Sportradar Teams Up With PlaySight, Tennis Channel And Base Tennis Academy

As live sport starts to slowly return, Sportradar, the global provider of sports content and intelligence, today announced partnerships with PlaySight Interactive and Base Tennis Academy to launch the Tennis Point Exhibition Series, a three date series of events starting in Germany this Friday, 1 May.

The four day event, featuring eight top men’s players from the ATP ranks, will be streamed live via Tennis Channel’s new Over-the-Top (OTT) platform – Tennis Channel International. Utilising Sportradar’s market leading OTT platform, Tennis Channel International is available as a paid for app to tennis fans in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, and was launched this week with a one month free trial. The service is also available on Tennis Channel’s www.tennischanneleverywhere.com website.

Organised and hosted by Base Tennis Academy at their sports complex in Höhr-Grenzhausen, Sportradar is delivering a range of live tennis content solutions directly from the event. This includes data production, using data collection software which the umpires will use to score matches and transmit data back to Sportradar.

Additional live content from the event includes a state-of-the-art audio-visual offering. Working alongside PlaySight Interactive, Sportradar’s live video content will feature a seven camera production, with live mixing and replays, graphics and German commentary. 

Sportradar is also providing integrity monitoring services for the event series, with this weekend’s fixture being the first competition to take place between ATP ranked players since professional tennis was suspended in early March due to the coronavirus outbreak.

David Lampitt, Managing Director Sport Partnerships at Sportradar, said: “This is a significant moment as we move to bring back live tennis. The players have received compliance clearance from the ATP and TIU to participate in the events and we will be monitoring event progress, as well as providing remote production services to maximise safety on-site.

“We’re tapping into the full breadth of our technological capabilities to deliver safely and responsibly at this time for our partners.” 

Playsight Managing Director Rodney Rapson said: “We have enjoyed a strong working relationship with Sportradar in other past endeavours, and are excited to lead the return of tennis with them – in a safe and responsible manner.

“We are taking the opportunity to utilize video and production technology in new ways to provide the very best viewing experience for tennis players around the world, while ensuring stringent compliance with Germany’s coronavirus measures.”

Andy Reif, Senior Vice President, Tennis Channel International, added: “Sportradar is an integral partner in the global rollout of Tennis Channel International and the platform’s ongoing performance for our customers.

“Once live tennis returns, we are especially excited to introduce MatchCast, our new play-by-play and statistics graphical interface powered by Sportradar that will allow tennis fans to follow live competition around the world in real time with dynamic graphics, advanced data and statistical information you can’t find anywhere else.”

Base Tennis Director Ruben Herrera added: “At Base Tennis, we asked ourselves a simple question: what can we do today that will help serve the tennis community’? We wanted to bring the joy of tennis back to peoples’ lives, and that is how the event came to be. It has grown well beyond our initial expectations thanks to the great partners and players that have joined in.”

The first Tennis Point Exhibition Series event begins this weekend with subsequent events taking place between 7 – 10 May and 14 – 17 May. Each event of the Series will be available via the Tennis Channel International app.

Extreme E Takes Lead On Gender Equality In Motorsport

Marking a world first in motor racing, Extreme E, the pioneering electric off-road racing series, will see teams field both a male and female driver in its races – promoting gender equality and a level playing field amongst competitors.

Teams will be composed of a male and a female driver, competing together in every two-lap race as driver and co-driver. Each will complete one lap behind the wheel of the ODYSSEY 21 electric-SUV, with a changeover incorporated into the race format, and it’s up to the teams to determine driver and co-driver to best suit their strategy.

The only differentiators in Extreme E will be raw talent and ability, with teams and drivers striving to extract every tenth-of-a-second in the fight for the top step of the podium.

Alejandro Agag, Extreme E Founder and CEO, said: “This is a first in motor racing. We are ensuring with our sporting format that drivers of all backgrounds will be able to compete with the same tools at their disposal at every event on the calendar.

“We are striving for equality, and this sporting format is the truest reflection of that goal. Everybody will race together and the most effective combination of drivers, team, engineer and car will rise to the top.”

