Tag Archives: technology

Kitman Labs, Iowa State Partner on Combined Medical Data and Performance Analytics Platform

Kitman Labs, the global enterprise SaaS platform providing the only single, centralized operating system for performance intelligence in Sports, today announced that Iowa State University will be deploying Kitman Labs’ iP: Intelligence Platform across all men’s and women’s varsity sports. They become the third current Big 12 Conference school to partner with Kitman labs, joining Baylor University and Texas Tech University.

Iowa State University will use the platform to centralize and combine student-athlete medical and performance data, providing appropriate Departmental Staff with a secure, comprehensive and real-time view of all athletes from a physical and mental health and wellness perspective. The platform will also enable collaboration between staff in the design and execution of individual rehab and training programs to unlock student-athlete progress and performance.

Beyond compliance, the Performance Medicine solution being deployed at Iowa State will help inform decision-making around medical assessments, diagnosis, treatment and return to play strategies. Iowa State University joins approximately 80 other NCAA universities who are currently using the technology from Kitman Labs.

“Like many other NCAA universities – Iowa State understands the urgency and critical nature of monitoring the physical and mental well being of its student-athletes and to ensure it’s utilizing every tool and resource necessary to support the holistic development of those students during their college tenure, while also developing them for life after school – either inside or outside of Sport,” said Kitman Labs Founder & CEO, Stephen Smith.

“At Iowa State, we realize that ultimate success includes the ability to communicate and share relevant information across all departments that impact student-athlete health, performance, and well-being as well as incorporating the various aspects of sports science which can allow for more informed decision making,” said Mark Coberley, Iowa State’s Associate Athletics Director for Sports Medicine.

“We performed a lengthy analysis of our options to incorporate a system that allows us to meet this vision,” he added. “We needed an all-encompassing system that was sensitive to our particular needs, desired outcomes and nuances across departments. We believe Kitman Labs was the leader in this area and will provide solutions for our vision. We are extremely pleased to partner with them.”

Kitman Labs has an established track record of working with top teams and athletes across a variety of sports, including soccer, basketball, rugby, and American football. The company’s technology is being used by some of the world’s most elite collegiate sports organizations, such as Michigan State University, Clemson University, University of Colorado among many others.

This expansion into NCAA institutions follows other recent business strategy moves Kitman Labs has undertaken. That includes the successful close of a $52M Series C funding round led by Guggenheim Investments, a global asset investment and advisory firm with more than $259 billion in assets under management and two strategic acquisitions of The Sports Office and Presagia Sports, both made in the last two years. The combined companies represent the industry’s largest network of elite and youth organizations (700+) and created the industry’s largest dataset of talent, performance, and medical data for all stages of the athlete lifecycle.

Kitman Labs Announces Transcontinental Deal with Chicago Fire and FC Lugano

Kitman Labs, the global SaaS platform providing the only single, centralized operating system for performance intelligence in the elite performance industry, announced a recent deal with the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer (MLS) and FC Lugano of the Swiss Super League – both owned by Joe Mansueto. The deal will give both clubs access to Kitman Labs’ state-of-the-art Intelligence Platform including access to the Performance Medicine, Performance Optimization and Coaching & Development Solutions. The advanced operating system has now been deployed at the two clubs – and their Academies – with the full suite of resources now in play.

“While the number of individual clubs adopting our Intelligence Platform across both Europe and North America continues to scale, we anticipate that additional deals like this one – encompassing multiple clubs with joint ownership, straddling Leagues and addressing clubs with distinct training methods and styles of play – will become more frequent as we work with shared ownership groups,” said Stephen Smith, CEO and Founder of Kitman Labs. “There is nothing ‘cookie cutter’ when it comes to the bespoke needs, health and performance of a given club, but we think the economies of scale achieved and efficiencies realized by adopting the configurable platform by multiple clubs within a single organization will be a key multiplier for relationships like this for decades to come.”

