Social payments app CHEQ has become the official mobile ordering partner of University of Washington Athletics, marking the first deal in college sports for the Seattle-based startup. CHEQ will provide its mobile concessions ordering app and self-service ordering kiosks at select seating areas at UW’s Husky Stadium for the upcoming football season.
College marketing rights holder Learfield struck the deal with CHEQ on behalf of the University of Washington. Fans seated in the Club Husky and Touchdown Terrace premium areas will be able to place mobile orders through CHEQ for in-stadium food and beverages. CHEQ’s self-service ordering kiosks will be rolled out at other locations in Husky Stadium, which will also receive enhanced point-of-sale systems from CHEQ.
CHEQ’s mobile ordering technology includes a remote gifting feature that will let users from outside Husky Stadium place food and beverage orders for their friends inside the stadium to pick up or get delivered to their seating area. Professional teams to have previously partnered with CHEQ include the Miami Marlins, Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders.
FIFA is launching a digital collectible platform later this month called FIFA+ Collect, which will allow fans to have blockchain ownership of iconic soccer games along with men’s and women’s World Cup art and imagery.
Powered by Algorand, FIFA+ Collect will be accessible on FIFA+, the mobile app that produces livestreams of matches, interactive games, news, tournament data and original content. Users of FIFA+ Collect are asked to register on the FIFA+ app to gain information on the upcoming digital collectibles, with updates to be provided as of now in English, French and Spanish.
As recently as May, Algorand became FIFA’s official blockchain partner ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar. Algorand is a carbon neutral tech company that is deployed by more than 2,000 global entities. In March, it inked a three-year kit sponsorship with NJ/NY Gotham FC of the National Women’s Soccer League, enabling fans to use Algorand’s digital wallet to buy in-game NFTs, tickets and merchandise from the team.
Previously, Algorand struck a five-year title partnership with the Drone Racing League to generate blockchain ticketing, NFTs and various other collectibles. It also helped create a Digital Drone Racing series.
The USTA has debuted a new 3D ad in Times Square to promote its ongoing US Open tennis tournament in Queens, NY. Advertising company Outfront designed the ad, making the USTA the first sports brand to use Oufront’s XScape spatial capability technology.
The large digital ad in Times Square plays a video loop of an animated tennis racquet serving a US Open Wilson tennis ball that gets hit back in 3D to give off the appearance that the ball is heading towards onlookers passing by on the street. Passersby will also see an on-screen message to buy tickets at USOpen.org.
The ad is part of the USTA’s Spectacular Awaits campaign. Also featured on the 3D ad are placements of the logos for US Open partners Ticketmaster and American Express. The USTA is also working with Outfront to display US Open ads inside NYC subways throughout the tournament.
The University of Missouri unveiled automated food lockers during their season-opening football game Thursday night, claiming to be the first college stadium to deploy the self-serve technology.
Powered by the school’s stadium vendor Levy Restaurants and its Chicago-based tech subsidiary DBK Studio—along with Mastercard —fans attending Missouri’s Faurot Field Thursday night had the option of ordering food at an automated kiosk or off the Mizzou Tigers mobile app. They would eventually receive a notification on their mobile phone that the food was ready and, at their convenience, could retrieve their order from their designated locker number via a QR code.
Alcohol was also available for purchase through the automated kiosk, although IDs had to be shown at a nearby corresponding location. The school placed 78 lockers and accompanying kiosks on the East and West concourses of the stadium. All food locker sales had to be credit card-only, while patrons using cash had to proceed to regular concession stands.
Missouri Athletic Director Dr. Desiree Reed-Francois posted on social media that Faurot Field is the first college venue to implement the food lockers, while the school’s chief communications officer Ryan Koslen told the Columbia Missourian that the innovation appeased fans who complained that long concession lines were causing them to miss game action.
"We sent out surveys following every football game last season, received a lot of feedback and these changes, which are being made, are a direct result of that feedback from listening to our fans," Koslen told the Missourian.
Connected fitness company CLMBR has released the second generation of its home training device, CLMBR 02, that includes computer vision algorithms to track workouts and provide live coaching feedback.
Pre-orders for CLMBR 02 are now being accepted for $2,295, about $500 less than the full retail cost. In addition to CLMBR Vision—which not only tracks climbing activity but also off-machine rep counting and form analysis—the new machine also includes Special Guest Collections, which are workouts to be led by fitness ambassadors. Among them is Olympian heptathlete Chari Hawkins.
Among the investors in CLMBR are athletes Novak Djokovic and Odell Beckham Jr as well as stars Jay Z and Ryan Seacrest. The home fitness company has partnered with the UFC and the MEAC, a conference of eight HBCU schools.