Michèle Mouton, President of the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission said: “This is a great opportunity for women and men to team up, compete together and against each other with the same material.

“Alejandro [Agag] and his team continue to really support gender equality in our sport with concrete actions that help highlight the ability of female racers and give them a chance. It will be interesting to see the team line-ups as they are announced and I look forward to following Season One when it starts early next year.”

Extreme E Drivers’ Programme member Katherine Legge has forged a career in the upper echolons of motorsport, as the first female to race in Formula E and having competed in IndyCar Series and sportscars. Legge is extremely enthused by Extreme E’s format.

Katherine Legge said: “Hearing the format was like waking up on Christmas morning. It is a giant step in the right direction for motorsport as a whole. I have been looking forward to something like this my entire racing career!

“Formula E and now Extreme E, are at forefront of breaking boundaries in technology, sustainability, and climate change, and now Extreme E will challenge perceptions with gender equality too.”

Lead Visionary of Extreme E team Veloce Racing, and legendary multi-title-winning Formula 1 engineer, Adrian Newey added: “One of the reasons I became involved in Veloce Racing was to embrace new technologies and initiatives in this very fast evolving world. The last few weeks have clarified to me that more than ever we have to embrace change, diversity and keep one step ahead at all times.

“I have watched women make a mark throughout the world of motorsport over the years and there are some great individual stories out there. I hope we can create some more positive opportunities with this exciting young series and provide a strong platform for female competitors to shine.”

Extreme E drivers will compete wheel-to-wheel on the same stages, in the same 550 horsepower E-SUVs, using the same bespoke all-terrain Continental tyres in heats, semis and finals, taking place across the series’ five formidable environments in some of the most remote regions on the planet.

As well as being used as platform for equality and the promotion of electfication, Extreme E will highlight the impact that climate change is having on its remote race locations, using a committee of leading scientists to help bring global attention to issues such as deforestation in Brazil, rising sea levels along the West African coastline, melting icecaps in Greenland, and more.

The full race and championship format is approaching finalisation and will be revealed in the coming weeks. Further team, sporting and partnership announcements will follow as the championship continues to take shape apace ahead of Season 1, starting early 2021.

Alugha Win First Ever European Tour Innovation Hub With Tata Communications

The European Tour yesterday revealed alugha as the winner of their first ever Innovation Hub programme, in association with Tata Communications.

But what is alugha’s product, how did the Innovation Hub work and why were they the standout candidate? iSportconnect delved further with Tata Communications and the European Tour.

Alugha’s idea aims to help overcome the complexities of managing multilingual video content for the European Tour’s diverse golf audiences. It would create an interlocked toolkit for the complete multilingualization process – from transcription over multi-audio-track voiceovers to video hosting and distribution. It is all about breaking through language barriers to enable more effective engagement with a global golfing fan base.

“Alugha’s idea, which would provide rapid translation of our digital content into many different languages, would help localise our engagement to continue to bring people together in the future.” – Michael Cole.

The Innovation Hub with Tata Communications was created as a way for the European Tour to give start-ups the opportunity to showcase the products they believed could provide technology-driven ways to enhance its product for golf fans all across the world.

More than 70 start-ups from around the world applied to be part of the Innovation Hub, and those were narrowed down to a final three, with alugha joined by EyeCandyLab and Sparx:

  • EyeCandyLab – A mobile augmented reality (AR) technology allows fans to enjoy live games with an interactive AR layer. By pointing their smartphone or tablet towards live action shown on TV, fans would be able to access stats, player profiles and 3D green layouts in an interactive and visually enhancing way. They could also engage with life-size holograms to bring the action from the course into their living room
  • Sparx – A consumer engagement platform for enhancing broadcast streams. It would allow for real-time audience engagement through on-screen polling, trivia, predictive gaming, sports wagering and data collection. The Sparx platform would integrate directly with the live broadcast graphics system to connect viewers to the action happening on screen, creating a two-way communication channel between the broadcaster and viewers

The final contenders attended a three-day workshop, including an evaluation and learning process with representatives from the venture capital community in London to analyse their products.

