The World's Craziest Sport is BACK!

August 11, 2023

Welcome back to The Sports Road! Just like that, it is FINALLY the weekend; and let’s not beat around the bush – it could be a big one. With multiple sports coming back into action over the next couple of days, you’d be forgiven for missing a couple of this week’s big sports-tech headlines. Don’t worry though, that’s exactly why we’re here 😅 Enjoy!

Here's what we got for ya today:

  • POWER SLAP IS BACK!

  • Big Premier League News…

  • The NHL Did WHAT!?

  • AI, AI, AI

Most Valuable Sports Teams:

Let's get into it!

Good Ol’ Slap Fighting 👋

It may have been a few months, but guess who’s back?

Getting themselves back into the news, I think we speak for everyone when we give the warmest of welcomes to Power Slap!

If you’ve forgotten about the inner workings of Dana White’s brain child, let us help jog your memory…

Two athletes. Three rounds. Slap. Slap. Slap. Slap. Alright, alright – we may have gotten a bit carried away there 😅

To make a long story short, essentially the sport makes two people slap each other until one cannot continue. With no defence being allowed, you may be wondering to yourselves WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO DO THIS?!

Well, it could be time to find out… How? Using technology, of course!

That’s right. In partnership with Zynga’s Rollic Hypercasual Games Division, Power Slap has released its first ever video game!

“Rollic has firmly established itself as a pioneer in seamlessly integrating popular social and digital trends into gaming, and we are thrilled to collaborate with Dana White and Power Slap to bring this social media phenomenon to our global player base… Our talented teams are excited to work with this calibre of IP and have created an immersive user experience that puts the spirit of the live events into our players’ hands with the collaboration of Zynga’s best-in-class IP base game launch expertise.”

Burak Vardal, CEO of Rollic

Available on mobile devices, the release offers fans the opportunity to immerse themselves into the sport like never before.

With huge names such as Dana White appearing, the game has caused quite the stir on social media.

And, you guessed it. In classic Power Slap form, the response has been – how should we put this – mixed…

We couldn’t describe it any better…

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

Everyone knows just how important AI can be, but we’re here to help you reach the next level!

Want to improve performances? Learn a new sport? Push yourself like never before? Well, look no further than SportGPT.

Acting as your very own AI sports coach, our platform allows anyone – from amateurs to athletes – access to world class coaching anytime, anywhere, and for whatever need!

With our system evolving right alongside you, by using your unique progress, results will be optimised to help you realise whatever athletic need you have!

Already backed by thousands, this is your chance to play a key role in the future of sports training. 

It’s time to unleash your athletic potential.

Join to begin your journey today! Visit https://sportgpt.ai/ for more

See The Game Like Never Before!

Whether you like it or not, Football is becoming an increasingly commercialised and global game.

With that, the need for partnerships which aim to expand reach and impact are integral to the future success of Football clubs around the world.

So, while you may think that on-pitch development – in terms of tactics and signings – is the right way to aid in their battle against Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool have seemingly chosen to focus on something else.

What, you ask? Well, this week both clubs announced partnerships with Google Pixel.

Alright, fine – you got us. Although the partnership may not actually hold too much of an effect on the Premier League standings, the deals could change the way us fans interact with our favourite teams.

In considering the two’s status as some of the biggest clubs in the world, it’s only right that they set up ample ways to engage fans across the globe.

And this is how they’re going to do it:

  • During early stages of the partnership, the clubs will use the Google Pixel to deliver exclusive pitchside content to fans. With the help of its AI-powered advanced camera technology, both Arsenal and Liverpool will be looking to up their social media offerings and bring fans closer to the game than ever before.

  • Alongside this, the clubs will be putting out dedicated content related to the partnership. Releasing ‘Pitchside, Presented by Pixel’, supporters will be taken behind the scenes, with the show being shot exclusively on Pixel phones.

  • Another main goal of the deal is to promote Women's Football. Providing Pixel FC members pitchside access to WSL games, training sessions, and more, everyone involved hopes to inspire more girls and women to involve themselves with the sport.

“Our priority is to put our supporters at the heart of everything we do and we’re extremely pleased to announce this exciting partnership with Google Pixel that will help us achieve this. This is a first for us and will bring supporters much closer to the action through high-quality content. This latest partnership is one of the many ways we are enhancing the club’s presence and transforming the game for football supporters everywhere.”

Juliet Slot, Chief Commercial Officer at Arsenal

Become a Pro…

Usually when the topic of Virtual Reality (VR) comes up, sport organisations tend to follow a similar route.

Opting to use the technology as an extra broadcasting arm, while fans are undeniably brought into the action from a uniquely immersive perspective, innovations tend to not explore its true capabilities.

Until now… That’s right. Ladies and gentlemen, the NHL is changing sport forever and YOU could be at the forefront!

Signing a deal that will see them team up with VR specialists Sense Arena, the NHL are looking to become major players in the VR world.

This is what we know so far:

  • Planning to launch an interactive NHL VR platform, the NHL are going to give fans the opportunity to train, play, and act like their favourite athletes.

  • Offering players a chance to virtually hone their Hockey skills, the game will accurately translate real life movements into the system using sensors and immersive goggles.

  • Slated to release on the Meta Quest platform, the game will feature merchandise and branding from all 32 NHL franchises.

“The NHL has some of the most passionate fans in all of sports and we are thrilled to bring them onto the ice to experience what it feels like to train like an NHL player or goalie… This new partnership will allow hockey lovers of all ages to compete against each other in exciting drills while representing their favourite NHL teams.”

Bob Tetiva, Sense Arena Founder and CEO

With USA Hockey – The United States’ official Hockey governing body – already using Sense Arena’s products, there is actually logic to the madness…

Working to train cognitive elements of players’ games, the technology can mimic real life scenarios. By doing this, players can improve their decision making and reaction speed.

So what are you waiting for? It’s time for YOU to become Hockey’s next best thing!

We Need to Talk About: AI…

You didn’t really think we would get through an entire newsletter without talking about AI, did you?? 😂

Before we get into it though, watch this…

“AI is taking over and will leave us with NOTHING!” 

Come on, we’re sure you’ve heard someone say it before… Well, just imagine how good the technology could be if we combined it with our own strengths…

So, the video. What’s the deal?

Using AI as a source of inspiration, Under Armour have created what they believe to be the ‘ultimate team talk’.

Written up in entirety by ChatGPT, the 90 second video just goes to show the level of influence that AI can have during even the most intense and personal moments in sport.

“We were able to harness innovative AI technology to create ‘The ultimate team talk’ and prove that human-AI collaboration can fundamentally impact how athletes achieve peak performance… We also concluded that the conscientious application of [AI] models, like ChatGPT, can inspire but cannot replace humans’ deep understanding of consumers’ hearts and minds.”

Under Armour spokesperson

In addition to the company’s use of technology, it’s been said that players such as Trent Alexander-Arnold, Antonio Rudiger, and Laura Freigang were all contacted to maximise the speeches effect.

Quick Bites

Meme of the day

Quote of the day

“We were literally talking about the Colosseum for that fight...”

Dana White on Elon Musk vs Mark Zuckerberg

Picture of the day

EIGHT. MORE. FIGHTS.

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Chat to ya on Monday! ☮️