Each club will work with a version of the system that has been configured for their specific needs. In addition, all club-related data will remain confidential – and only accessible to – that respective club. The collaboration between the Fire and Lugano performance staffs will provide shared learnings in real time as the clubs progress throughout their respective seasons. The partnership is designed to provide both clubs with deeper, strategic insight into all areas of on-pitch performance, ranging from developmental club best practices to helping gamify trade and transfer scenarios, making sure that injury prevention and maximal performance scenarios are created effectively and easily for all athletes, while giving performance leaders the ability to maximize every area of performance.

“In data-driven recruitment, matching the physical and medical profile of a player with the club and the league’s tactical and technical demands is paramount,” said Chicago Fire FC Director of Performance Nacho Torreño. ‘Through our relationship with Kitman Labs, we are working to develop the software that will allow us to track both the Chicago Fire’s and FC Lugano’s physical and medical metrics in one place and through one methodology. We are excited about the work being done that will give us an excellent understanding of how players from one environment will translate to the other. Additionally, this tool will also allow us to monitor players within our Academy, from the early stages through the professional ranks, to further enhance their development.”

“Kitman Labs is a value-add in the daily work of the technical staff of our first team and academy,” said FC Lugano Chief Sports Officer Carlos Da Silva. “It provides crucial support to those responsible for athletic preparation in terms of quality and intensity of training.”

Kitman Labs has an established track record of working with top teams and athletes across a variety of sports, including soccer, basketball, rugby, and American football. The company’s technology is being used by some of the world’s most elite sports organizations, such as MLS Next, Columbus Crew, and Bayer Leverkusen.

This new business launch follows other recent business strategy moves Kitman Labs have undertaken. That includes the successful close of a $52M Series C funding round led by Guggenheim Investments, a global asset investment and advisory firm with more than $259 billion in assets under management and two strategic acquisitions of The Sports Office and Presagia Sports. The combined companies represent the industry’s largest network of elite and youth organizations (700+) and created the industry’s largest dataset of talent, performance, and medical data for all stages of the athlete lifecycle.

Kitman Labs Announces Deal with New Zealand Football Club, the Wellington Phoenix

Kitman Labs, the global enterprise SaaS platform providing the only single, centralized operating system for performance intelligence in the elite performance industry, today announced a new deal with New Zealand’s Wellington Phoenix Football Club – the only New Zealand-based club in the Australian League. The club will be utilizing several Solutions in the Intelligence Platform, including: Performance Medicine, Performance Optimization and Talent Development. The Platform combines medical, performance and talent development data into a single, interactive system that yields actionable intelligence to support specific operating and performance outcomes.

The Intelligence Platform is being deployed across the Men’s and Women’s Teams as well as the Academy. The platform will serve as the singular operating system for the Organization – eliminating data and information silos, enabling cross-Departmental communication and providing a comprehensive, real time view of every player in the organization.

By deploying the Intelligence Platform across the Academy and First Teams, Performance and Coaching staff will be able to effectively systemize their talent pipeline, enabling the early identification and progression of talent across the entire organization while creating key performance benchmarks and markers to inform their overall talent development strategy.

“The Intelligence Platform has been designed to unify data, people and processes to support informed decision-making, streamline operations and ultimately, yield the action plan necessary to achieve critical performance outcomes,” said Stephen Smith, CEO and Founder of Kitman Labs. “By deploying the platform across every aspect of the club, The Phoenix will have access to a complete, 360 view of each athlete and each team, eliminating data gaps and providing the intelligence necessary to develop and execute their performance strategy across every department.”

“Football clubs are no different than any other complex organization faced with significant amounts of incoming data and information,” said Shaun Gill, Director of Football, Wellington Phoenix FC. “Traditionally that information gets stuck or siloed within specific departments or project teams with limited transparency or context. By adopting the Intelligence Platform across every aspect of the Wellington Phoenix Organization – from our academy to first teams, men’s and women’s – all relevant, pertinent data will not only be centralized, but integrated. Kitman Labs will give us a comprehensive, real-time view of every player at all levels across the club and will provide the analytics necessary to support informed, strategic decision-making – whether that’s related to our development and recruitment objectives or athlete performance and health.”

