🔊 This Company Is Transforming Sports Scheduling

📰 TOP STORY
TMRW Sports Invests In AI Sports Scheduling Company Fastbreak.ai 

• When you think about some of the biggest pain points sports teams and organizations have, scheduling might not initially come to mind. However, there are a lot of challenging and complex considerations when it comes to creating an effective schedule for teams in any given league such as:

• Limiting the number of back-to-back games

• Potential venue conflicts

• Travel distance

• Maximizing fan attendance

• Ensuring player availability

Fastbreak.ai is leveraging artificial intelligence to solve these problems for sports teams and leagues worldwide. This week, TMRW Sports and Fastbreak.ai, solidified a partnership where TMRW Sports will also become an investor in the company. Fastbreak.ai will manage the scheduling needs of TGL presented by SoFi and future league properties. So far Fastbreak.ai has been ripping through the sports industry. In just two years, outside of TMRW Sports, they’ve been able to partner with over 35 sports organizations including:

• NHL

• NBA

• Big East Conference

• AHL

• MLS

The company has also acquired other companies and competitors in the sports scheduling space such as:

• Tourney Pro

• Optimal Planning Solutions

Why Is This Important?

AI is becoming more prevalent throughout sports and organizations are proactively seeking ways to utilize it. Fastbreak.ai is a great example of a company solving a problem using AI, not an “AI company” looking for a problem to solve. They’ve had success relatively quickly partially because they’re solving a prevalent pain point more effectively and efficiently. If you’re building a company in sports (or any industry for that matter) it’s critical to think what value you’re bringing the end user before you think about applying the hottest technology. I’ve come across many “AI-focused sports companies” over the past year, and many are either trying to leverage a buzzword to gain traction or building technology that doesn’t have much of a use case in the sports world. My advice for any struggling founder would be to start with the fundamentals. Determine who the customer is and what they’re trying to accomplish. Once you understand that, think about how to solve their problem using technology. Technology is just a tool, and tools change. The basics stay the same.

*Full disclosure - Vetted Sports Ventures is also an investor in Fastbreak.ai.

💰 MONEY MOVES 
AI Sports Analytics Company Sportlogiq Acquires 8BY8

• Sportlogiq Acquires 8BY8. Sportlogiq, a leading provider of AI-powered sports analytics announced the acquisition of 8BY8, a cloud-based video infrastructure solution for sports. 8BY8 empowers sports organizations with a fully integrated suite of video products that combines multiple video angles, data streams, and audio sources for easy digestion. The 8BY8 tech stack will be integrated within Sportlogiq. Financial details were not disclosed (more here).

• The Players Fund Invests In OptimallyMe. The Players Fund, a UK-based athlete-led venture capital firm, has invested in health start-up OptimallyMe. OptimallyMe utilizes wearable tech, AI, and blood testing to analyze health biomarkers and provide personalized fitness, nutrition, mood, and sleep advice. The fund’s athlete investors include cricket star Ben Stokes, Olympic champion Jess Ennis-Hill, England rugby player Courtney Lawes, and Arsenal footballer Ben White among its 60 professional athlete backers. They’ve also invested in tennis star Naomi Osaka's media company Hana Kuma and luxury ticketing marketplace Seat Unique (more here).

• Peak6 Sells Stake In Wolverhampton Wanderers. Peak6 Investments, a Chicago-based fintech firm has sold its minority stake in the holding company (Fosun Sports Group) that operates Premier League team Wolverhampton Wanderers. Fosun Sports Group recently bought back the shares held by the firm for about $50M. Peak6’s exit occurred three years after it acquired the stake (more here).

Philadelphia Phillies Capital Raise Values Team At Around $3B. The Philadelphia Phillies recently raised close to $500M in capital from three new investors (Mitchell Morgan, Guntram Weissenberger Jr, and a silent partner). The transaction values the MLB team and its 25% stake in regional sports network NBC Sports Philadelphia at about $3B (more here).

• Boldfit Raises $13M. Bengaluru-based D2C fitness startup Boldfit has announced the raising of INR 110 crore (about $13M) in a funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Founded in 2018 by Pallav Bihani, Boldfit offers a wide range of sports and fitness products, including apparel, equipment, supplements, and accessories, covering sports like basketball, cycling, and cricket. The capital will drive Boldfit's efforts to enhance product innovation, scale brand expansion, and improve logistics for faster deliveries (more here).