Finally, alugha, EyeCandyLab and Sparx showcased their products and how they could be of benefit to the European Tour in a Dragon’s Den style setting, where they were quizzed in great detail by a panel of experts comprising the European Tour’s Chief Content Officer Rufus Hack, Chief Technology Officer Michael Cole, and Dhaval Ponda, Global Head of Media and Entertainment at Tata Communications.

Watch how alugha’s product works (use the globe icon in the corner to change language): https://alugha.com/embed/web-player?brand=a7bfc070-8942-11ea-89ca-838eccbafb29&v=2777b0f4-853e-11ea-a3c3-c9e5bc6968ba

Speaking on the winning innovation, Cole said: “European Tour content has been particularly important for golf fans in the current global climate and alugha’s idea, which would provide rapid translation of our digital content into many different languages, would help localise our engagement to continue to bring people together in the future.”

Alugha’s product has the potential to provide the European Tour with an ability to curate its content into many different languages across the world and allow greater accessibility for fans. Further details of alugha’s proof of concept will follow in due course.

Talking about alugha, Dhaval said “Team alugha is very passionate about their work and the problem they are solving. It is a very interesting multi-language product which not only relies on self-learning but also leverages individual experiences to add that level of emotion to a piece of content. This can help with the personalization of content across the global golf fanbase helping the sport engage with its fans in the current climate and beyond”

Deltatre Appoints New Commercial Director for APAC

Deltatre, the global leader in fan-first video experiences, can today announce that it has hired Brent Mori as Commercial Director, APAC.

Mori will immediately assume responsibility for all existing accounts in Japan, with growth in the country a priority for the business. Additionally, he will lead Deltatre’s ambitious expansion plans in the region, building on the success the company has had to date. This will mean engaging with clients’ business strategies to ensure that they are provided with the right solution to meet their needs.

Mori has over 20 years of experience in the technology industry, having run commercial teams which introduced first-to-market solutions in digital media, mobile internet, SaaS and e-commerce for US and Scandinavian tech companies such as Openwave Systems, Opera Software and Protolabs. He started his career in Japan at Sony, developing strategy for innovative digital media products and services. Mori will report to Craig Harvey, VP APAC, Deltatre Group.

Brent Mori, Commercial Director, APAC, Deltatre: “Throughout my career, I’ve worked with brands at the cutting edge of technology. Therefore, I’m delighted to join Deltatre, a company that represents innovation and creativity. As a sports obsessive, I can’t wait to get started at an organization which is involved in some of the leading competitions and events across the world, all while putting the fan at the heart of the viewing experience.”

Craig Harvey, VP, APAC, Deltatre: “As a company, we’re committed to expanding our presence in APAC with people and product. Welcoming Brent to the business – with his incredible breadth of experience – will undoubtedly accelerate our growth in the region. Armed with our newly launched SaaS-based platform, mtribes, we continue to augment our offering to support the ambitions of our clients and partners in the region.”

Now with 100+ staff in APAC, distributed between offices in Tokyo, Mumbai, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Sydney, Deltatre works with many of the leading sports and entertainment organisations in the region and will be supporting multiple clients’ coverage of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

ECB Postpones The Hundred Until Summer 2021

Following discussions, the ECB have opted to postpone the new franchise T20 competition for one year until the summer of 2021 following the coronavirus outbreak.

A statement read: The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today confirms that the launch of The Hundred will now take place in summer 2021.

The news follows a meeting dedicated to the subject, where the Board concluded it was not possible for the competition to be staged this year.

The new competition has a vision to grow the game and is part of the ECB’s long-term strategy to inspire a new generation to choose cricket.

A number of reasons were outlined for the decision including:

  • Operational challenges caused by social distancing, alongside ongoing global travel restrictions, making the competition’s ambition to feature world-class players and coaches unattainable in 2020.
  • A behind-closed-doors competition directly contradicts the competition’s goal to attract a broader audience through a unique event experience for viewers and spectators.
  • With significant furloughing across the partnership network of 20 venues, the logistics of delivering a brand-new sporting event, without a tried-and-tested delivery plan, would be incredibly challenging.