Kitman Labs has an established track record of working with top teams and athletes across a variety of sports, including soccer, basketball, rugby, and American football. The company’s technology has been used by some of the world’s most elite sports organizations, including Bayer Leverkusen, Malmö FF, Columbus Crew and MLS Next.

This launch follows other recent business strategy moves Kitman Labs have undertaken. That includes the successful close of a $52M Series C funding round led by Guggenheim Investments, a global asset investment and advisory firm with more than $259 billion in assets under management and two strategic acquisitions of The Sports Office and Presagia Sports, both made in the last two years. The combined companies represent the industry’s largest network of elite and youth organizations (700+) and created the industry’s largest dataset of talent, performance, and medical data for all stages of the athlete lifecycle.

Kitman Labs Announces Integration Deal with ZoneIn

Kitman Labs, the global enterprise SaaS platform providing the only single, centralized operating system for performance intelligence in the elite performance industry, today announced a new deal with ZoneIn – the most advanced evidence-based performance nutrition platform and app in global sport. ZoneIn currently serves over 20,000 athletes and 200+ performance specialists across pro, college and youth athletics. The ZoneIn platform will integrate directly with the Intelligence Platform from Kitman Labs, making their first party data related to nutrition and supplement management, instantly accessible to Kitman’s roster of sports and defense clients worldwide.

ZoneIn’s performance nutrition platform is currently used by EXOS and some of the biggest leagues in global sport, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS, NHL, Premier League and NCAA for:

AI-driven nutrition management of Athletes

Personalized meal ordering and menu management

Integrated supplement management and inventory tracking

ZoneIn is joining the growing roster of premium data providers integrating with the Intelligence Platform, providing leagues and regulatory bodies, teams, clubs and defense organizations with a single, integrated platform built to unify thousands of single point solutions and provide a complete, holistic view of the athlete or service member.

“Kitman Labs is the leader in utilizing data in innovative and evidence-based manners to boost the health and performance of athletes. It is extremely exciting to partner with such a forward thinking organization and a company we have always looked up to,” said Kush Mahan, CEO and Founder of ZoneIn. “We are confident that the value that our unique integrated offerings will bring to organizations around the globe will be second to none.”

“Kush and his team at ZoneIn have built the best-in-class end-to-end dietician management platform and app in the industry and we couldn’t be more thrilled to announce this integration partnership. As the industry continues to grapple with the volume and velocity of data hitting them daily, we remain steadfast in our goal of providing the only single, centralized and fully integrated operating system in the market,” said Stephen Smith, CEO and Founder Kitman Labs. “Our technology has been designed to aggregate those data streams and convert them into actionable intelligence that supports the myriad operating and performance outcomes of our shared clients.”

This launch follows other recent business strategy moves Kitman Labs has undertaken. That includes the successful close of a $52M Series C funding round led by Guggenheim Investments, a global asset investment and advisory firm with more than $259 billion in assets under management and two strategic acquisitions of The Sports Office and Presagia Sports. The combined companies represent the industry’s largest network of elite and youth organizations (700+) and created the industry’s largest dataset of talent, performance, and medical data for all stages of the athlete lifecycle.

Kitman Labs announces Performance Intelligence Deal with Danish Superliga Club, FC Midtjylland

Kitman Labs, the global enterprise SaaS company providing the only single, centralized operating platform for performance intelligence in the elite performance industry, today announced a new deal with Danish Superliga club, FC Midtjylland. This deal makes FC Midtjylland the fifth club in the League to subscribe to Kitman’s proprietary, multi-solution advanced operating system, iP: Intelligence Platform. Other clubs adopting the platform include: Aalborg Boldspilklub, Aarhus Gymnastikforening, FC Nordsjaelland and Viborg FF. All five clubs have now been onboarded, the technology has been deployed and will be in use throughout the 2024 season.

In all instances, the clubs have adopted the full suite of Solutions including: Performance Medicine, Performance Optimization and Talent Development. The platform combines medical, performance and talent development data into a single, interactive system that yields actionable intelligence to support specific performance outcomes while providing a complete, comprehensive view of each individual player within the team.

