🥇⛹️‍♀️🤖 #12: Paralympics, Women's football, rugby, cricket and basketball, AI, TikTok and Ronaldo breaks YouTube

Welcome to Issue #12 of Innovation in Sport, your regular round-up of the latest innovations and trends in sports & esports technology, media, creativity, experience & impact.

I’m writing this week’s edition buzzing with the excitement of securing tickets to Oasis’ comeback tour in 2025, with Definitely Maybe blasting in the background.

And whilst I recognise that fact has little to do with sport (other than all of the tour venues bar one being sport stadiums), like major sporting events, love ‘em or hate ‘em, the Oasis shows will undoubtedly be incredible communal experiences and cultural milestones. We’ve already seen how in the week building-up to tickets going on sale, much of the UK was gripped by a similar kind of fever to that which greeted England’s appearances in European Championship Finals in 2020, 2022 and 2024.

If you’re reading this then you’re likely in the sports industry, so you don’t need to be convinced of sport’s power to create epic communal experiences that unite vast swathes of people in the wondrous alchemy that occurs when humans share in the witnessing of other humans doing amazing things.

So whether or not you also have Oasis to look forward to, you’re attending the Paralympics in Paris, US Open in New York, or any other sporting event around the globe this week, I hope you can be fully present and drink in that unmistakeable, visceral, joyous atmosphere that reminds us how it feels to be alive.

Anyway, on to this week’s edition…

📷 CREATIVITY IN SPORT 📷

🥇 Apple's latest campaign video, "The Relay," highlights the exceptional talent of Paralympic athletes. It features athletes swimming, cycling, sprinting and generally showing there’s no difference between Paralympic athletes and their Olympic counterparts.

It’s a super film that also seamlessly showcases many Apple product features. And it’s an especially remarkable campaign when you consider that Apple isn’t even an official Paralympic Games sponsor, unlike their rival Samsung, who haven’t capitalised on the moment with anywhere near as effectively.

⚽ Opinion is divided on this new mural of Bukayo Saka on North London’s Holloway Road.

Street art like this was once considered a somewhat organic display of community character, and there’s no disputing that a Saka mural so close to the Emirates Stadium is right at home. But overtly making it a giant ad for washing powder cheapens the gesture somewhat.

🌍 IMPACT & SUSTAINABILITY 🌍

🥇 With the Paralympics underway, ParalympicsGB has teamed up with the UK's Channel 4 to encourage disabled people to take up sport and become more active.

Throughout the Games, the on-air campaign is linking people with disabilities with inclusive opportunities to be active in their local area as part of the Every Body Moves partnership between ParalympicsGB and Toyota.

⚽ Major League Soccer club, D.C. United, has partnered with UK-based charity Twinning Project and the DC Department of Corrections (DOC) on an initiative to enhance inmate wellbeing and reentry through soccer education and sports leadership trainings.

⚽ Lewes FC has announced a two-year partnership with eco-friendly toilet paper company Who Gives A Crap. The deal will see the profit-for-purpose brand featured as the UK soccer club's front-of-shirt sponsor for its home and away kits.

INNOVATION IN SPORT READS 1440

📹 MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS 📹

⚽ If you somehow missed the news, Cristiano Ronaldo broke all internet records last week when he launched his own YouTube channel, and amassed a ridiculous 50million subscribers within days, providing ultimate proof that star athletes carry much more audience-pulling power than any other media these days.

🏈 Staying on the athletes-as-creators topic, NFL stars (and Taylor Swift’s less significant other) Travis and Jason Kelce have signed an exclusive podcast distribution deal with Wondery. The 3-year, $100 million partnership gives Amazon’s podcast network exclusive audio and video rights to all new and old content.

🥇 The @Paralympics TikTok channel strategy has been dividing opinion. Although the channel has grown to an impressive 4.5million followers, some are questioning the suitability of content being posted to attract views. For example, a video of a wheelchair basketball player hitting a 3 and then tipping over backwards has nearly 20 million views; A blind triathlete reaching for his bike to the tune of Beethoven has more than 34 million. 

“There shouldn’t be a difference in the way that you treat athletes, be it Olympians, able-bodied athletes or athletes with disabilities,” believes IPC chief brand and communications officer Craig Spence. “If bloopers are fair game in sport, they should be valid during the Paralympics too.”

🥇The Paris 2024 Olympic Games saw more than a billion people from around the world experience the games on TikTok, according to research from ChannelX. This included mind-blowing photos, #ChocolateMuffinTok reviews, athletes unboxing their gear, inspiring fans and celebrating wins in real-time.

🏀 Starting 5, a new 10-part Netflix sports series, provides an intense, behind-the-scenes look at five of the NBA’s top players including Lebron James and Jayson Tatum.

⚽ Amazon Prime Video are among the streaming platforms in discussions to purchase the Liverpool documentary series which captured Jurgen Klopp’s final season as the club’s manager.

⚽ France’s Ligue 1 and Italy’s Serie A have opted to go direct-to-consumer in the UK and Ireland after struggling to secure a traditional broadcast deal.

🚴‍♀️ Leeds digital marketing agency Spike has been appointed by British Cycling to develop a new content strategy to help the national governing body “bring the joy of cycling to everyone.”

🤾‍♀️ WOMEN'S SPORT ⛹️‍♀️

⚽ Nike Football have added a vertical version of their famous swoosh logo on their new range of third kits as part of a collection called “Together We Rise,” which celebrates the ascendency of the women’s game. The eight particpating clubs include Liverpool, Chelsea, Atlético de Madrid and Pumas.

🤾‍♀️ A new report has investigated how the lack of Women’s Sports research is leading to significant injuries and widening the gender equity gap in sport.

🏉 The BBC has secured exclusive rights to broadcast the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, which will be held in England.

🏏 The Women’s Cricket Hundred final between London Spirit and Welsh Fire set an attendance record for a women’s game at Lord’s, with 22,000 spectators treated to a thriller in which Spirit limped across the line, breaking Welsh hearts in the process.

🏀 Basketball Ireland has launched the Dream Programme, a new and innovative mentorship initiative designed to elevate and empower the next generation of female basketball referees across Ireland.

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👨🏽‍🤝‍👨🏼 FAN EXPERIENCE 🏟️

🎾 More than 200 pro tennis players and legends including Coco Gauff, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz feature in the new release of 2024 Topps Chrome tennis trading cards.

🤖 AI x SPORTS 🤖

🤖 How is AI being used, what is the real potential, and should people be worried? Sportspro investigates in this Demystifying AI in sport report.

🎾 The US Open has followed Wimbledon’s lead in providing AI-generated match summaries at this year’s tournament, despite factual errors in certain AI-generated reports at this year's Wimbledon.

🏎️ SportsPro has also compiled a comprehensive deep dive into how AI is being used in Formula One today and how it could evolve moving forward.

🤖 Oslo-based SportAI has raised €1.6 million to harness computer vision for sports technique coaching. SportAI analyses players’ technique in real-time, such as their golf, tennis or padel swing, before delivering instant, personalised feedback for improving performance.

🥇 Eurovision Sport is trialling artificial intelligence (AI)-generated translated commentary translation technology from Camb. AI at the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships.

💡 INNOVATION x SPORTS 🦾

🎾 As Pickleball mania gathers apace, US franchise Picklerage is using technology like cushioned, joint-friendly courts, built-in recording and live-streaming, to create an inclusive and entertaining experience for players. 

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See you next time,

Adam Reed
Innovation in Sport