#7: 🎬👟⛵ AI x Sports, new sports documentaries, VR shoes & esports sailing

Welcome to Issue #7 of Innovation in Sport, your regular round-up of the latest innovations and trends in sports & esports media, fan experience, impact & community engagement.

As Wimbledon, the Euros & Copa America all reached their thrilling climaxes last week I skipped a week of publishing IIS - the outcome of which is there’s lots to catch up on in what is a more-packed-than-usual newsletter full of new developments 

So I’ll not mess around with a lengthy intro.

Let’s get straight to the good stuff...

📹 MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS

🥇Warner Bros. Discovery and YouTube have announced a content partnership for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The agreement will see YouTube creators onsite during the games to capture content from unique in-stadium positions.

🎾 A content feature I appreciated at Wimbledon recently was ‘Overheard at Wimbledon’, whichtook the same insight that made Gogglebox such a smash hit TV show - that people love a window into the lives of others. 

After all, isn’t people watching and experiencing a wide range of characters part of the fun of attending live events?

🎾Fresh from defending his Wimbledon title, Netflix have announced that a documentary series following Carlos Alcaraz's 2024 seasonis coming to the platform in 2025.

🤸Netflix have also just dropped a gripping documentary about US gymnast Simone Biles. Simone Biles Rising gives insight into Biles’ withdrawal from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and her mental health journey in the years since, ahead of Paris 2024, her third Olympics.

🏁A first trailer for the upcoming Formula 1 movie starring Brad Pitt was released during the recent Silverstone Grand Prix. Watch it below…

🎬 ‘Welcome To Wrexham’s Rob McElhenney & Ryan Reynolds will team up with Desperate Housewives’ Eva Longoria to create a docu-series following Liga MX’s Club de Futbol Rayos del Necaxa.

⚽ FIFA is seeking to raise up to $2 billion to expand its streaming service, FIFA+. Could this be a pivotal moment in sports business, potentially altering how fans consume football content worldwide in the future?

👨🏽‍🤝‍👨🏼FAN EXPERIENCE 🏟️

⚽ Manchester United announced its 2024/25 football kit in Roblox.

Fanatics has launched Fanatics Collect, a new collectables marketplace that will connect buyers and sellers of trading cards and memorabilia through fixed-price listings and auctions.

IIS RECOMMENDS

If you love Sports, you might be a Sports Collector - and if you are, then you need to be reading Above the Mantel: THE No.1 free newsletter for Collectors.

From sports memorabilia to comics, to toys, autographs, antiques and much more besides, Above the Mantel is your expert guide to how to value, find, maintain and sell collectables of all kinds.

✨NEW FEATURE:
CREATIVITY HIGHLIGHTS REEL 🎨
Showcasing the finest creative work in sports & esports

‘Everyday Tactician’ by McCann for Xbox

For the launch of Football Manager 2024, Xbox partnered with Bromley FC to announce a football tactician job, but the only way to apply was through the game.

Top gamer Nathan Owolabi secured the job, and used FM24 data to advise the club’s strategies in real life - with thrilling results.

💡INNOVATION x SPORTS 🦾

🎮 Freeaim have created VR shoes that are compatible with all SteamVR-supported headsets. Users can now walk inside virtual reality games, thanks to motorised wheels that let users ‘step’ without actually moving.

🎾The ATP Tour has given the green light to in-competition wearables, ushering in a new era of innovative data-led performance analytics and injury prevention in tennis.

⛳ TMRW Sports, the tech-focused venture co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, has partnered with the International Golf Federation (IGF) to see how digital innovation can drive participation in the sport.

🤖AI x SPORTS

⚽ Snickers have created an AI clone of José Mourinho for consumers to send personalised messages to their pals

🎾 The ATP has launched a cutting edge AI-powered service to protect players from online abuse

🤖Half of sports fans believe AI technology will the improve sporting experience according to a new IBM global study.

⚽ Impressive new technology platform Sponsorlytix uses state-of-the-art computer vision and machine learning techniques to revolutionise how sponsor logos are tracked, detected, and measured on and off the field. For any sport league or tournament around the world!

🏃🏿 The Senegalese National Olympic Committee, in partnership with Intel, is using AI to identify young athletes in rural areas who might have so far flown under the radar. 

🤖SportBusiness & Genius Sports have released a Whitepaper outlining how the Sports Industry is on the cusp of a major transformation driven by AI.

🚑 A new AI breakthrough can help diagnose concussions with 99% accuracy.

⚽ Genius Sports has announced a deal with UEFA to install AI-powered Player Tracking Cams in over 140 football stadiums and cover 1350 games. ​​

🏎️ The FIA has implemented a new AI “Statbot” that trawls race archives to feed context and trivia to broadcast presenters live during broadcasts.

🌍 IMPACT & SUSTAINABILITY

⚽ As part of the rebrand of FIFA to EA Sports FC, EA Sports launched FC Futures, a purpose-driven programme which opened up grassroots soccer to more than 170,000 people in its first year.

⚽ Brighton & Hove Albion have launched ‘My Albion My Planet’ - a commitment to the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework and strategy for how they will meet the goals.

👨🏽‍🤝‍👨🏼🧑🏾‍🤝‍🧑🏻 COMMUNITY & CULTURE

⚽ Adidas is partnering with Mexican artisans to craft hand-embroidered football shirts

🎾Novak Djokovic says tennis is endangered at the club level, “If we don’t do something about it globally, they’re gonna convert all the tennis clubs into paddle or pickleball”

🎮 ESPORTS 🎮

⛵ America's Cup has launched its e-Series - an esports competition based on the new, ultra-realistic AC Sailing simulation game.

🏒 The (NHL) had the #1 sports game on Roblox in June, reaching 2.9million young people.

📷 PHOTO OF THE WEEK

As Lionel Messi lifted the Copa America and 17-year-old sensation, Lamine Yamal inspired Spain to the European Championship last weekend, some remarkable photos of the pair started circulating on social media.

The long-forgotten photos from 2007 resurfaced after Yamal’s father posted them on Instagram with the text: “The beginning of two legends.”

The photos come from a shoot for an annual charity calendar by local newspaper Diario Sport and Unicef, for which Barcelona players used to pose with local children and their families.

Yamal would go on to follow in Messi’s footsteps through the Barcelona academy before exploding onto the international stage this summer. And based on the evidence at Euro 2024, he could eventually go on to join Messi amongst the football greats.

Enjoyed this?
Please share it with someone who’ll love it too:

I hope you found something valuable in this edition of Innovation in Sport. 
If you did, I’d really appreciate it if you were to forward this email to a friend or colleague who might find it interesting or helpful.  

And if you've received this from a friend and would like to receive it regularly, you can sign-up here.

See you next time,

Adam Reed
Innovation in Sport

And just one more thing…

If you like IIS, maybe you'll love my other newsletter, The Power Up.

The Power Up is a regular digest of inspiration & resources curated to power you through the week, and navigate modern life with more energy, connection & purpose.