“We are pleased to continue to work with progressive and insightful football clubs the world over. These five clubs – representing close to half of the Danish SuperLiga – show how we can customize each program to support the bespoke needs and objectives of each organization within the League,” Kitman Labs CEO Stephen Smith said. “ Whether it’s ensuring a heightened level of regulatory compliance related to personal and medical data or systemizing the most effective talent development pipeline, our technology – combined with the Team’s expertise – has been designed to address the most critical operational needs and objectives of teams and leagues within global sport.”

The Intelligence Platform allows us to gather all of the Club’s data and make it easily accessible to all relevant departments. This applies to everything from training planning to talent development and treatments in the physical sector,” said Sven Graverson, Sporting Director, FC Midtjylland . “With Kitman Labs, the data is available in real time and ensures that there is a common thread from Guldminen to the first team with better insight into the individual player, efficiency of the work process and integration of data into the decision-making process.”

Kitman Labs has an established track record of working with top Leagues and teams across a variety of sports at the professional and collegiate level including, soccer, American football, basketball, and rugby. The company’s technology has been used by some of the world’s most elite sports organizations, such as Bayer Leverkusen, Malmö FF, and Columbus Crew.

This new business launch follows other recent business strategy moves Kitman Labs has undertaken. That includes the successful close of a $52M Series C funding round led by Guggenheim Investments, a global asset investment and advisory firm with more than $259 billion* in assets under management and two strategic acquisitions of The Sports Office and Presagia Sports, both made in the last two years. The combined companies represent the industry’s largest network of elite and youth organizations (700+) and created the industry’s largest dataset of talent, performance, and medical data for all stages of the athlete lifecycle.

Kitman Labs Names Kirk Iwanowski Chief Marketing Officer and Chris Aker Chief Revenue Officer

Kitman Labs, the sports technology and analytics company setting a new industry standard for how high performance organizations use data, today announced the hiring of Kirk Iwanowski and Chris Aker for the newly created positions of Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Revenue Officer, respectively. Iwanowski joins Kitman with over 25 years of experience in entertainment, media and technology marketing and brand building, most recently at AnyClip, where he spearheaded their global rebrand and positioning as The Visual Intelligence Company™. Aker brings over 20 years of experience in sales, business development and execution and revenue generation to Kitman Labs, the last 4.5 years building the successful sales and enterprise strategy at Compass.

“Kirk and Chris’ expansive background and track record of success in scaling, brand building and sales will be critical as we grow the business enterprise value of Kitman Labs and tell our story to an expanding global audience,” said Founder and CEO Stephen Smith. “Our goal in the coming years is to continue to partner with elite sports and public sector companies to revolutionize how data and analytics are leveraged across every level of an organization to optimize performance and maximize return. There is no one better to help us map and execute that plan than these two seasoned executives.”

“What Kitman Labs has built under Stephen and his team in terms of integrated performance technology is not only disruptive but clearly becoming the new standard in driving human performance optimization,” Iwanowski said. “While we continue to amplify our story and drive penetration within the Sports vertical, we are equally focused on introducing this technology to other markets where health, wellness and performance data can be aggregated and leveraged to maximize outcomes.”

“The sports performance and data analytics business continues to expand exponentially every year as the technology and the user experience improves, and there is no better company than Kitman Labs to help blaze the trail and drive broad-based adoption of this practice,” Aker added. “I am looking forward to working with Stephen and the team to find even greater ways to grow the business well beyond what was even possible just a few years ago.”

Most recently, Chris Aker was the Chief Sales Officer at Compass, leading what was a small real estate tech firm to a successful IPO, which became the largest brokerage in the United States and a Fortune 500 Company. Prior to that successful venture, he led the global sales organization for Eventbrite across eight different countries to a successful IPO and the largest independent ticketing company in the world. He has a wealth of experience designing and building global sales and success organizations for Facebook (pre and post IPO), Google, Skype (pre-Microsoft), IBM, and Toshiba as well.