A dozen college football players have a predicted NIL valuation of more than $1 million headed into this weekend’s 2022 season, according to the collegiate sports data company On3.
Using proprietary algorithms, On3 has determined that Alabama quarterback Bryce Young leads all college football players with a $3.2 million valuation, followed by Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud ($2.5 million), USC QB Caleb Williams ($2.4 million), South Carolina QB Spencer Rattler ($2 million), Ohio State receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba ($1.7 million), Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson ($1.6 million), Texas running back Bijan Robinson ($1.6 million), Texas QB Quinn Ewers ($1.5 million), USC receiver Jordan Addison ($1.4 million), LSU receiver Kayshon Boutte ($1.4 million), Texas receiver Xavier Worthy ($1.2 million) and Georgia tight end Brock Bowers ($1.1 million).
On3’s algorithms also report that as many as 50 players have a valuation of at least $500,000. With NIL entering its second academic school year, the marketplace platform Opendorse predicted that, overall, about half of the expected $1.14 billion spent on athletes this year will go to football players. That is one of the reasons why Opendorse this week collaborated with U.S. Bank to organize financial literacy sessions for players.
"[NIL]’s definitely changed my life for the future," Stroud was quoted as saying by Syracuse.com Thursday. "And I think it’s a jump-start to being a businessman before you get to the NFL, if that’s your path."
Stroud, who drives a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon, gave every Buckeyes player a $500 gift card this week so they could purchase suits ahead of Ohio State’s home game this weekend against Notre Dame. A Columbus, Ohio third-party collective, The Foundation, is responsible for raising more than $500,000 for Stroud, Smith Njigba and other Buckeyes.
"I feel bad for the older players that didn’t have the opportunity to get money from this, like Braxton Miller, Cardale Jones, Justin [Fields]," Stroud said in the Syracuse.com story. "They should have made a killing."
Part of the reason for Young’s exorbitant valuation, according to On3, is his 207,000 Instagram followers. Other players with lucrative deals include Texas’ Robinson, who has NIL contracts with Raising Cane’s restaurants, C4 Energy drinks and the streaming platform DAZN. He also has an auto lease partnership, enabling him to drive a Lamborghini.
"I know it could be a distraction," Robinson said in the Syracuse.com story. "[But] if you’re not winning, none of us can get these NIL deals."
Overall, Alabama’s Young ranks fourth on On3’s list of top 100 NIL valuations, following LeBron James’ son, Bronny; high school basketball player Mikey Williams; and Texas commit Arch Manning.
Strive, which makes compression shorts that track lower body muscle activity, has released a new product for individuals and announced several new members to its athlete advisory board, including Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews.
Previously intended for team settings, Strive’s signature product has been adapted for individual elite athletes and their trainers. Strive Elite, which retails for $999 and includes the first year of a premium subscription, seeks to provide the same insights through EMG technology to provide accurate and unique data on muscle activations. It has partnered with Kinexon for athletes who want to sync with positional data.
Andrews joins Indianapolis Colts All-Pro running back Jonathan Taylor as advisors and equity partners in Strive, which announced a $6 million Series A in June. Among the others joining the advisory board are WNBA All-Star Cheyenne Parker, Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford and pro tennis player Giuliana Olmos. Strive notes 215 elite athlete users and has previously partnered with Kentucky men’s basketball, the NFL’s Ravens and Chiefs, Manchester City and Leicester City of the Premier League and Spellman Performance, a top speed training group.
Predictive analytics company nVenue, which has powered the pitch probabilities on Apple TV+’s MLB broadcasts this year, has received $1 million in new strategic funding from EBCI Holdings.
A graduate of the Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Accelerator, nVenue previously announced $3.5 million in seed funding in February, and this latest investment brings that total to $4.5 million. It partnered with NBC Sports and debuted its modeling during an Oakland A’s broadcast before gaining more widespread attention for its Apple partnership. nVenue’s NextPlay API uses historical data and real-time inputs to make its MLB and NFL predictions and is geared toward in-game micro-betting.
EBCI Holdings is the commercial gaming arm of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and it targets startups based on product/market fit. The EBCI tribe is based in North Carolina, where it owns a few casinos and acquired one in Indiana last year. The holding company established a gaming technology incubator last year with plans to invest more than $10 million in early-state companies.
NFL Slimetime, Nickelodeon’s weekly kid-centric show that features cartoon integrations and augmented reality, is returning for a second season.
Premiering on Sept. 14 and airing every Wednesday through the Super Bowl, the Emmy-nominated program will continue its emphasis on what it calls "Slimelights"—showing a "Best Play Ever" from each game-week, doling out a weekly player trophy, interviewing newsworthy NFL players and spotlighting youth football. Episodes will also stream every Thursday on Paramount+.
