Former NFL quarterback Michael Vick is co-founding the sports technology company FanField, an NFT-centric platform that will also create NIL opportunities for college athletes.
Vick, through his connections, is rounding up an undisclosed roster of players who will release updated digital collectibles and interact with fans in conjunction with the company. Vick also wants some of the proceeds to be directed to charity, such as the Boys and Girls Club of America.
The officially-licensed NFTs will become available in September, as well as Vick’s list of contributing players. Vick’s FanField ambassadors will attend in-person events, while the collegiate players joining through NIL will also have a personal or interactive presence with the public. FanField’s technology includes an athlete app that allows Vick and other players to digitally sign their collectibles for fans to create authenticity.
Vick has a growing presence in NIL, having recently become a partner in Levels Sports Group as its head of NIL athlete development. Levels Sports Group’s clients include Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei and USC’s Malachi Nelson. Vick’s focus with Levels Sports Group is helping its college players prepare mentally and physically for the season, while monetizing themselves through NIL.
A day after revealing that Amazon will begin selling its products, Peloton reported a quarterly loss of $1.24 billon and saw its share price drop over 19% on Thursday morning.
It was the connected-fitness company’s sixth straight quarterly loss, which financial experts attribute to consumers going back to office environments and forsaking in-home workout equipment.
Peloton’s quarterly performance, as of June 30, was four-times worse than its $313 million loss at this same time last year. Quarterly revenue also dipped from last year, falling 28% to $679 million. Barry McCarthy, who took over as CEO this past February, said Peloton’s restructuring costs that totaled $415 million this past quarter likely caused the company’s continued downturn.
Earlier this month, Peloton laid off roughly 780 employees, mostly members of its delivery workforce, and also made plans to shutter most of its 86 retail stores beginning in 2023. It also increased prices on its Bike+ by $500 to $2,495 and on its Tread product by $800 to $3,495.
“The naysayers will look at our financial performance and see a melting pot of declining revenue, negative gross margin and deeper operating losses,” McCarthy told company shareholders in a memo. “But what I see is significant progress driving our comeback and Peloton’s long-term resilience. We still have work to do.”
Rapsodo, the ball flight tracking tech company, has launched its first solution for live, in-game baseball and softball data and announced that it will be the exclusive provider of such data for the American Association of Professional Baseball, an MLB partner league, for three years.
The latest innovation is Rapsodo Stadium, which utilizes two dual-stereo camera systems across the field to capture full ball trajectory and its 3D rotations for assessing details such as seam orientation. This is the company’s first product that non-invasively collects game data with a purely optical tracking solution on a scale similar to YakkerTech and much lighter than the enterprise Hawk-Eye option that MLB uses for Statcast.
Previous iterations of Rapsodo technology focused on training data, with the first and second versions of the technology requiring separate hitting and pitching monitors. Version 3.0, which will now be used by Trajekt Sports as well, solved for that by combining those into one device, but its placement was still on the field between the batter and pitcher. Rapsodo Stadium does not need to placed on the field of play.
Rapsodo Stadium can also be used to record play-by-play data so that actions and outcomes can be paired. The AAPB had already been using Rapsodo 2.0 pitching and hitting units during the past year, a time frame that saw almost 100 players received contracts from MLB organizations.
The AAPB is the first to commit to league-wide installation of Rapsodo Stadium, with work already completed at the home venues for the Milwaukee Milkmen and Lincoln Saltdogs, with the other 10 members putting in the technology this fall. Four MLB-affiliated facilities also have installed Rapsodo Stadium.
HEIR, the Web3 fan token platform that has previously attracted NBA players, is hosting an immersive high school event in September that will include 18 of the top prep stars in the country playing in a full-court 2 on 2 tournament.