Kirk Iwanowski joined AnyClip in 2021, concurrent with the company’s expansion as a global SaaS company leveraging its proprietary AI technology to power advanced video solutions for business. He oversaw all branding, marketing, demand and lead generation, design, corporate and public relations, thought leadership, as well as the go-to-market strategy for its growing suite of solutions across multiple verticals, internationally. Prior to AnyClip, Kirk was CMO and EVP of EPIX for MGM Studios, prior to its recent acquisition by Amazon. At EPIX, under the ownership of MGM, Paramount and Lionsgate, he was widely recognized for helping the brand evolve from a singular movie channel to a full premium entertainment service while also effectively introducing the network to a mass television and streaming consumer audience on the heels of MGM’s $1B+ acquisition of the network in 2017. Prior to joining EPIX, Iwanowski served as the SVP, Marketing of Bill Pohlad’s Apparition Pictures and GK Film’s FilmDistrict. Earlier, he was EVP of Marketing at Sundance Channel for a decade, a joint venture of Robert Redford, NBC Universal and CBS. As a key member of the company’s Executive Management Team, Iwanowski helped lead the sale of the network to Cablevision/AMC Networks in 2008.

These new senior hires follow other recent business strategy moves Kitman Labs have undertaken. That includes the successful close of a $52M Series C funding round, led by Guggenheim Investments, a global asset investment and advisory firm with more than $259 billion* in assets under management and two strategic acquisitions of The Sports Office and Presagia Sports, both made in the last two years. The combined companies represent the industry’s largest network of elite and youth organizations (700+) and created the industry’s largest dataset of talent, performance, and medical data for all stages of the athlete lifecycle.

Technology Dominates at the Barclays Center

by Noah Zaret, special to The Daily Payoff

On June 14, I had the opportunity to attend the SportiConference Converge, organized by Sportico at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Having been to the Barclays Center a handful of times for sporting events as well as concerts, I was excited to see the venue in a different light.

Throughout the day, there were many discussions led by industry professionals who have experiences in a variety of areas in the sports business industry. Topics included: “Future Fans: Enhancing the Engagement of new audiences”, “What’s Possible?: The intersection of Technology & Fan Engagement”, “State of the Industry: Marketing & Advertising amongst Giants and Economic Uncertainty”, “Risk and Rewards: A behind the scenes look at the acceleration of Sports Betting”, “Web 2.0 vs Web 3.0: The Future Sports Platforms”, “Generating Higher Fan Engagement”, and “How Brooklyn Built the Metaverse”. All of these discussions had their own twist to them. I sincerely believe that I left the conference with a greater knowledge base and understanding of the current issues affecting the sports industry than I had prior to attending.

There were many takeaways and information that I learned from attending the conference. One of the main topics was enhancing the engagement of new and future audiences in sport. TikTok has become more than just a platform for lip sync and dancing, as it is now being used to advance the fan experience in sports and highlights. In the minds of content creators, one has to put themselves in the seat of the users and ask themselves what does the user want to see? Publishers are now partnering with content creators to plan, create and deliver the best content possible. Due to the fact that TikTok contains an untapped audience, the ability to take risks and experiment with content is prevalent amongst content creators. This was extremely beneficial during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Archive content was very popular during the pandemic without live sports and has carried over post pandemic. For example, say it is an athlete’s birthday, content creators will work with publishers to post his/her career highlights and/or famous clips. TikTok will continue to provide content in a variety of ways that will enhance the engagement of current and future audiences.

The impact that technology has on fan engagement has increased significantly as of late. The New York Liberty was the first WNBA team to release their own NFT. Not only does this educate fans about digital assets, but it also has the opportunity to draw in more fans, especially women. Just like TikTok is enhancing the mobile experience, Seatgeek is a company that is using technology to enhance the fan experience for those attending live events. Paula Segal, head of consumer product for SeatGeek, mentioned that Covid accelerated the switch to digital tickets and that tickets are now more than just a barcode. They can be used for mobile food ordering, buying merchandise and persuading fans to bet on the sport event itself. These examples are part of a movement to use technology to enhance the in-game experience instead of focusing solely on technology being used outside the arena or stadium.