Refocused efforts will now look forward to 2021, centering on the competition’s four key objectives to support the game, which will be even more imperative as the nation emerges from this pandemic:

  1. Engaging a broader audience in cricket to grow the game
  2. Driving participation throughout the game with the support of partners Sky and BBC
  3. Delivering guaranteed revenues and support for First-Class Counties (FCCs), MCC and the wider game
  4. Developing young talent as they grow their skills playing for and against teams made up of world-class players and coaches

ECB Chief Executive Officer, Tom Harrison, commented: “The situation we find ourselves in as a country means that delivery of The Hundred will not be possible this summer.

“Whilst we are naturally disappointed that we won’t get to realise our ambitions this year, The Hundred will go ahead in 2021 when we are safely able to deliver everything we intended to help grow the game.

“As we emerge from the fallout of COVID-19, there will be an even greater need for The Hundred.

“Our survival as a game, long-term, will be dependent on our ability to recover financially and continue our ambition to build on cricket’s growing fan base. That need has not gone anyway, if anything, it is now more critical.

“The Hundred will create millions in revenues for the game, through hosting fees, hospitality and ticket sales, as well as delivering £25m in annual financial distributions to all First-Class Counties and MCC. Its role in driving participation alongside supporting the development of the women’s game will be material in generating take-up of our game across country-wide communities.

“The Hundred is an important element of the game’s Inspiring Generations strategy, which has been debated and agreed upon across the whole game. While financially, our plans may be impacted, our ambition, ‘to inspire a generation’ should in no way be diluted.’

“We would like to thank our broadcast partners, for their extraordinary commitment and support to get The Hundred to this point and our commercial partners for their ongoing support. We very much look forward to working with them as we build to the 2021 launch.”

Zwift Creates ‘Tour For All’ With GCN And Eurosport

Zwift’s ‘Tour for All’ –  A month-long charity fundraising initiative featuring a host of a professional racing tour riders and teams held on the Zwift virtual platform.

  • Zwift, Global Cycling Network (GCN) and Eurosport are proud to be bringing live cycling back to millions of sports fans through Zwift’s ‘Tour for All’ exhibition racing series; a professional racing tour held on the Zwift virtual platform over five stages to be raced May 4-8th, 2020.
  • Featuring teams from both the men’s and women’s World Tours including Alpecin-Fenix, Bahrain-McLaren, Mitchelton-SCOTT, Boels Dolmans Canyon//SRAM Racing, CCC-Liv, Drops, each stage will be streamed globally on the GCN digital network and screened live on all Eurosport platforms. This collaboration between GCN and Eurosport will enable the two brands to serve the largest community of cycling fans and provide more ways than ever to watch premium cycling content.

 A month-long charity fundraising initiative

  • The series will open a month-long charity fundraising initiative that will see Zwift donate a total of $125,000 to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and its COVID-19 crisis fund, with an additional $125,000 that can be unlocked once 250,000 people complete a stage of the Tour for All. The professional racing series is designed to showcase the mass-participation stages and encourage Zwifters to take part  by riding some of the same courses that the pros have raced.

NFL And Amazon Renew And Expand Streaming Parternship

The National Football League (NFL) and Amazon announced today they have reached a multi-year agreement to renew their exclusive partnership to deliver a live digital stream of Thursday Night Football Presented by Bud Light Platinum to a global audience across hundreds of compatible devices.

Amazon Prime Video and Twitch will stream the 11 Thursday Night Football games broadcast by FOX, which will be available to more than 150 million paid Prime members worldwide, and in over 200 countries and territories on the Prime Video and Twitch sites and apps across connected living room devices, mobile phones, tablets and PCs. All Thursday Night Football games broadcast by FOX will also be distributed in Spanish on FOX Deportes and are expected to be simulcast on NFL Network, continuing the league’s “Tri-Cast” model of broadcast (FOX), cable (NFL Network, FOX Deportes), and digital (Prime Video and Twitch) distribution.

Additionally, the NFL and Amazon announced an agreement to exclusively stream one regular season game globally on Prime Video and Twitch, which will be played on a Saturday in the second half of the 2020 NFL regular season. In keeping with the NFL’s long-standing commitment to make its games available on free, over-the-air television, the game will also be televised in the participating teams’ home markets.

