🔊 Saudi Arabia's New Tech-Enabled Stadium

📰 TOP STORY
Saudi Arabia Reveals Tech-Enabled Stadium For The 2034 World Cup

 • Saudi Arabia reveals a tech-enabled stadium ahead of the 2034 World Cup. This week, Saudi Arabia revealed designs for a high-tech stadium atop a 656-foot-high cliff near Riyadh where it plans to host the 2034 World Cup. Its design has a retractable roof and field, and an LED wall with hundreds of yards of screens to create an immersive experience for fans, according to the Qiddiya Investment Company. The stadium is a focal point of the Qiddiya City project that aims to create an entertainment, gaming, and sports hub 30 miles from downtown Riyadh, the Saudi capital (more here).

💰 MONEY MOVES 
Athlete-Backed APEX Capital Closes Impact Program With Three New Investments

• Athlete-backed APEX Capital closes its Impact Program with three new investments. APEX Capital, an investment management firm that invests with over 100 elite athletes has announced its inaugural investments as part of its Impact Program. Following the program, they’ve invested in Hexis, Traits, and VRTL (more here).

• Famed sports docuseries producers Box to Box raised £30 million from Bruin Capital. Global sports and entertainment investment company Bruin Capital has made a significant investment in Box to Box Films, the UK production company behind the array of popular Netflix sports docuseries (more here).

• Sacramento Kings become the first professional sports team to accept Bitcoin. An NBA spokesperson said the Sacramento Kings will be the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin (more here).

• Amazon invests in Diamond Sports. Amazon will partner with Diamond Sports as part of a restructuring agreement as the largest owner of regional sports networks looks to emerge from bankruptcy. Diamond owns 18 networks under the Bally Sports banner. Those networks have the rights to 37 professional teams: 11 MLB, 15 NBA, and 11 NHL (more here).

 🤝 PARTNERSHIPS & ACQUISITIONS
Las Vegas Golden Knights Announce Official Partnership With Theta Labs

• Vegas Golden Knights announce an official partnership with Theta Labs. The Golden Knights are set to launch an exclusive series of NFTs on ThetaDrop NFT marketplace, offering fans unique in-person experiences. During select home games, fans online and in person can claim exclusive NFTs at no cost (more here).

• Teamworks acquires Kairos. Teamworks, an enterprise SaaS company serving elite sports and tactical organizations globally, has announced the acquisition of Kairos, a communication and messaging software for professional sports. This acquisition is the next step in Teamworks' journey to transform sports technology and represents a significant investment in the professional space (more here).

• The NBA & Fastbreak.ai agree to a multi-year partnership. Fastbreak.ai, the fastest and most capable sports scheduling platform, announced the NBA as their latest customer and partner in a long-term agreement and NBA Equity as a seed round investor. The NBA will incorporate Fastbreak.ai’s SAAS product into their scheduling process (more here).

• U.S. Integrity and LIV Golf have announced a formal partnership. U.S. Integrity will monitor the betting market, educate its participants, and use technology to spot improper gambling at events. The partnership also provides LIV Golf access to ProhiBet, an innovative technology that detects prohibited gaming behavior, developed in collaboration with Odds On Compliance (more here).

• Icelandic Handball Federation (HSI) and Spiideo join forces. HSI has chosen Spiideo as its partner to integrate cutting-edge AI technology and low-latency feeds into its handball productions across Iceland. This strategic decision is based on Spiideo’s proven track record and exceptional solutions, as well as Spiideo’s existing successful collaborations with some of Iceland’s top handball clubs (more here).

• McLaren Racing expands commercial agreement with OKX. The British motor racing team, McLaren Racing has inked an expanded partnership agreement with the leading crypto exchanges by trading volume and a leading Web3 technology company, OKX (more here).

🔊 OTHER NEWS
Giannis Antetokounmpo Is The Latest Superstar Athlete To Launch Media Company

• NBA Champion & Entrepreneur Giannis Antetokounmpo launches Improbable Media. Improbable is backed by Verance Capital and GPS Investment Partners, with investment from media personality Jay Williams, who also co-founded the company. The brand will embody Antetokounmpo’s ethos and enduring spirit and create groundbreaking content that provokes conversation, champions the underdog and inspires commitment to self, family, and community (more here).

• Sportradar launches FanID. FanID is a unique, end-to-end first-party marketing solution combining the first data clean room for the sports industry with the company’s proprietary marketing activation technology, to offer rightsholders and brands personalized fan engagement in a post-third-party cookie world (more here).

• Sports Illustrated lays off entire staff. In an email sent to staff Friday morning, the Arena Group, which operates the Sports Illustrated brand and SI-related properties, said that Authentic Brands Group (ABG) has revoked its marketing license (more here).

• BatFast joins AO StartUps. The UK startup uses data, augmented reality technology, machine learning, and robotics to re-engineer how sports are played, helping drive participation and access to sport globally (more here).

• This founder is positioning Gemini Sports Analytics to be ‘The AI Platform For Sports’. Gemini Sports Analytics burst onto the scene in 2022 and has quickly become one of the top data analytics companies in all of sports. We spoke with founder Jake Schuster to gain more insight into how he started the company, where the company is today and advice he has for other founders (more here).

• Ex-MLB Star Jose Bautista Buys USL’s Las Vegas Lights FC. Retired Major League Baseball All-Star José Bautista has reached an agreement to purchase United Soccer League’s (USL) Las Vegas Lights FC (more here).

• So, You Want to Buy a Pro Sports Team? Here’s How. Thinking about joining the likes of Ryan Reynolds, David Beckham, and (probably) Jeff Bezos in the mad scramble to land your own club? It's suddenly the hottest pastime of the global super-rich. Here's how the game is played (more here).

• Manchester United turns to AI in a bid to boost performance. Manchester United will ramp up its use of artificial intelligence to improve performance as part of a collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University’s Institute of Sport (more here).