Basketball is Changing FOREVER!

July 26, 2023

Morning! Welcome back to another midweek madness by The Sports Road! Sorry, cringey – you’ll get used to it 😅Look, if you don’t know yet, sport is evolving more and more everyday; and today’s newsletter is about exactly that... Enjoy!

Here's what we got for ya today:

  • Basketball is Changing Forever!

  • The Future of Broadcasting

  • Baseball’s Next Big Thing

  • Times Are Changing…

Most Valuable Sports Teams:

Let's get into it!

The Future is Bright…

We know exactly what you’re thinking… Basketball needs more distractions!

If you feel the timeouts or half-time shows aren’t enough, then this is EXACTLY for you 😂😂

Alright, alright. Maybe we’re being harsh, we get it. I mean who doesn’t love a bit of fun technology mixed in with elite-level sport!?

With all that, you may be wondering what on earth we’re talking about today… Well, strap in. This could change the way we interact with Basketball FOREVER!

So, Augmented Reality (AR) courts – This is what we know so far:

This week, The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) announced that during the U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup, the sport will introduce never before seen LED lights on courts.

Trust us, this one is pretty crazy… Just look at this!

  • Offering a variety of customisation options, each match will be treated with appropriate and game specific animations that are bound to further engage fans with the played sport.

  • Being reactive to real-time events, the court will be able to give fans a better understanding of what is happening on the field, helping engage new fans while also exciting older ones.

  • Given that many fans are pretty sceptical about the initiative, don’t expect it to take over the sport right away… Acting as a trial period, FIBA will be looking closely to see how fans respond to the technology and seeing how it can be improved.

“It's a historical day for FIBA and for the players here in Madrid, who are being given an opportunity to compete on this amazing and innovative surface. There's been a lot of anticipation leading up to this moment and to be able to finally unveil this glass flooring court is really exciting.”

Andreas Zagklis, FIBA Secretary General

The future of Basketball is definitely bright!! Bad pun, we know. Sorry 😂😂

Sport is changing forever and you do NOT want to miss out…

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Broadcasting Will Never be The Same

Let us remind you of a couple months back…

The World Cup was live in Qatar, Football was constantly on and, to be honest, it was pretty hard to keep up…

When pairing that with the fact – let’s be honest – people’s attention spans are lowering, the need for more digestible Football content is more important than ever before.

Well, it looks like Fox may have just come up with the exact solution for those trying to keep up with this Summer’s Women’s World Cup.

ow? AI, of course…

Yep, that’s right. In a bid to ensure that everyone is kept up-to-date and happy with the newest results and events in the tournament, Fox will be leveraging technology created by Amazon to generate AI-produced highlight packages.

This is how it’s going to work:

  • Using Amazon’s Media Replay Engine alongside Amazon Web Services capabilities, Fox will be able to use AI in identifying visual and auditory cues to create a highlight package showing all of the games important actions

  • Having already worked with these technologies before, the switch should provide a seamless and easy way for fans to interact with the content.

  • The system will allow highlights to be released quickly, making sure fans are kept updated on the tournament's most recent events.

“We understand that the level of play at events like the World Cup is exceptional, and we wanted our feature to reflect that standard. To achieve this, we developed cutting-edge AI technology to create a highlights engine that can dynamically retell the game’s story in real-time, highlighting key moments and events as they unfold. This ensures that our users can stay up-to-date with the action and experience the excitement of the game, no matter where they are.”

Phil Martin, VP of Data Products and Machine Learning (ML) Strategy at Fox

Baseball: The Next Big Star!

It’s Baseball season, ladies and gentlemen!

With that – as we’ve spoken about extensively here on The Sports Road – comes a whole new host of tech innovations and advancements in the sport.

None potentially as influential as this though…

Look, being a young pro is actually pretty difficult. We’re currently at a period of time where – for a number of reasons – it’s harder than ever for young athletes to gain recognition at the top level.

Well, that may be changing forever – and technology has a BIG role to play…

Teaming up with NextName, the Prospect League – one of America’s biggest Summer collegiate Baseball leagues – is looking to give their young athletes opportunities to get their names out there like never before.

With NextName specialising in supporting college athletes to monetise their name, image, and likeness (NIL), athletes will have their very own digital collectibles available to sell.

Allowing the players more ownership over their NIL, the athletes will be given an opportunity to present themselves and their skills on a far larger scale.

“Our mission is to empower collegiate athletes, and this collaboration perfectly aligns with our vision of unlocking the value of their personal brand. We look forward to working with the talented Prospect League players and providing them with a platform to connect with fans and generate income.”

Tom Segal, Director of Operations at NextName

We Need to Talk About: The Next Big Game…

If you haven’t heard yet, one of the biggest sports games out there is changing FOREVER…

FIFA; the Football game that brought indescribable highs and lows to those who aren’t even fans of the sport 😂

With good reason, you may be asking why we’re talking about the franchise.

Well, earlier this year, EA Sports and FIFA announced a split. Despite the 20+ years the two worked together, it’s fair to say it wasn’t too amicable 😅

In fact, FIFA president Gianni Infantino even had this to say!

"I can assure you that the only authentic, real game that has the FIFA name will be the best one available for gamers and football fans. The FIFA name is the only global, original title. FIFA 23, FIFA 24, FIFA 25 and FIFA 26, and so on - the constant is the FIFA name and it will remain forever and remain THE BEST."

Gianni Infantino, FIFA President

Despite that though, it doesn’t seem to be the case. Being able to keep hold of a VERY large majority of sponsors and partnerships, over the last few weeks EA Sports have teased the release of their next game – FC24.

Having been met with millions of online interactions, it doesn’t seem as though the name change has deterred audiences; and with their most recent announcement, it looks like the game will be in good hands for a while to come…

In a deal that’s allegedly worth nearly £500 million, EA have renewed their exclusivity deal with the Premier League for many years ahead…

Giving them the rights to the world’s biggest stars, teams, and more, it looks like EA are ready to continue dominating the Football game scene for the foreseeable future!

Quick Bites

Meme of the day

Quote of the day

“I’m not feeling bad because I’m a champion no matter what. I’m very disappointed in my performance, but I can’t allow that to dictate who I am as a person. I went out like a man, so I hold my head up like a man.”

Stephen Fulton on his knockout defeat to Naoya Inoue

Picture of the day

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Chat to ya on Friday! ☮️