John McEnroe will get a literal taste of his own medicine Wednesday when he plays virtual tennis matches against five of his former selves at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
In a project developed by the immersive synchronicity team at Unit9 in the UK, the current John McEnroe engaged in an original motion capture session in February. His likeness and style of play was then transformed, via unreal engine, to create animated avatars of himself from 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984 and his final full year on the ATP tennis tour in 1992.
Then, through robotics, augmented reality and artificial intelligence, the avatars were programmed to play like the vintage McEnroe from each of those seasons.
“I’m a technological dinosaur so when it was explained to me at first, I was like, ‘Give me a break,’ ’’ the real 63-year-old white-haired McEnroe recently told SportTechie. “Because, I was like, ‘If I’m actually playing the guy that was the ’84 McEnroe, I don’t think I’d do too well, something tells me.’ I wouldn’t do well against the 2004 McEnroe.’’
TOCA Football, a tech-infused soccer company, is now the largest operator of indoor soccer facilit i es in North America following a strategic partnership with Blue Sky Sports Center.
Founded by former US men’s national team and English Premier League player Eddie Lewis, TOCA Football implements patented technology—such as its Touch Trainer and Smart Targets—that integrate with a mobile app for data collection and player feedback . Lewis has said he hopes TOCA can do for soccer what batting cages and pitching machines have done for baseball.
Blue Sky operates four venues in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex; TOCA already opened a center in Mansfield, Texas, and is planning to build TOCA Social, a soccer entertainment and dining location, in the Dallas Design District in 2023. The first TOCA Social opened at The O2 in London. TOCA , which has raised $105 million , intends to acquire 20 more soccer centers in the US by the end of 2022.
Its board of directors includes US women’s national team legend Abby Wambach , former TopGolf CEO Erik Anderson, Lululemon president Celeste Burgoyne and former NFL head of consumer marketing Julie Haddon .
The BIG3, the three-on-three basketball league that begins where the NBA ends, will be releasing Forever Experience Action Tokens (FEATs) on June 10. The inaugural cryptocurrency will give buyers perks and exclusive access to the league for as long as the BIG3 is in business.
The NFTs will drop at Mint.Big3.com with a total of 375 Gold editions available per BIG3 team at $4,500 apiece. Once the league sells 375 per team, it will drop 100-200 more for a final total of 975 editions for each of the BIG3’S 12 teams.
The league claims that once all FEATs are sold, they will never be available again, no matter how long the league operates.
Buyers have the option to pick which teams and communities they are joining, as the tokens will contain BIG3 footage, interviews and IP. The league’s announcement piggybacks on the recent sale of Fire-Tier NFTS worth $25,000—some of which were sold to Snoop Dogg, DeGods and Bill Lee, co-founder of Craft Ventures. Purchasers of FEATs will automatically be part of a lottery to receive Fire-Tiers, which will grant them a championship ring if their team wins the BIG3 title, plus Zoom calls with league founders and/or players.
“FEATS are the new wave,’’ BIG3 co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz said in a statement. “Access and utility are changing the NFT landscape and ushering the next frontier of what value blockchain technology can deliver.’’
The BIG3’s fifth season is scheduled to open June 18 th after the NBA Finals and will have games televised by CBS and Paramount+.
Major League Baseball, intentionally or not piggybacking on the rabid interest in the NFL Scouting Combine, will be televising its own draft combine this month from San Diego’s Petco Park.
Baseball’s second annual combine will feature the top 300 draft-eligible players as selected by USA Baseball and Major League teams and will be broadcast on MLB Network on June 16 and 17. The event—which runs from June 14th through June 20th—will include infield and outfield showcases, strength and skill assessments and games for high school age draft candidates. Medical examinations are also a significant element, as teams search for potential arm injuries among prospects.
Outstanding performances will also be featured on MLB’s social media platforms, while players will have access to personal branding training, real-time content and custom video they can share on their own via Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and other outlets.
The on-field staff will include former players such as Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman, nine-time Gold Glove winner Eric Davis and former big league managers Jerry Manual, Bo Porter and Mike Scioscia.
Last year’s inaugural combine in Cary, North Carolina maxed out at 150 total players, a total that has doubled this year. The 2022 MLB draft will be held July 17th through 19th and will last 20 rounds. There will also be compensatory rounds and a competitive balance round on the draft's opening night.
LaLiga Tech, the technology arm of Spain’s top soccer league, is launching a new startup competition focused on fan engagement innovations. The competition is being held in partnership with SportBoost , an accelerator founded by former Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas.
Online applications will be accepted through July 15. Startups are preferably developing products relating to the capture or analysis of fan data, user/consumer personalization, interactivity on OTT streaming or TV platforms, social media, gaming and NFTs. Selected startups will participate in w orkshops led by LaLiga Tech and SportBoost program managers, with some then moving onto testing their products in a pilot program with LaLiga and its clubs.
Finalists will also be considered for long-term relationships and funding from LaLiga and SportBoost . LaLiga Tech was formed in 2014, and it offers an artificial intelligence monitoring software used by rights holders around the world to detect illegal streaming of live sporting events.
Virtual reality fitness program FitXR has added world champion boxer Nicola Adams as its newest trainer. Adams is a two-time Olympic gold medalist , WBO world champion and noted LGBTQ+ advocate, whose first boxing fitness class launched in honor of Pride Month.