“As our relationship has expanded, Amazon has become a trusted and valued partner of the NFL,” said Brian Rolapp, Chief Media and Business Officer for the NFL. “Extending this partnership around Thursday Night Football continues our critical mission of delivering NFL games to as many fans in as many ways as possible both in the United States and around the world.”

“We are thrilled to renew our Thursday Night Football deal with the NFL, and are excited to expand our relationship to include exclusive global streaming rights to an additional regular season game in 2020,” said Marie Donoghue, Vice President of Global Sports Video at Amazon. “We know Prime members and the Twitch community around the world love the NFL, and we remain committed to giving them the best and most customizable streaming experience possible, with a broad selection of premium content available at their fingertips.”

Thursday Night Football on Prime Video and Twitch will continue to provide members a unique viewing experience with interactive features like X-Ray and Next Gen Stats powered by AWS that bring fans closer to the game. On Prime Video, members can choose to watch the FOX broadcast, the FOX Deportes Spanish language coverage, and from multiple alternative audio options exclusive to Prime Video. The NFL and Amazon will continue to collaborate on additional NFL content and enhanced fan viewing experiences around Thursday Night Football.

In 2019, Thursday Night Football Presented by Bud Light Platinum delivered an average audience of 15.4 million viewers, including FOX, NFL Network, FOX Deportes, NFL digital, FOX Sports digital, Prime Video, Twitch, and Verizon Media mobile properties – up +4% versus the 2018 Thursday Night Football season average (14.9 million). Digital streaming across Prime Video, Twitch, NFL digital, FOX Sports digital and Verizon Media mobile properties in 2019 surpassed an average minute audience of over 1.0 million – up +43% versus the previous year (729K).

The NFL and Amazon first partnered to distribute Thursday Night Football during the 2017 season. This multi-year renewal continues a strong relationship between the NFL and Amazon which, in addition to Thursday Night Football, also features the Emmy-winning Amazon Original All or Nothing. Produced by NFL Films, season five of the sports documentary series premiered on Friday, February 7 with All or Nothing: The Philadelphia Eagles, available exclusively on Prime Video. Additionally, since 2017, the NFL has utilized Amazon Web Services as its official cloud and machine learning provider for the Next Gen Stats platform, which provides real-time location data, speed, and acceleration for every player during every play on every inch of the field.

The NFL is the most valuable content in all of sports and entertainment with 42 of television’s 50 most-watched programs of the calendar year in 2019. Thursday Night Football is a top-five show in all of television and the number two show in primetime.

Manchester United To Test Safe Standing With New Seating Trial

Manchester United has confirmed approval from Trafford Council for a barrier seating-trial to take place at Old Trafford.

United submitted a proposal to the local authority earlier in the year, following changes to the Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA) Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide) and a subsequent feasibility study, which was carried out by the club. Approval for this was confirmed to supporters’ representatives at last week’s Fans’ Forum and follows longstanding discussions held with Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST) and the Fans’ Forum in recent years.
The approval from Trafford Council is an agreement in principle for the club to install around 1,500 barrier seats in the North-East Quadrant, in sections N2401 and N2402. United will now discuss installation options with potential suppliers, working within current UK Government recommendations relating to construction site operating procedures and social distancing. Discussions will also take place with the SGSA to ratify the required amendments to the club’s stadium licence.
Managing director Richard Arnold said: “It should be stated, up front, that our overwhelming priority is to keep our people safe from the COVID-19 pandemic. It may seem strange to talk about stadium plans at this time, but football and our fans will return when it is safe, and our preparations for that must continue in the background.
“This announcement is the latest step in what has been a long journey with our fans. We have listened to their feedback, in particular, the representations made by MUST, and worked with Trafford Council to develop and approve this proposal.

“Our belief is that the introduction of barrier seats will enhance spectator safety in areas of the stadium where – as with other clubs – we have seen examples of persistent standing. It also allows us to future-proof the stadium in the event of any changes to the current all-seater stadium policy. If the trial is successful, we may consider further implementation of barrier seating in other parts of the stadium.