The growing acceleration of sports betting and the marketing and advertising amongst the giants in the industry was another topic that caught my attention. Sports betting companies are using other forms of media such as TV and radio to market and promote their product beyond basic advertising. Content creation such as gambling shows are done to help promote gambling companies and their respective sports books. CBS and ESPN are examples of sports channels that are broadcasting betting shows, an interactive approach to the promotion of sports betting. Sportsbooks are trying to differentiate themselves from competitors in the industry and gain competitive advantage by gaining loyal customers and keeping them engaged on their platform. Sports betters typically tend to choose their preferred sportsbook depending upon ease of use. Customers have the ability to switch sportsbooks at any time, so if they do not like one they can easily switch to another. In order for gambling companies to limit this from happening, they are attempting to innovate their sportsbooks to make them stand out and appear different to the average user. I believe that this is just the beginning for the sports betting industry, as there are endless opportunities for success in the future.

Lastly, the future of sport platforms and generating higher fan engagement was a popular topic of discussion. I learned that not only can fan engagement exist in the real world, but in a virtual environment as well. As said by Scott Lawin, CEO of Candy Digital, “sports is the gateway drug into NFT’s & Crypto”. As more teams and leagues are getting involved with digital assets, casual fans can begin to get an understanding of how they work. As there are more fans that are educated on this matter, the engagement will continue to improve over time. Lawin also mentioned that in three to five years, he expects purchasing consumer products, sporting event tickets and concert tickets will require an NFT attached to it. As this is my first “real world” exposure to NFT’s and Crypto, I am seeing how the emergence of NFT’s are at the center of the future of promotion. I plan on further educating myself on NFT’s, Crypto, Blockchain and the Metaverse, as I know they are and will continue to be pivotal components in the sports industry.

Overall, the SportiConference Converge was a great opportunity as I became more educated on the relevant topics in the industry today. I was also able to meet and converse with a variety of interesting and experienced professionals. Sportico should be commended for organizing such a successful event.

Data Driven Sports/ShotTracker to Provide Data and Advanced Analytics for Big 12 Basketball

Data Driven Sports (DDSports), the parent company of ShotTracker, today announced they have entered into an agreement with ESPN to provide data and analytics for Big 12 Conference basketball games. The multi-year deal gives ESPN the opportunity to integrate ShotTracker data throughout its linear and digital properties to drive fan engagement, enhanced storytelling and broadcast automation. The first stage of the collaboration kicked off last Saturday afternoon with advanced graphics integrated into ESPN’s broadcast of the Kansas vs. Texas Tech men’s basketball game on ESPN2. The video can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFpMRT5C2Jw

ShotTracker is entering its second year of partnership with the Big 12 Conference, which has integrated ShotTracker’s sensor-based technology in its arenas and practice facilities for the men’s and women’s programs, as well as into basketballs and player jerseys. The output of this integration is sub-second X-Y-Z player and ball location data and over 100 real-time stats, including advanced analytics such as lineup efficiency, ball movement stats and screen types with outcomes. ESPN will now have access to the same advanced stats that Big 12 coaching staff utilize on the bench via the ShotTracker team app to optimize their lineups and play calling.

“We are thrilled to be working closely with ESPN to drive what will be unprecedented innovation in sports,” said Davyeon Ross, ShotTracker Co-Founder and President. “Our autonomous, sub-second data has the potential to impact many areas of their business, including not only personalized fan engagement but also broadcast efficiencies and increased content output.”

As part of the new ESPN Edge Innovation Center, ShotTracker is working closely with ESPN to test various new enhancements across ESPN’s fan-facing platforms.

“We are excited to use ShotTracker technology as it provides sports fans with more in-depth stats and analysis for the sports they know and love,” said Kevin Lopes, Senior Director of Content Business Development & Innovation at ESPN.

Data Driven Sports/ShotTracker Announces Automated Content Products To Drive Engagement And Revenue

Data Driven Sports (DDSports), the parent company of ShotTracker,  today unveiled an exciting suite of new products to support digital publishers and broadcasters in engaging and monetizing college basketball fans this upcoming season. Leveraging the ShotTracker’s unique, real-time player and ball tracking data, combined with automated content and analytics platforms, DDSports now offers three innovative products designed to efficiently increase sponsorable content for its clients:

  • Automated Visualizations – customizable graphics with sponsor integrations designed for easy publishing to broadcast/OTT, digital, social and in-venue signage.
  • Insights Engine – AI-powered trends and streaks to drive game storylines and data-driven sales campaigns.
  • 3D Gamecast – animated ball and player graphics powered by real-time X-Y-Z location data, designed to allow out-of-market fans to watch their team live, and for all fans to relive exciting game moments. 

