BODYGUARD AI: WHAT?!

May 24, 2023

Good morning and welcome back to The Sports Road! As ever, today we’re bringing you the best sport-tech stories you may have missed during the week. You don’t want to miss this one… Enjoy!

Here's what we got for ya today:

  • Bodyguard AI?!

  • The Future of Bowling

  • F1 Are Back Again

  • Spursy

Most Valuable Sports Teams

Let's get into it!

Tennis’ Game Changing AI

As we’re sure you’ve seen, headlines this week have been dominated by the ugly events that occurred during Real Madrid’s game against Valencia over the weekend. Unfortunately, issues related to player abuse – as of now – aren’t taken seriously enough.

Taking a toll on our favourite games’ integrity, the issue has far-reaching impacts; those that make the implementation of this technology increasingly relevant…

So with that, you may ask what we’re talking about today.

Well, this week the French Open introduced their newest AI – Bodyguard.AI. Yep, it is actually called that. And to be fair, for good reason.

Offering players free access to the technology, this is what we know about the deal so far:

  • The AI will be able to filter through players’ social media comments and analyse responses in less than 200 milliseconds

  • During this process, the AI will take care of the censored material

  • As a result of the partnership, the FFT will be able to request identities of those who made such comments

  • Tournament organisers will be consistently updated with reports and live alerts to better understand the situation and how to combat it

“We will not accept any form of violence at our tournament… We're very proud to be the first Grand Slam tournament to offer players a solution that efficiently protects them against cyberbullying… We want to protect players from this damaging behaviour, to enable them to be in peak mental condition when they compete in the tournament."

Caroline Flassier, FTT Director

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BIG Rewards Are Waiting For You…

Ah, nothing better than talking about a sport for the first time – Welcome to The Sports Road, Bowling!

Trust us, you do NOT want to miss this…

Ever bowl an absolutely unreal game, tell someone, and then them not believe you? Well, all that is about to change. Here’s how:

Backed by the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA), you can now win tokenized achievements for a good game.

Yep, in a partnership with Layer 3 Labs, Bowlero – the PBA’s parent company – announced that players who bowl at their centre leagues will be able to win special NFT-based honours.

While described as such these rewards aren’t traditional NFT’s. In fact, once won the digital awards cannot be traded.

Being branded as a loyalty program by some, NFT awards will be given out for bowling a first 200 or a perfect 300 game.

All that is only the first phase though…

Planning to eventually offer digital points which can be earned, players will be able to trade in digital assets for physical products such as balls and equipment.

Seeing potential for the sport to grow into the Metaverse, this announcement could spell big things for the future of Bowling…

“This is why I like to work with companies, not ‘projects.’ This is the real world, where this is a real business. Bowlero is valued at billions of dollars, and they are integrating Web3 into a business model. This is the future.”

Jonathan Teplitsky, Layer 3 CEO

F1 Are at it Again!

Boston, we get it. It’s been a tough few days. You know, with the Celtics having been favourites to win the championship and all…

Sorry. Sore Subject. BUT, we have some good news…

Especially for your F1 fans…

Ever thought to yourself what it might be like being an F1 driver? Well, this F1 Arcade gives you an experience unlike anything else – and next year, it’s coming to Boston!

Having already opened up in London, the one-of-a-kind arcade has amassed over 100,000 visitors since its opening in November!

With one in every two F1 fans having started their following of the sport in the last four years, it’s clear to see the impacts of the company’s social media and tech revolution.

With that, the idea behind why something like this has been able to work is clear.

Allowing players – in an almost VR-style – to immerse themselves into the game, F1 can continue engaging fans with their content unlike anyone else.

“Formula 1 is enjoying significant growth globally, and we are constantly innovating to ensure that we are bringing the highest quality of sport and entertainment to new and diverse audiences. F1 Arcade does exactly this by putting our fans behind the wheel of bespoke racing simulators, so they can feel the thrill of an F1 car first hand… We are excited to see the F1 Arcade project continue to grow as it hits the US, starting in Boston.”

Steffano Domenicali, President & CEO of F1

We Need to Talk About: Tottenham

Alright, we know. No one likes talking about Tottenham – not even their own fans. This, though, could be very big news…

Before we get into it, just have a watch of this:

So with that, a question on many fans’ minds has been – how on earth did Brighton get so good?!

Exciting, fun, and powered by a group of energetic talent. None of these adjectives could be used to describe Tottenham over the last couple of seasons.

Well, we touched on it before, but using their very own scouting software (powered using AI, of course) Brighton have been able to discover gems which other teams simply would not have known about…

While tough to recreate – considering even those INSIDE the club aren’t allowed information on how the system works – Spurs Chairman, Daniel Levy, is reportedly interested in starting one of his own…

Although previously being sceptical about such forms of scouting, Levy has reportedly met with multiple betting experts over the matter.

Aiming to extract maximum value from the transfer market in order to not fall behind rivals, it looks like there is about to be a big reshuffle at Spurs…

From manager to players, they are definitely a club to keep an eye on…

Quick bites

Meme of the day

😂 😂 

Quote of the day

"What's that? Ah – Playoffs? Don't talk about – playoffs?! You kidding me?! Playoffs?! I just hope we can win a game! Another game!"

Jim Mora

Photo of the day

Back in the big leagues!

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Chat to ya on Friday! ☮️