🚀 Challenge The Future of Play 2025 Transform the future of play for youth engagement! 🚀 Showcase your innovation and compete on the global stage.

We are excited to partner with AquaBloom International Sports Technology Group to help drive the Think Sport Global Sport Innovation Challenges 2025 AI and Robotics.

Is your startup 🚀 developing disruptive technologies that can impact the sports industry worldwide and inspire the IOC and International Federations.

🖲The Think Sport Challenge is looking at Startups in 6 categories.

🕹Athlete Performance and Injury Prevention

🎯Smart Coaching and Analytics

🎟Event Management, Fan Engagement & Media

🏸Adaptive and Inclusive Sports Solutions

🪄Autonomous Systems in Sport

🥊Sports Equipment

Applications deadline is March 10, 2025 📈

Semi Finals April 9th

and the Final Event at the Olympic Museum in Lusanne Switzerland on May 13 ⛸️

🎰Win exclusive visibility with the IOC and Sports Federations, prizes including cash of up to 10000 CHF 💶

Click the link below to learn more and start your application

https://innovation-thinksport.agorize.com/en/challenges/challenge-the-future-of-play

Thank you to Rui ZhanG and Mike Yang and looking forward to seeing the amazing challengers and helping bring brands and startups to the competition and beyond!

#sportstech

The Minnesota Timberwolves and Aires Tech announced a new partnership focused on creating an EMF-friendly environment inside Target Center

The Minnesota Timberwolves and Aires Tech announced a new partnership focused on creating an EMF-friendly environment inside Target Center

In addition to integration at the team's practice facility at Mayo Clinic Square. This first-of-its-kind sports experience innovation aims to optimize the EMFs emitted by electronics and wireless technology, creating a healthier, more beneficial experience for all those that work, compete, and cheer at the arena.

Aires is sponsoring the installation of Aires devices designed to screen players and fans from the potentially harmful effects of EMF radiation while enabling electronic devices to continue functioning normally. The long-term deal includes the tech's installation in key player gathering spaces, such as the film room and weight room in the practice facility. Additionally, Aires-backed technology will be integrated into high-traffic fan areas throughout the concourse at Target Center.

The installation marks the first official adoption of the Aires Certified Spaces™ (ACS) standard, a set of protocols for implementing EMF modulation solutions to create authorized EMF-friendly spaces. It also marks an important initial step toward Aires' on-going plan of capturing the commercial B2B market, which represents a massive global opportunity for Aires to equip businesses and organizations of all types with EMF protection solutions.

"Teaming with the Timberwolves to enhance safety for the best sports fans in the Midwest is a new and trailblazing strategy we expect to build on in our mission to combat the pervasive EMF radiation that surrounds us in modern society," said Josh Bruni, CEO, Aires Tech. "This is the first-ever commercial deployment of the Aires Certified Spaces™ standard for EMF protection on a mass scale, enabling us to impact tens-of-thousands of people at once as opposed to individually. Fans across the venue will benefit from technology designed to optimize EMF radiation emitted by their cell phones and the wireless systems that inevitably accompany today's modern arena."

The deal will also yield unique sponsorship benefits to Aires immediately and throughout the partnership, including: the right to leverage Timberwolves marks and logos in Aires' marketing campaigns, in-game LED ribbon and scoreboard messaging, courtside signage in the practice facility during the NBA draft and co-branded social content. The multi-year agreement (Jan. 1, 2025 through Sept. 20, 2027) was negotiated by WME Sports and signed on December 6, 2024, as part of its wide-ranging partnership with Aires Tech to guide the company's brand strategy across sports and entertainment.

This partnership aligns with Aires Tech's ongoing strategy to expand brand awareness while improving marketing efficiency and driving sales by creating EMF-friendly environments across sports. The strategy has yielded recent global alliances with leading sports leagues and organizations in addition to joining forces with top athletes across world-class leagues. At the same time, the Timberwolves partnership also extends Aires' awareness building efforts beyond sports and into the mass market, creating public exposure opportunities.

How Major League Baseball utilizes Google Cloud

Here's a breakdown of how Major League Baseball (MLB) utilizes Google Cloud: Youtube Video here

1. Enhanced Broadcasts & In-Game Analysis (Statcast):

* Real-time Data Analysis: MLB uses Google Cloud's Vertex AI and BigQuery to power Statcast, their data capture and analysis system. Statcast analyzes 15 million data points per game in real time. This allows for the calculation of advanced statistics that were previously impossible, like catch probability or steal success rate.

