LaLiga x Wimbledon: WHAT!?!

July 19, 2023

Morning everyone! Happy Monday, and welcome back to The Sports Road! Quite a busy weekend, hey? With a couple of big events happening, we wouldn’t blame you for missing some of sport-tech’s biggest stories 🤷‍♂️ Luckily for you though, that’s exactly why we’re here… Enjoy!

Here's what we got for ya today:

  • Football x Tennis?

  • Chelsea’s Newest Tech…

  • AFL: Not What You Think!

  • UFC…

Most Valuable Sports Teams:

Let's get into it!

Sports’ Next Big Duo…

Now this is NOT a partnership we thought we’d be talking about today…

When thinking of Wimbledon’s links with Spain, a couple of pretty obvious names come to mind: Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcarez, or even King Felipe – the monarch who decided to show up to last weekend’s final.

The last name you would expect to see, though, is LaLiga – Spain’s top flight Football division. But, as we’ve said before, when it comes to sports-tech sometimes it’s just better to expect the unexpected 😂😂😂

So, you – quite fairly – may be thinking to yourselves what on earth is the connection between the two?

Well, it looks like Tennis’ most prestigious Grand Slam is enlisting the help of the Football league to leverage technology in order to protect their content.

In considering LaLiga’s recent history of heavy investment into new technologies – whether it be through incubator hubs, or anything else – the partnership makes more sense than you may think…

This is what we know so far:

  • Using their advanced technology, LaLiga Tech’s content protection services will operate to continuously monitor and eliminate pirated content from this Summer’s Wimbledon tournament.

  • Tracking multiple online systems, pirated content will be flagged across marketplaces, social media, apps, and more. The scale at which these channels will be scanned is global.

Pairing the two organisations for the first time ever, the partnership could actually be the start of some VERY interesting developments in the scene. Working together to battle issues that spread across the sports world, this could be a trend that only continues to grow.

“The illegal piracy of sports content is the scourge of our industry, and its protection for both licensors and rights-holding broadcasters is essential if we are to maintain a healthy and vibrant ecosystem. In LaLiga Tech, we have found an advanced global solution to monitor and swiftly take down illegal broadcasts of The Championships and early indications are that they are doing so with tremendous success.”

Guillermo Rodríguez, Director at Content Protection

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Football Fans, Get Ready…

Let’s be honest, Chelsea haven’t done too many things right in the last year or so…

From bad signings, to even worse managerial appointments, to outlandish spending, to dropping into the bottom half of the league table, to – alright, alright, we’ll stop ourselves there…

Essentially all we’re trying to say is that it hasn't been a great watch. Unless you’re a rival fan, of course 😅 

BUT, this is good. This could actually be game-changing…

A couple months back, the club struck a deal with AI-tech firm Tempus Ex Machina. Originally using the technology as a means to improve coaching, training, and player safety, the club are now looking at how they can leverage its use to engage fans on a deeper level.

If Football fans have one thing in common, it would be that they CANNOT agree on anything… And it’s for that very reason why the two’s newest announcement could work a charm.

Offering to personalise fans’ viewing experiences, Chelsea will use Tempus Ex Machina’s Match View X AI.

Planning to utilise the technology during their pre-season tour, the experience will give fans the chance to apply graphical overlays to games, show match statistics in real time, track players, and show instant replays.

Sounds like Football Manager… 😬  

“Thanks to the revolutionary Tempus Ex technology, MVX will give our fans the power to create their very own personalised viewing experience, right at their fingertips… We are confident that MVX will excite our fans and our partners and create an original way of getting even closer to the action. We are on a multi-year journey to innovate the fan experience at Chelsea and this is an important step in delivering on that ambition.”

Chris Jurasek, Chelsea Chief Executive

The Most Famous Sport You’ve Never Heard of…

Here at The Sports Road, we love nothing more than talking about a new sport. While this sport may not be new, we definitely have not heard of this company yet…

So, the AFL – no, not that one – could be the next big thing.

Standing for the Arena Football League, they’re the biggest professional indoor American Football league in America.

Why are we talking about them today?

Well, it looks like the league may be using technology to get their name just that bit more out there…

Teaming up with technology firm, HUMBL, the AFL will be working on innovative ways to showcase their content to fans and revolutionise their ticketing systems.

Planning to develop a digital platform that will integrate multiple technology and ticketing partners, fan experiences will be enhanced and new fans can be introduced into the sport.

“The goal of the AFL is to not take a back seat to anyone when it comes to delivering the most world-class digital experience for our fans… Without hesitation, we felt that HUMBL had the most customizable digital platform for what we want to deliver our fans across multiple touch points and partner integrations.”

Lee Hutton III, Commissioner of the AFL

Working to globalise the sport, the channels created should offer a wide variety of content and engage fans in a never before seen way!

We Need to Talk About: The UFC

Ten. More. Days.

Yep, that’s right. In only a week and a half, UFC 291 will be taking centre stage in a series of fights which could very easily make their mark on history.

Being only the second time ever that the BMF title will be on the line, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje are bound to give fans a fight they’ll never forget.

But it’s not actually that which caught headlines this week…

With the names of Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire, Michael Page, and AJ McKee all appearing on the UFC website, many fans jumped to the conclusion that the UFC had bought Bellator.

While that may not be true, the future does look exciting. Especially, once you’ve seen what current Lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, posted on Twitter yesterday…

Offering to go up in weight and fight Welterweight champion, Leon Edwards, Makhachev looks to continue his win streak ending run.

Having already ended Charles Oliveira’s 11 fight win streak and Volkanovski’s 12, the prospect of Edwards’ 12 must seem appealing 😅 

Hypothetically speaking, though, if Makhachev does pull it off, would he have the greatest three fight streak of all time? Would he surpass Khabib’s legacy? Should he be put into the conversation as one of the all time greats?

Who knows… What is for sure is that it is a VERY exciting time to be an MMA fan…

Quick Bites

Meme of the day

Quote of the day

"I'm 100% sure I won't return to any European club. I opened the way to Saudi league... and now all the players are coming here".

Cristiano Ronaldo

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Chat to ya on Friday! ☮️