• Hoopers Club Raises €2.1M Seed Round. Hoopers Club, a Portuguese-based basketball community platform has raised a seed round led by Buenavista Equity Partners Portugal (formerly GED Ventures). Portugal Ventures also joined the round, alongside Portuguese athletes Neemias Queta and Ticha Penicheiro, NBA champion for the Boston Celtics and WNBA Hall of Famer, respectively, as well as Nuno Sanches, Tiago Gonçalves, Ricardo Carvalho, and Eliyahu Velder (more here).

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS
FIFA Establishes Innovative Partnership With Hawk-Eye

• FIFA Partners With Hawk-Eye. FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, and UK-based broadcast and technology company Hawk-Eye have partnered to establish the Football Technology Centre AG. The new joint venture will aim to develop emerging soccer technologies, focusing on producing algorithms to automate the detection of on-pitch events for optimal decision-making. The partnership will also help develop automated offside technology, which the two entities claim will provide officials with consistent and accurate information, to help speed up the decision-making process for offside incidents (more here).

• Trace Partners With ATP Tour. In collaboration with Trace, a digital memorabilia vendor, ATP Tour is launching Momentum, a limited-edition series of official collectible NFTs. Fans will have the chance to claim 15 free NFTs that are unique to the singles matches played in the upcoming ATP Tour Finals. The digital pieces will display color-coded bars over a tennis court that represent each player’s “momentum” following every game of a given match (more here).

• World Rugby Partners With Fanatics. The World Rugby global governing body has struck an exclusive worldwide deal with sports e-commerce and merchandise giant Fanatics. Fanatics will create, curate, and manage all aspects of the memorabilia and licensing for World Rugby’s global events including the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2027 (Australia), and the women’s World Cups in 2025 (England) and 2029 (Australia) (more here).

• F1 Ferrari Partners With IBM. Ferrari and IBM have announced a multi-year partnership to improve the experience for Scuderia Ferrari fans. The deal begins in 2025 with IBM signing on as Ferrari’s premium partner in IT consulting. While no specifics have been announced on what IBM will produce for Ferrari, the main priority of the partnership is aimed at engaging with the Tifosi (a group of supporters of a sports team) (more here).

🔊 ATHLETES & OTHER SPORTS NEWS
New Cosm Venue Is Coming To The Motor City

• Cosm Announces Detroit For Its Fourth Immersive Sports & Entertainment Venue. Cosm, a leading immersive technology, media, and entertainment company has identified Detroit as the home of its fourth experiential entertainment venue. Located in downtown Detroit, adjacent to Campus Martius, Cosm Detroit will be part of the long-term revitalization of downtown Detroit spurred by real estate firm, Bedrock (more here).

• Professional Women’s Sports Leagues Are Busy Adding Franchises. As women’s sports grow in popularity with viewers and marketers, three professional sports leagues have announced plans to expand into other markets. The WNBA, NWSL, and PWHL are all adding teams to their respective professional leagues (more here).

• JJ Watt Tackles ‘Adrenaline Void’ With Burnley FC Investment. JJ Watt spent 12 years chasing down opposing quarterbacks in the NFL. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year with 114.5 career sacks wasn’t just good at it, he was one of the game’s best. Chasing the adrenaline rush he felt on Sundays playing for the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals, Watt, who retired in December 2022, is now tackling sports ownership (more here).

• US Sports Owners Make Huge Political Donations. Which Party Does Your Team’s Give To? Sports team owners in the major North American leagues have donated at least $132.1M in federal elections since 2020, with nearly 95% of those contributions going to Republican campaigns, candidates, and Super Pacs, according to research conducted by the Guardian (more here).

• Grand Slam Track Names Billionaire Robert F. Smith To Board Of Directors. Grand Slam Track, the emerging track league founded by former world record holder Michael Johnson recently added chairman and founder of Vista Equity, Robert F. Smith, to its board of directors. According to Forbes, Smith is worth almost $11B (more here).

• Investigators Search Offices Of French Soccer League & PE Firm CVC In Corruption Probe. The French financial prosecutor PNF has searched the offices of the French Football League and private equity firm CVC Capital Partners following allegations of corruption. The allegations relate to a deal signed in 2022 that saw CVC pay 1.5B euros (£1.25B) for a 13% stake in LFP's new subsidiary company related to TV rights. Investigators are now looking into the conditions under which it was agreed, including a 37M euros (£30.8M) bonus that was supposed to be shared on completion between banks, lawyers, and the league’s bosses (more here).