🔊 Facial Recognition Takes Over The NFL

📰 TOP STORY
NFL Will Use Facial Recognition Tech In All Stadiums This Season

• The Rundown On NFL Facial Recognition. For the 2024-25 season, the NFL recently announced it will deploy facial recognition technology to improve game-day security. All 32 NFL teams are expected to use the technology where thousands of credentialed media, game officials, front office staff, team staff, locker room staff, stadium security, and certain guests entering the stadium will be screened to verify their identity before entering dedicated “secure spaces.” The NFL won’t be using it at the ticketing gates and fan entrances. There have been mixed reactions to this news from employees. So far this technology has been used for fan screening at Atlanta Falcon and Cleveland Brown games. The vendor providing the NFL with the technology is called Wicket (more here).

💰 MONEY MOVES 
Genius Sports Announces $95M In Revenue For Q2

• Genius Sports Beats Projections With $95M Q2. Genius Sports Limited, the official data, technology, and broadcast partner that powers the global ecosystem connecting sports, betting, and media, recently announced financial results for its fiscal second quarter. The company reported $95.4M in second-quarter revenue, exceeding its guidance for the period and representing 9.9% growth from the same span in 2023 (more here).

• Beckham’s Guild Esports Agrees to Be Taken Private After Cash Warning. Guild Esports Plc, part-owned by British football star David Beckham, agreed to be taken over by sports investment company DCB Sports after the gaming company warned it was running out of cash. If the deal goes ahead, California-based DCB will provide capital to run the Guild brand, although no financial terms were disclosed (more here).

• Wincast Raises $5M Round. Wincast, which has built an interactive platform to enable the creation of NFTs during live sporting events, has closed a $5M seed round from New York-based A100x Ventures and CoinFund, Dubai-based Cypher Capital, and others. Prior backers include Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, London’s Cogitent Ventures, Ceras Ventures, and Malta’s BNB Chain Fund. The company was founded in 2021 by CEO Noah Diskin Kline, and has raised $7.8M so far (more here).

• Oneiric11 Gaming Secures $1M In Pre-Series A. Oneiric11 Gaming, an esports and gaming platform backed by actor Rannvijay Singha, has successfully raised $1M in a pre-Series A funding round. The round was co-led by NG Family Trust and TAC Holdings, with additional participation from other investors. The new capital will be directed towards expanding Oneiric11’s game development team, enhancing its technological infrastructure, and boosting marketing efforts to attract a wider audience, according to a press release from the company (more here).

• Silverbacks Holdings Invests In African Sports-Tech Firm Nergii. Silverbacks Holdings, a private investment firm focused on Africa-related companies operating in underserved industries, has invested in NERGii, a South African company producing innovative performance-enhancing shoe insoles (more here).

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS
Autodesk Becomes The Official Design Partner For 2028 LA Olympics

• LA28 Olympic Games Signs Autodesk As Official Design Partner. Autodesk will be at the heart of designing and making the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games. With no new permanent venues, smart infrastructure, and sustainable solutions, Autodesk will help Los Angeles welcome the world in a whole new way, transforming what it means to be an Olympic and Paralympic host city (more here).

• Lamborghini & Animoca Brands Form Partnership. Italian luxury sports car maker Automobili Lamborghini and Hong Kong-based game software company Animoca Brands, have recently announced a collaboration to enhance brand engagement in the automotive industry. The partnership will leverage the strengths of both companies to create new experiences for Lamborghini’s fans and customers, combining traditional automotive design with digital technology (more here).

• FC Cincinnati Joins LEAD As An Official Venture Partner. This strategic partnership between FC Cincinnati and LEAD ONE is designed to accelerate innovation in sports and health technology by pairing LEAD’s industry investment expertise with FC Cincinnati’s continued positioning as an innovator on and off the pitch. As a venture partner with LEAD ONE, FC Cincinnati will have unprecedented access from LEAD to the most cutting-edge startups and technologies across the organization to address their corporate initiatives and strategies (more here).

🔊 ATHLETES & OTHER SPORTS NEWS
LSU Becomes The First University To Use This Revolutionary Technology

• LSU First School To Use This Revolutionary Technology. LSU will be using AI-powered digital stethoscopes to detect heart conditions in student-athletes starting this year. Eko Health, a California-based digital health company designed the devices. The stethoscopes and the accompanying AI algorithm are FDA-cleared. For LSU, the stethoscopes could make potentially life-saving discoveries to discover pre-existing heart issues in athletes that have previously been hard to spot (more here).

• Genius Sports Launches GeniusIQ To Accelerate The AI Revolution In Sports. The new product called GeniusIQ is a next-generation sports data and AI platform that will deliver groundbreaking solutions across performance analysis, fan engagement, advertising, and sports betting (more here).

• LALIGA Launches Exclusive LL12 Fan Club For Its North American Fans. On August 8th, the waitlist opened for LL12, LALIGA’s exclusive North American fan club. The club, which offers two access tiers, emphasizes the importance of the fan, the 12th player, and seeks to bring them closer to the competition than ever before. LALIGA fans who purchase an LL12 membership can expect unique perks like welcome gifts, exclusive merchandise, “unforgettable game day experiences,” and virtual and in-person meet and greets (more here).

• From Golf To Hunting, A New Crop Of Startups Want To Make These Experiences Even Better. Outdoor sports and recreation saw a boom during the pandemic. However, unlike some pandemic-driven trends (virtual conferences, Zoom happy hours), the interest in outdoor activities has stuck. By the end of 2023, outdoor participation grew to a record 175.8 million people, or 57% of all Americans aged six and older, according to the Outdoor Industry Association (more here).

• How Data & AI Is Currently Playing Its Part In Athletics & Wider Sport. Feldspar CEO and founder Alvina Chen explains how AI is helping to push athletics and the wider sports landscape forward (more here).

• How Liverpool Is Using AI To Become Better At Corners. Liverpool’s analytics department is renowned for its pioneering work, led by director of research William Spearman who took over from Ian Graham in 2023. In their most recent venture, they have teamed up with Google DeepMind, using AI to determine corner-kick strategies (more here).