Produced in conjunction with CBS Sports and the NFL, the show will be hosted again by former Minnesota Vikings receiver Nate Burleson and Nickelodeon’s Young Dylan. Burleson and his crew will also analyze individual plays from the previous week’s games, to go with Nickelodeon’s special effects.
Correspondent Dylan Schefter, daughter of ESPN’s Adam Schefter, also returns to the broadcasts, along with child commentator George Johnston IV and Lincoln Loud, who will announce the weekly NVP —Nickelodeon’s version of an MVP. A new member of the broadcast, Nate Burleson’s 12-year-old daughter Mia, will host the show’s "Big Time, Big Facts" segment.
A special Christmas episode will also air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ ahead of the Nickelodeon’s game broadcast later that day between the Los Angeles Rams and Denver Broncos. Nickelodeon also traditionally airs an NFL Slimetime simulcast of an NFL wild card playoff game that features heavy doses of augmented reality.
British Olympic triathlete Lucy Buckingham has joined glucose-tracking app Supersapiens as an ambassador. The app pairs via Bluetooth with the Abbott Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor that is worn as an adhesive patch over an athlete’s upper arm.
The patch sensor was developed by medical device firm Abbott and allows athletes to track their glucose levels and energy data in real-time via the Supersapiens mobile app or Supersapiens Energy Band. Supersapiens can also sync with fitness apps and devices from Garmin, TrainingPeaks, Apple Health, Wahoo, Strava, Oura and Zwift.
Buckingham, who represented Team GB at the London 2012 Olympics and set a women’s course-record at this year’s Challenge St. Pölten triathlon in Austria, joins marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge and Ironman World Champions Jan Frodeno and Kristian Blummenfelt as endurance athletes to partner with Supersapiens, which is currently the only wearable that integrates with Abbott’s Libre Sense patch to read glucose data. Abbott’s glucose sensor is currently being sold across Europe but is not yet available for purchase in the U.S.
ASM Global has signed a new long-term partnership with ChargeFuze to continue adding the company’s portable mobile phone chargers for fans to use at sports and entertainment venues. The agreement spans ASM Global’s worldwide portfolio of more than 350 arenas and stadiums but will initially focus on U.S. and European venues.
Fans will be able to scan a QR code inside ASM Global venues to gain access to ChargeFuze’s portable chargers, which contain short cables to fit all top smartphone brands. The compact portable devices allow fans to charge their phones on the go without having to wait at a charging station, enabling them to return to their seats or otherwise continue their stadium experience that typically includes using their phone as their mobile ticket or paying for concessions. When a fan is finished charging their phone, they’re asked to return the charging device to kiosks located throughout a venue for ChargeFuze to re-use the charger for future events.
ChargeFuze is currently already available at ASM Global venues such as U.S. Bank Stadium, Allegiant Stadium, Oakland Arena, RingCentral Coliseum, Gila River Arena, Greek Theater, Target Center, Fiserv Forum, Mechanics Bank Arena, Pechanga Arena, Toyota Arena, Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center, VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, INTRUST Bank Arena, Cowtown Coliseum and Tech Port Center + Arena. The expanded deal names ChargeFuze the official charging provider of ASM Global, which also operates major sports venues such as Barclays Center, FTX Arena, and Paycom Center in the NBA as well as NRG Stadium and the Caesars Superdome in the NFL.
ChargeFuze, which raised a $5 million seed round in March, expects to eventually reach more than 100 million fans per year across 20,000 events held at ASM Global venues annually. Outside of venues operated by ASM Global, ChargeFuze’s rentable chargers are also available for fans at SoFi Stadium, Gillette Stadium, Tropicana Field, Spectrum Center and Crypto.com Arena.
Among ChargeFuze’s biggest partnerships to date is its deal with Chase to supply 5,000 charging units for fans at the U.S. Open, which began Monday in New York and continues through Sept. 11. As a sponsor of the tennis tournament, Chase is covering the entire cost of the ChargeFuze chargers, which sometimes otherwise come with a rental fee for fans.
During the Open, fans can pick up the chargers from one of the 16 Chase branded kiosks located throughout the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The 5,000 units is an increase from the roughly 3,500 ChargeFuze devices Chase offered at last year’s U.S. Open. The units are expected to be used by more than 45,000 fans throughout the tournament.
“Most people come to the Open and spend so much time here, it’s a real utility to be able to charge your phone without having to leave your phone anywhere or be stuck to a machine,” Kate Schoff, executive director of sports and entertainment marketing for JPMorgan Chase & Co, told SportTechie.