Called NFT JAM—and based on the popular NBA Jam video game that debuted in 1993—the 2 on 2 games will be played on a condensed court in Atlanta with four 3-minute quarters. On the weekend of Sept. 9 and 10, the high school players will also partake in in “Web23 House,’’ where they will be educated and onboarded with Web3 experiences. The 18 players will also become HEIR brand ambassadors through individual NIL deals, and fans will be able to unlock rewards and digital collectibles at the NFT JAM tournament.
Baylor commit Ja’Kobe Walter, Arkansas commit Layden Blocker and LSU commit Corey Chest are among the elite high school players scheduled to attend HEIR’S NFT Jam. The company, co-founded by Michael Jordan’s son Jeffrey, has already partnered with NBA players Lonzo Ball of the Chicago Bulls, Bennedict Mathurin of the Indiana Pacers and Anthony “Ant-Man’’ Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Heir launched in December of 2021 after Jeffrey Jordan received $10 million in seed funding. Ball has since released NFTs in conjunction with streetwear designer Don C and Web3 lifestyle developers Okay Bears.
Coaches affiliated with USA Weightlifting can now offer training programming through TrueCoach, a personal training software that has become the official coaching app of the national governing body. The new deal also enables Team USA weightlifters to access on-demand video workouts through TrueCoach, which can also be used to schedule in-person workouts with personal trainers.
TrueCoach offers an app for gyms and personal trainers looking to streamline operations and meet potential clients, and a mobile app for customers looking to access workout videos. All coaches who complete their Level 1 or Level 2 certification from USA Weightlifting will now gain three months of preferred access to host classes on TrueCoach, and all TrueCoach users can access movement educations videos from USA Weightlifting.
More than 17,000 personal trainers and fitness organizations use TrueCoach, which facilitates payments and real-time messaging and lets trainers build workout routines for clients through its exercise video library. The app is owned by Xplor Technologies, whose software products for gyms and health clubs also include Mariana Tek, Xplor Gym, Xplor Recreation, and Xplor Studio.
Nearly two weeks after laying off much of its delivery workforce and disclosing plans to shutter its remaining warehouses, Peloton has announced it will sell its connected-fitness bikes through Amazon.
The company was expected to shift its “final mile delivery’’ to third-party providers—having estimated it would reduce pre-product delivery costs by up to 50%—and Amazon has now emerged as that provider. Amazon will not only deliver the Peloton bike to most of the U.S., but also the Peloton Guide and accessories such as Peloton cycling shoes, bike mats, light weights, dumbbells, yoga straps, yoga mats, heart rate bands, Peloton apparel and more.
As part of the deal, which the company hopes will drive growth, customers can have their Peloton bikes assembled by Amazon product experts at no additional cost. Previously, Peloton’s products and accessories could be purchased only through the company’s e-commerce site, inside sales channels and world-wide showrooms.
As recently as last year, Peloton had invested $400 million toward the construction of its first manufacturing plan in the U.S., based in Ohio, with construction to begin in 2023. But under new CEO Barry McCarthy—who inherited that deal—the company has seemingly had a shift in plans.
Athletic Club Momento, a mobile app for soccer fans to bid on match-worn jerseys, cleats and memorabilia, has announced licensing deals with Italian club AC Milan and Spanish clubs Atlético de Madrid and Sevilla FC, and Portugal’s S.L. Benfica. The teams will supply match-worn items from players that fans can bid on during live games through the AC Momento app.
More than 15 star soccer players have also signed licensing deals to share match-worn memorabilia on AC Momento, including Lionel Messi, Cesc Fàbregas, Thierry Henry, Jack Grealish, Gerard Piqué, and Dani Alves. As soon as a partnered team sets their lineup for a match, AC Momento users can place bids for items worn by players during that match. Auctions for items will end once the match is over, with fans able to follow the bidding activity in real-time on AC Momento’s marketplace app.
Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has invested in Athletic Club Momento through his Seven Seven Six venture fund. The startup has raised $20 million, and its other investors include Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures and The Raine Group, according to Joe Pompliano’s Huddle Up newsletter.
