A VERY Big Deal...

April 26, 2023

Morning everyone! Welcome back to The Sports Road – your very own hub for everything sport and tech. Today, we’re talking about improvement. Read more to see how your favourite Sports are levelling up. Enjoy!

Here's what we got for ya today:

  • Brighton: Scouting Done Right

  • The Future of Boxing is in Good Hands

  • Data, data, data

  • “Why not feel untouchable?”

Most valuable public market sports teams

Let's get into it!

Diamonds in The Rough

FA Cup semi-finalists, fighting for European contention, and being home to some of the most exciting players in the Premier League.

If you would have told all that to a Brighton fan a couple of years ago, they would have said you’re dreaming.

Those dreams are now a reality…

Yep, being dubbed by many as the most well run club in the league, Brighton and Hove Albion are setting the bar HIGH.

While many factors will have gone into the club’s recent success, there seems to be one that stands out. Recruitment.

Despite selling their key players to some of the world's biggest teams, the club continued to go from strength to strength. As if they’ve been playing Football Manager, somehow Brighton keep on finding hidden gems.

Signing ballers like Mitoma, Mac Allister (now a World Cup winner), and Moises Caicedo all for under £15 million, the trio are now worth well over £200 million combined…

So, what’s the secret?

A cool head and VERY good use of AI…

Helping develop his own scouting software (🤯), the club can surf the entire world looking for the next big players.

Using the data discovered by the system, scouts are then given names of players for whom to take a closer look at.

So look, you may look at this and think – ‘why doesn’t everyone just do that if it works so well?”

Well, it’s not that simple…

In fact, the algorithm used is so secret that even those INSIDE the club are not allowed to know.

Having the second lowest wage bill in the entire league, Brighton’s success is a joy to see.

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The Future is in Our Hands

The Future of Boxing is in Good Hands.

Literally.

Before all the hype around things like AI and VR came to exist, one of the biggest trends in the sports technology world was 3D-printing.

Taking a while to come into its own, the use of 3D-printers is beginning to have bigger impacts on sport.

With the official NBA Basketball provider, Wilson, releasing their own prototype for a new 3D-printed ball, it was obvious that the 3D takeover was not going to stop there.

Promising efficiency in the creation of performance-aiding products, what’s not to like!?

So with all that, you may wonder why we’re talking about it today…

Hayabusa, a combat-sports apparel company, have just released the world's first ever 3D-printed Boxing gloves.

Named the T3D, these gloves are sure to change the face of Boxing. This is what we know so far:

  • As stated by company officials, the major benefits of the gloves are their unmatched impacts on comfort and protection

  • Replacing more traditional foam layers with lattices that contain shock absorbers, the technology can provide a level of exactness unlike anything else

  • In addition to multiple unique designs aimed for comfort, the gloves will include thermo-regulating lining to keep Boxers’ hands feeling good

  • There is no information regarding which 3D-printer is being used to create these gloves at this point

“This will fundamentally change the industry's perception of hand protection and comfort. Hayabusa's patent-pending design took years of research, development and testing to perfect, and we're ready to define the next era of performance.”

Ken Clement, Hayabusa CEO

With 3D-printing allowing for an increased level of personalisation, we are sure that Boxers will be calling for a more widespread distribution of its use very soon…

The Next Big Thing

When talking about partnerships made in the sports tech scene, relationships tend to follow a certain pattern.

Usually wanting to enhance certain aspects of operations, leagues or specific teams will partner with technology-based groups to drive improvement.

On the other hand, very rarely do we see two tech dedicated groups team up to improve sport on a more general scale. I mean why would they? They’re competitors at the end of the day!

Well, this partnership is about to change everything…

That’s right, two major players in the sports analytics world are combining their powers. This is what we know so far:

  • The two will use the partnership to focus on College Football Players

  • The two companies aim to provide in-depth data to analyse performance aspects and styles

  • Using Sportlogiq’s tracking technology and PFF’s analysis capabilities, the combined data will be used to inform football teams

  • Data will soon be available to NFL clients

“In keeping with PFF's commitment to continual improvement and providing ever-expanding value to our customers, we're thrilled to have established this partnership with Sportlogiq… The addition of Sportlogiq's tracking data to PFF's market-leading dataset and team-facing tools creates even more opportunity for professional and college football teams to study the game and arm themselves with actionable knowledge.”

Rick Drummond, PFF’s General Manager of Football

Netflix, Here Comes The Money

When talking about the most polarising figures in modern day sport, few names come to mind before Conor McGregor.

Helping the UFC grow into the global powerhouse it is today, it’s hard to argue that the Irishman isn’t the face of the sport. I mean he does hold the five highest-selling UFC events ever…

Falling to 1-3 in his last four fights, recent years haven’t been as successful *sports-wise*. Away from MMA though, the Notorious one has done serious business…

From acting to creating a VERY successful whiskey brand, McGregor isn’t done yet. In fact, he’s just getting started.

Partnering with Netflix, a docu-series is being made about the superstar’s career.

With the series’ teaser showing the aftermath of McGregor’s career-threatening knee injury sustained in late 2021, directors plan to reveal ‘the truth’.

What that is, we don’t know. What we do know, though, is that McGregor is coming back!

Signed on to fight Michael Chandler later on in the year, what better way is there to hype up a fight!?

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Chat to ya on Friday! ☮️