the collection of real-time location, speed, and rotation data for the footballs. As part of “Next Gen Stats”, data from the instrumented Wilson footballs has the potential to be leveraged on media platforms, such as NFL.com and in-game telecasts, to enhance the fan experience.
The 2017 NFL regular season saw Intel announce the expansion of Intel freeD technology to the home stadiums of eight new NFL teams, bringing immersive 360-degree highlights and player perspectives to 11 total teams in the NFL, including the Cardinals/Panthers, Browns, Colts, Chiefs, Vikings, Patriots and Redskins. The technology uses 38, 5K ultra-high definition cameras strategically placed around each stadium to capture volumetric data and create unique 360-degree and 3D game action highlights. Throughout the regular season, fans can access and share the highlights via NFL.com, the NFL Mobile app, the NFL’s YouTube channel and other NFL digital channels. Fans will also experience the enhanced replays in-stadium and during select games on NFL broadcast networks for closer views of the action on the field.
In fantasy news, FanDuel announced the launch of “Scout,” a new app designed to keep sports fans up-to-date on all the latest news tied to their fantasy roster. Fueled by numberFire, Scout offers users personalized player news feeds based on their fantasy lineups ensuring a new level of real-time roster management and allows users to approach decision-making and roster building from the matchup perspective rather than just from the individual player.
Comcast locked in a new partnership with CBS Sports Digital designed to put fantasy football scores and stats on the same screen as the games themselves for Xfinity X1 customers. The integrated experience provides viewers with access to detailed stats and analysis on their fantasy team’s standing, information on how key players are performing, game trends, and real-time updates on that week’s head-to-head matchup.
CBS Sports Digital also announced that Danny Kanell will join its team covering all sports, including college and NFL football, across digital platforms, including CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports app. Beginning Sept. 9 with SEC Live coverage, he will contribute to all facets of content, including video programming, podcasts and written content. “Danny brings a wealth of experience and insider knowledge to our team, and we’re excited to have him on board,” said Jeffrey Gerttula, Senior Vice President and General Manager, CBS Sports Digital. “His versatility as an analyst and host will bolster our coverage of football and all sports as we create more content for sports fans on any device.”
The NY Jets are launching My JetLife, an in-depth series that will tell “the unique stories” of the team’s players (both current and Legends). Eps will run locally in JetLife on CBS2 on Saturdays at 11:35p as well as on a special micro-site on newyorkjets.com throughout the season. Stories will spotlight: Robby Anderson, Darron Lee, Bilal Powell, Leonard Williams, and Joe Klecko.
Yahoo Finance launched a new podcast, Sportsbook: Business of Football, hosted by Daniel Roberts. Each week, he will examine one part of the NFL’s $14 billion business operation with the premiere episode offering an in-depth interview with Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini.
Speaking of podcasts, sports reporters Mitch Albom and Mike Lupica have announced a relaunch of their long-running show The Sports Reporter, which was recently cancelled by ESPN after nearly 30 years on the air. The pair are partnering with Cadence13 to relaunch the show as a podcast. The bi-weekly show will feature a rotating cast of the sports writers, including Bob Ryan (Boston Globe), Christine Brennan (USA Today), Manish Mehta (NY Daily News), William Rhoden (ESPN) and Lesley Visser (CBS Sports), who will form a trio with Mitch and Mike every Monday and Friday.
The Olympic Channel locked in cooperation agreements with the international governing bodies for handball, roller sports and skateboarding as well as boules sport to collaborate on content for the one-year old destination. The agreements with the International Handball Federation (IHF), Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS) and World Confederation of Boules Sports (CMSB) bring the number of partners who have announced similar agreements with the Olympic Channel to 57.
ESPORTS
The upcoming ELEAGUE CS:GO Premier 2017 will see an influx of new tech designed to improve the viewing experience. Among the tech injections will be the addition of biometrics, the use of VR and the use of advanced analytics. With the action slated to start today at 10p on TBS, ELEAGUE will partner with Dell Gaming, to bring eye-tracking technology developed by Tobii to the competition for the first time. This biometric data is analyzed on Alienware PCs and used to create an immediate gaze overlay highlighting precisely where the player is looking throughout their play. On the VR side, the company is partnering with SLIVER.tv, where audiences will be able to access live coverage of Premier matches in 360-degree cinematic virtual reality stream and supported across web, iPhone, Android, Gear VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Daydream and Google Cardboard platforms. Finally, leveraging Dojo Madness’ Shadow.GG platform, ELEAGUE will offer viewers advanced data visuals including heatmaps, smokemaps and pathmaps, along with tactical and statistical replay views. Shadow.GG will provide ELEAGUE’s analysts and viewers with a data-based method to identify teams’ strategic tendencies, strengths and weaknesses.
Blizzard Entertainment is unlocking Blizzard Arena Los Angeles, described as “a cutting-edge live-event destination for pro players, esports fans, and everyone else who loves premier competition.” The venue will be based in the legendary Burbank Studios, with the studio at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles custom-tailored and set to open on Oct. 7, featuring multiple sound stages, control rooms, and practice facilities. Early events at the facility will include: the Overwatch Contenders Season One Playoffs on Oct. 7-8; the Hearthstone Championship Tour’s Summer Championship on Oct. 13; and the Heroes of the Storm Global Championship (HGC) Finals and World of Warcraft Arena Championship will be held at Blizzard Arena Los Angeles in late October.
Skillz unveiled the world’s first eSports streaming ticker building on the recently announced Skillz video broadcast patents, delivering automated play-by-play commentary including stats, facts and real-time matchup information. The ticker is a scrolling text bar inside a video broadcast that offers dynamic facts about the tournament, competitors, streamer and Skillz system trends.
Engagement and analytics platform Maestro announced the close of a $3 million Series A financing. The round is led by Hersh Interactive Group with additional investors Rubicon Venture Capital and the Stanford-StartX Fund. This brings the total capital raised by the company to $5.8M when added to the previous $2.8M Seed funding. The Maestro platform enables a new category of live experiences that facilitates two-way interactions between streamers and their audiences with polls, commerce, contests, share prompts, and giveaways triggered in real-time, which significantly increase watch time while capturing a robust set of user data to understand audiences and data-drive decisions.
Elsewhere, esports startup Taunt closed a $1.75 million seed financing round, led by Foundry Group. Taunt is the fifth spinout of Pioneer Square Labs with Ben Gilbert serving as the interim CEO of the new venture. As part of the financing, Brad Feld of Foundry Group will be joining Galgon and Gilbert on the board. The company plans to continue growth in the esports and gaming landscape while expanding into new verticals as “enterprises worldwide seek to create engaging, authentic experiences driven by data.”
Giants/Cowboys on NBC at 8p on Sunday Night Football.