FitXR , which is available on the Meta Quest 2, was founded in 2016 by Sam Cole and Sameer Baroova and has grown to include a new workout released daily. It offers three virtual workout studios for boxing, dance and HITT. The programs are gamified and multi-player. Adams’ first class is called Boxing Gold, and she will release additional sessions for training, warming up and cooling down on a monthly basis.
Rob Shaw, Meta’s director of North American sports partnerships, mentioned at SportTechie’s State o f The Industry conference that there is high VR usage for working out and predicted VR will “revolutionize fitness . ” Meta has responded by developing headsets that are more sweat-proof and controllers with better grips.
Performance data company Whoop is a launching a new enterprise offering for teams, organizations and companies. Whoop Unite includes a dashboard of aggregated data to help leaders make policy changes to improve the wellbeing of all athletes or workers.
Whoop Unite has already been adopted by about 200 customers, including the University of Miami football team , which worked with MaxOne’s Own It coaching system. The Hurricanes improved sleep quantity by 27% and heart rate variability by 20% while reducing illness-related absences by 14%.
Individual data is only visible to employers with the users’ consent; otherwise, only anonymized data is available for setting team- and company-wide goals and making changes. Among the research partners studying sleep and stress across wide populations are the US Army, Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Penn State University.
The Chicago Cubs will launch web3 fan engagement experiences at Wrigley Field with Valence, a Web3 software startup funded by Cubs co-o wner and chairman Tom Ricketts. The activations include the launch of an SMS-based wallet to store digital fan experiences, which can be redeemed for in- ballp ark perks .
The Cubs and Valence have set up a mobile web site for fans to enter their phone number to activate their SMS wallet. As part of the new initiatives, fans will receive a text message asking them to send a selfie to the Cubs that allows them to earn a coupon for a free meal at Wrigley Field. If their selfie is selected to appear on the jumbotron at Wrigley Field, the fan will be sent personalized fan experiences.
Other rewards fans can receive through their SMS wallet include store discounts, free drinks and seat upgrades. As part of MLB’s existing partnership with Candy Digital, all 30 MLB clubs can offer NFT promotional giveaways to two games this season, such as the Minnesota Twins’ upcoming plan to host “ Byron Buxton NFT Night ” on June 10.
Four professional soccer players in England are among the founders of a new social media platform , OPON, that has the backing of the Premier League and the players’ union, the Professional Footballers Association . OPON recently began a crowdfunding campaign to build the app with plans to go live later in 2022 .
Following rampant social media abuse directed at professional athletes and European soccer players in particular, the founders of OPON are starting a new site that requires users to upload identification to access certain features and functionality. More than a third ( 36% ) of players listed social media as the biggest detriment to their mental health, and the PFA reported that 44% of its players received some kind of online abuse in 2020.
The co-founder soccer players are Watford FC goalkeeper Dan Bachmann, Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Josh Windass, Fulham FC captain Tom Cairney and Watford midfielder Dan Gosling . Also among the founding team is Danielle Bamber , a former English national team track and field athlete who is now a financial advisor for pro athletes.
OPON is said to be the first British-based social media platform and will use digital identity company Yoti to verify users.
Spartan race runners will now wear compression clothing embedded with Strive’s sensors to track strain and exertion data on their lower-body muscles during races. The new partnership will see multiple participants wear Strive during upcoming Spartan Trail series events.
Strive’s sensors use electromyography (EMG) technology to monitor movement of an athlete’s hamstrings, glutes and quadriceps to help with load management. Its sensors are typically embedded into compression shorts and are used by teams in the NFL , NBA , MLS and EPL, as well as the University of Kentucky men’s basketball program.
“We can understand: are our athletes running at 7,000 rpm or are they running at 2,000 rpm?” Strive CEO Nikola Mrvaljevic told SportTechie last year . “ We also see application within injury prevention and return to play where if an athlete is at risk for injury, let's make sure we monitor the muscles, we monitor the symmetry, the ratios, etc.”
Strive’s debut as part of the Spartan partnership will be at the San Jose Trail Challenge on Sept. 17.
On the brink of back-to-back NCAA national championships, three Oklahoma Sooner softball players have signed NIL partnerships with the swing metric company Blast Motion.
Jocelyn Alo, who just on Tuesday was named USA Softball Player of the Year, has joined teammates Jayda Coleman and Kinzie Hansen as Blast’s first-ever active NIL college athletes. They will integrate into “Team Blast,’’ where they will have a say on future Blast products, promote Blast’s swing-analyzing sensor and share social media content across Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube—including training tips and behind-the-scenes videos.
Other members of Blast’s ambassador team already include former Oregon outfielder Haley Cruse and former UCLA catcher Paige Halstead, both of whom have substantial followings on social media.
Alo, a senior from Hawaii, has an NCAA-record 96 career home runs and finished the 2022 regular season with a .497 batting average, 29 homers and a .634 on-base percentage.
👑 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊-𝐭𝐨-𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 👑 Jocelyn Alo named 2022 @USASoftball 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫! 🤙#ChampionshipMindset pic.twitter.com/LnkSj1fHn0
“I’m so excited for the opportunity to partner with Blast,’’ Alo said in a statement. “…With Blast’s technology, I love to check on my progress with key metrics, and I’m able to visualize things that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to see or feel. What I’m really looking forward to is not only sharing my journey, but to help younger players better understand what makes their swings work.’’
Oklahoma begins defense of its national championship on Wednesday against Northwestern at the Women’s College World Series.