* Improved Stats Delivery: Google Cloud's infrastructure improves the speed of stat delivery by 300ms, enabling real-time analysis of events like ball/strike calls. This makes broadcasts more engaging and informative.

* Predictive Models: Statcast uses past data to train custom models and neural networks, allowing MLB to analyze player performance, categorize pitch types with high accuracy, and even predict future performance. They are continuously evolving Statcast to capture even more data, such as bat tracking.

* Data Processing at the Edge: MLB uses Google Distributed Cloud to process data closer to the stadiums, reducing latency and enabling real-time, data-driven decisions during games.

2. Personalized Fan Experiences:

* Data-Driven Content Recommendations: MLB uses Vertex AI to analyze massive amounts of fan data to understand individual preferences. This allows them to deliver personalized content recommendations, making the fan experience more engaging and relevant.

* Customized Content Delivery: Media CDN is used to power live game streaming and deliver personalized content, ensuring fans see the content they are most interested in.

* Improved Fan Engagement: By providing personalized experiences, MLB aims to maximize the time fans spend interacting with their platform, increasing engagement and satisfaction.

* Global Fan Reach: MLB is leveraging Vertex AI's translation capabilities to make baseball more accessible to international fans by translating content and making baseball vocabulary and culture accessible to a global audience. They combine automated translation with a dedicated in-house team of native Spanish speakers to ensure the quality of the translations at the local level.

3. Data Infrastructure and Security:

* Scalable and Secure Platform: MLB chose Google Cloud because it provides the building blocks for a robust and scalable cloud infrastructure. They needed a platform that could handle petabyte-scale data and analytics across all 30 teams and over 4,000 games per season.

* Building vs. Buying: MLB preferred to build their own solutions rather than using off-the-shelf products. Google Cloud provided the necessary tools and support to do this.

* Data Security: Protecting fan data is a top priority for MLB. They chose Google Cloud because of its strong security features, which help future-proof their security model.

* Modern Infrastructure: MLB transitioned the majority of its applications to Google Cloud, using Anthos as a unified platform for development and deployment, and Google Kubernetes Engine to run containerized applications, enabling the team to scale resources up or down based on demand.

* BigQuery as a Game Changer: MLB uses BigQuery as a central data warehouse to analyze the massive amounts of data they collect. They consider it a "game changer" for understanding trends and uncovering impactful insights within the game.

In summary: MLB leverages Google Cloud to enhance every aspect of the game, from improving the quality of broadcasts and in-game analysis to creating personalized fan experiences and ensuring data security. The partnership allows MLB to use data to tell the stories behind the game and connect with fans on a deeper level.

NIL FanBox Secures $2.25 Million in Seed Funding

Collegiate fan experience platform NIL FanBox has announced the successful closing of a $2.25 million seed funding round. Led by early-stage venture capital firm KB Partners, this investment will fuel the company's growth and expansion of its innovative product offerings.
NIL FanBox is a unique platform that empowers universities to create and distribute personalized memorabilia boxes to fans. These boxes, featuring autographed items and player-endorsed collectibles, provide a direct and engaging way for fans to connect with their favorite athletes while generating recurring revenue streams for student-athletes.
"We are thrilled to support NIL FanBox in their mission to redefine the fan experience," said Matt Howard, Principal at KB Partners. "The team's dedication to creating authentic and meaningful connections between fans and athletes is truly inspiring."
This funding round will enable NIL FanBox to further develop its technology, expand its reach to more universities and fans, and continue to lead the way in the evolving landscape of collegiate athletics.

FanBox’s journey started just four years ago, in 2021, and began with a partnership with the University of North Carolina and the University of Texas, generating $500,000. According to Sports Illustrated, the company has expanded to Ohio State University, Florida State University, and Gonzaga University. 

The partnership provides fans QR codes to scan and unlock access to behind-the-scenes interviews with popular athletes. It also allows plan upgrades to rare memorabilia from legendary athletes from each school, with a “Living Legends” collection featuring Vince Young of the University of Texas, Tyler Hansbrough of the University of North Carolina and Braxton Miller of Ohio State University. 

Terry Comer and Khalil Thompson HBCU alumni are excited to partner with sports tech venture capital firm KB Partners. FanBox’s co-founder and CEO says working with KB Partners is a perfect step toward enhancing the experience college sports fans genuinely desire. “We are excited to partner with KB Partners, whose deep expertise in scaling innovative sports brands aligns perfectly with our vision for the future of NIL FanBox,” Comer said. 

“This investment will allow us to enhance the experiences we deliver to our customers, expand our collegiate licensing relationships, and rapidly scale operations.” 

Check out fanbase here.