“We will now move on to develop the installation, compliance and licensing plan for the trial, with a view to having the new seats installed for when we can welcome our supporters back to Old Trafford.”

The barrier-seating trial is part of our broader plans to develop the stadium in ways which enhance the matchday experience for supporters. Separately, in February, United announced the extension of the atmosphere section in the Stretford End in the south-west corner as part of the season-ticket launch for 2020/21.

Arnold concluded: “Both of these initiatives underline our commitment to the continued improvement of Old Trafford, with a focus on further enhancing the matchday experience, atmosphere and safety for all supporters.”

Sports Illustrated Teams Up With Dugout To Boost Soccer Coverage

Maven (MVEN), the publisher of Sports Illustrated, and Dugout today announced a strategic content partnership offering soccer fans in the U.S. and Canada an entirely new way to view and experience unique, compelling and behind-the-scenes premium video content from more than 100 of the world’s leading soccer clubs, national football federations and leagues.

The landmark partnership is Dugout’s first entry into the U.S. market and will significantly strengthen SI’s soccer coverage, which previously focused on text-based content. The partnership will allow both companies to reach more consumers across the Americas, in a way that matters most to soccer fans: video-focused, team-specific and delivered on mobile.

As the most iconic name in sports journalism, Sports Illustrated will now have access to Dugout’s unrivalled library of archive and behind-the-scenes soccer video content. Dugout is co-owned by some of the world’s largest soccer clubs including A.C. Milan, Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, and distributes more than 2,500 brand-safe, professional videos a month with more than 1.84 billion views in 2019 across Dugout.com and its network of more than 85 publishers globally.

“For more than 65 years, Sports Illustrated has delivered best-in-class sports journalism and we are thrilled to partner with such an iconic U.S. publication that is steeped in great history and tradition,” said Elliot Richardson, Co-Founder and Chairman of Dugout. “Our new collaboration means we will work closely to deliver our premium soccer content to their huge online audience. We have seen our monthly video views grow to 400 million so far this year and as we aim to take this towards one billion across all markets, this strategic partnership in one of the most important markets is very complementary as we expand our brand globally.”

Sports Illustrated continues its renaissance under Maven, improving and broadening its content offerings, the consumer experience and coverage of local sports franchises. Year-over-year traffic is up 60%.

“We are thrilled to join forces with Dugout to offer soccer fans across North America compelling and robust video experiences from the biggest Clubs and players in the world,” said Ross Levinsohn, CEO of Sports Illustrated Media.  “We continue to strive to offer consumers and marketers unique, premium content in dynamic ways.”

As world football recovers from the impact of the global coronavirus pandemic, soccer’s popularity remains undiminished and its popularity continues to surge in the U.S. and the Americas. Via Dugout’s Embed video player, original, behind-the-scenes and archived content will now be shared with Sports Illustrated extensive audience. Soccer fans will be able to engage with bespoke digital video content from their favorite clubs who compete in many of the world’s leading leagues and competitions, including the UFEA Champions League, English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, Mexican Liga MX and South America’s Copa Libertadores.

The partnership with Sports Illustrated in the U.S. follows Dugout’s new content agreements with Suning’s PP Sports in China and Onefootball across Europe – thereby expanding Dugout’s global market reach and significantly growing its international video viewership figures.

“The majority of our member clubs have significant international fan bases and we know there are a huge number of soccer fans in the U.S. who support clubs based in South America, Europe and further afield,” Richardson says. “Providing these fans with new ways to engage with their clubs is only the first stage of our long-term, multi-phased partnership and we look forward to working alongside Sports Illustrated as this develops.”

TV2 Claims Norwegian Champions League Rights As NENT Loses Out

Scandinavian broadcaster TV2 has claimed victory in the fight to show the UEFA Champions League in Norway after the latest rights bid.

NENT recently announced that they had lost out on the rights to show the competition in the country, with TV2 now revealed as the broadcaster who will be taking the reigns for the competition in Norway for the first time.

This new deal will see TV2 broadcasting the Champions League for the next three seasons beginning next year, with the 2021/22 competition and culminating at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

NENT have also lost the rights to the competition in Sweden, where Telia have won the rights.