Student athlete NIL network INFLCR is partnering with ESPN to give its community of 65,000 college athletes opportunities to create branded content for espnW and Andscape. The two ESPN properties will have pages within INFLCR’s app for student athletes to be updated on promotional opportunities available to them.
INFLCR’s software is used by student athletes from more than 4,000 NCAA teams to connect them with brands and monetize their name, image and likeness. ESPN markets its opportunity to INFLCR members as a means for them to build relationships and increase their own brand exposure. The sports media network joins social media giants such as Meta and TikTok as brands to have partnered with INFLCR to support NIL initiatives for student athletes.
Mercedes–Benz Stadium, home to the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and MLS club Atlanta United, is using a sensor-based inventory management system from BarTrack to monitor the venue’s flow of beer during games and concerts. The stadium’s entire draft beer system, which spans 1,200 taps, has been equipped with BarTrack’s sensors to let management track keg levels and other beverage dispensing data in real time.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium has reported a 10% increase in keg yield and an additional 10 pints poured per keg during events since it first installed BarTrack. Stadium operators can view BarTrack’s software platform to track keg levels and ensure they get re-stocked before going empty to reduce tap downtime and the time fans spend waiting for beer. BarTrack’s sensors also track a drink dispenser’s temperature, pressure, cleaning schedule, and the type of beer, with all the feedback viewable via its app.
Virginia-based BarTrack was founded in 2018 and seeks to work with bars, breweries, restaurants and stadiums. Mercedes-Benz Stadium marks the company’s largest installation to date.
“Our goal in partnering with BarTrack was to identify and realize efficiencies in our draft system, streamline processes and optimize operations,” Gordon Barfield, VP of strategy and corporate development for AMB Sports and Entertainment and Mercedes-Benz Stadium, said in a statement. “We have been able to identify several areas of improvement, and BarTrack’s consulting team helped us develop an action plan to address these issues promptly.”
Sport Buff, whose graphics enhance fan engagement on game broadcasts, has received $2.5 million in seed funding to help continue its growth globally.
The company already has made significant inroads with sports leagues, rightsholders and broadcast networks such as FIBA and DAZN with the Basketball Champions League, Fox Sports with the National Rugby League, ATA Football, the MLS, Caracol TV in Colombia and KAN in Israel. The funding will help Sport Buff expand its audience through platforms that include Web OTT, Android and iOS, YouTube and Twitch.
Founded in 2019 by tech entrepreneur Benn Achilleas and broadcasting veteran Jonty Whitehead, Sport Buff’s graphics are overlayed onto game broadcasts to entice fan engagement through polls, quizzes, data and posts. Through interactive gamification, viewers can receive rewards and prices, while on-screen sponsors can more effectively monetize audiences.
Its most recent seed round included investments from UK-based Sport Republic, US-based Longboard Capital, New Zealand-based Calvert Drive and Cyprus-based Intrepid Ventures. Matthew Benham, owner of the English Premier League’s Brentford FC, also made an individual investment.
Ball-tracking technology company Rapsodo has partnered with startup Trajekt Sports, whose baseball pitching robots have recently been used by a few MLB clubs.
Rapsodo, which uses a blend of radar and optical technologies, has become a ubiquitous sight around baseball as all 30 MLB clubs—and many college programs—use its devices, including the new Pro 3.0 that combines pitching and hitting tracking.
Trajekt’s robot, the Trajekt Arc, uses precise motor control, image processing and machine learning to replicate pitchers’ arsenals, mimicking each offering’s speed, spin, movement and location. This is especially helpful for hitters preparing to face that night’s starting pitcher and likely relievers to get a visual on what they might face while also being able to take swings. The Cubs and Mets are among the earliest reported users.
As part of this partnership, Rapsodo and Trajekt created a real-time API to share pitch data. This enables the Trajekt Arc to learn new pitches and add more pitchers to its library.
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