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- This Sock Will Change Sport Forever...
This Sock Will Change Sport Forever...
Good Morning! It’s midweek and you know what that means… Champions League and a new edition of The Sports Road. Two of the best that Sport has to offer…
Here's what we got for ya today:
MLS Are Going to The Very Top
Golf x Web3
A Smart Sock??
Brighton’s Gem…
Most valuable public market sports teams
Now, onto the good stuff...
The MLS Are Changing The Game
The MLS are not messing about...
Already proving groundbreaking in their $2.5 billion dollar broadcasting deal with Apple, the American league is not slowing down.
Using technology as the basis for new innovative ideas, the MLS are looking to bridge the gap between themselves and top European leagues. Better that rather than being a retirement home – with respect, of course – for washed up legends of the game.
So, what have they done now?
This week the MLS announced the creation of their very own Sports Technology Incubator - MLS Labs. Sounds fancy…
No, but seriously. Using this, the league can vastly improve its profile and potentially overtake other leagues simply due to having access to the most modern and advanced technologies.
The platform itself is expected to provide early stage Sport technology firms to trial their innovations at large events such as the all star game.
This concept takes after the success of NBA’s Launchpad - something we’ve spoken about loads on The Sports Road 😉Ah, nothing better than a cheeky self plug.
“It’ll be an annual program that allows startups to utilise the scale and the test that we have.”
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Sponsored
Golf in The Metaverse
You ever just think to yourself, I wish there was a really cool Golf game I could play on my phone? No, guess it’s just us then…
Launched in late 2020 by Turner Sports, Blocklete Golf is a unique app dedicated to futurising the Golf gaming scene. This is how it works:
It is a play-to-earn style blockchain Golfing game
Players can play as NFT characters to earn FUSD coins
Here’s where it gets interesting…
Soon after release Turner Sports joined Warner Bros Discover Sports (WBDS). This week, the company decided to shift the game onto ImmutableX Blockchain.
Why? Well, ImmutableX provides an experience unlike many others. Priding themselves on the fact that they do not use transaction fees, it’s clear to say their appeal to a big company such as WBDS. Whereas other Blockchain platforms require a fee to create NFT’s, they do not.
“Immutable has provided the backend technology for our newest Web 3.0 offerings and moving Blocklete Golf to their inclusive and efficient decentralised framework was a natural choice for us.”
The Future of Sport Analysis
Another week, another big investment into Sport tech.
This time nearly $4 million into Danu Sports. So, what do they do?
You’ve heard of the smartphone, but it’s time for (drumroll please 🥁🥁🥁) SMART SOCKS. How did they not think of this sooner. No, but really. This is VERY cool - even game changing.
This is what we know so far:
The technology will pair its ‘sensor integrated’ socks with mobile devices to provide live analysis on performance
It’s claimed that the combination of activities detected by the technology at once would be impossible other devices
The technology helps in detecting health issues and injury
This investment will go towards the products commercialisation and creation of Jobs
Being its biggest investment yet, we expect some big teams across multiple Sports to jump on this.
“We are excited for what the future holds for Danu Sports. We’ve seen the progress the company has made over the last 15 months and have been very impressed by the team and their technology.
This research brings us onto our next story…
The Rise of a Superstar
We Need to Talk About: Kaoru Mitoma
Over the last few months, Kaoru Mitoma has taken the Premier League by storm. It begs the question - where the hell has this superstar come from? Really, this guy is UNREAL!
Following another Player of The Match award this weekend, we decided to look more into the story of the Japanese winger.
We all know the classic story for elite level footballers - join an academy as a youngster before breaking into the first team at around 16 to 18 years old. Well, this is not that.
Receiving multiple offers to go pro, Mitoma rejected - something I’m sure most of us would NOT do. Why, you ask? To go to university…
Not yet feeling ready to delve into professional Football, the youngster made the mature decision to study Physical Education in Japan.
It’s here where his footballing ability starts to make more sense.
“I thought it would be better to go to university in order to make it as a professional footballer. So I studied lots of things – coaching, sports and nutrition. I learned lots of things.”
His graduation thesis? The process of dribbling.
The now highly rated forward used a GoPro to examine what allows for successful dribbling patterns. It definitely worked out for him with Football Manager awarding him the same dribbling rating as players such as Mbappe and Vincius Jr (18).
Only making his professional debut in 2020, Mitoma was already 21. Now, he’s ripping apart Premier League clubs week in week out and is one of the best players on his national side's team-sheet.
So, to all the Sunday league legends reading - it’s never too late 😉
Quick bites
Boxing's future: Nigerian duo chasing Boxing excellence
Meme of the day
Gianluca Mancini smashes in a strike from range to put Roma 1-0 up against Juventus.
Jose Mourinho continues to jot down tactical advice on the touchline as if nothing has happened. Superb.
— HLTCO (@HLTCO)
12:16 PM • Mar 7, 2023
There's two types of people
Quote of the day
"I'm gonna win, there's no question."
Photo of the day
Alexa Grasso was really practicing this belt winning move for her whole camp
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist)
6:58 PM • Mar 6, 2023
Ok, ok. We know it's a video.
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Chat to ya on Friday!