The three new products will be available for all men’s and women’s games across top NCAA Division 1 conferences where ShotTracker is installed, and will include unique, data-driven brand activation capabilities. “Our goal is to provide turnkey solutions to leading sports broadcasters and digital publishers to make the integration of ShotTracker data as streamlined and seamless as feasible,” said Davyeon Ross, DDSports/ShotTracker Co-Founder and President. “We commit to innovating and creating digital products that drive new revenue while also streamlining the content production process.”

Automated Visualizations

Leveraging the robust ShotTracker Data API, and through its partnership with IMPACT, a leading automated visualization platform, ShotTracker data will come to life in dynamic graphics designed for use across broadcast/OTT, digital, social and in-venue signage. Graphics that once took hours to produce will now be automatically generated. Broadcast customers will have access to a user portal that will allow for design, data points and sponsor customizations. Product benefits include more content, lower production costs and greater advertising revenue.

Insights Engine

Realizing the increasing need to grab fans’ attention and keep them engaged, ShotTracker has partnered with Inside Edge, a leader in sports analytics, to develop a cutting-edge platform to produce instant insights from ShotTracker’s robust data set. Broadcasters and digital publishers will now have real-time access to unique streaks and trends that once took hours to manually derive. This innovative platform will not only drive engaging storylines for announcers and writers, but will also support high-value sponsor activations.

3D Gamecast

Since many fans do not have access to live game broadcasts, and because game highlight rights are often complex and limited, ShotTracker has developed a real-time visual representation of every second of game action for all ShotTracker-enabled men’s and women’s games across top NCAA Division I conferences. Fans will have the option to watch an entire game or to select key game moments. With ShotTracker’s X-Y-Z data stream, game action comes to life in a more engaging visual representation than the traditional 2D products in the marketplace. Developers can use ShotTracker’s Gamecast SDK to customize design as well as advertiser integrations.

ShotTracker Secures $11M Financing Led By Evertz Technologies And Verizon Ventures

Pexels-Markus Spiske

DDSports Inc. (ShotTracker), a revolutionary sports technology that captures rich performance data via sensors and provides statistics and analytics with sub-second latency, today announced an $11M USD funding round led by Evertz Technologies Limited (“Evertz”) and Verizon Ventures. ShotTracker will use the funds to accelerate its deployment across NCAA Division I Power 6 Basketball Conferences, expand hiring, further key partnerships and enhance sensor capabilities and data capture for players, coaches, fans and broadcasters.

ShotTracker brings elite-level real time analytics to the court. The company’s patented technology tracks data in three parts: a ShotTracker-enabled ball, sensors on players’ jerseys, and court sensors that map the court in 3D. Data is processed through the company’s proprietary algorithm displayed on the ShotTracker app and dashboard and will also be integrated with Evertz cloud based live production solutions. The real time data can be used to automate camera productions from remote locations and can be licensed by media and sports data companies.

With more than 63 Division I men’s and women’s basketball programs and a growing relationship with Learfield IMG College and their partner schools, ShotTracker’s cutting-edge technology is well-positioned to deliver deep data and analytics as well as video, scoreboard and broadcast integration. For its media company and broadcast customers, it currently delivers experiential activations and crossover content opportunities distributed via digital and social platforms.

The Evertz partnership brings to ShotTracker a global leader in providing professional video/audio infrastructure and cloud-based solutions to content creators. The partnership with ShotTracker’s advanced real time analytics, will enable content owners to create tailored content for their audience across multiple platforms. With automated camera operations, advanced statistics, and cloud services, producers can augment live production by telling unique stories that enhance the audience’s experience (in-venue and/or the broadcast) while realizing additional revenue opportunities.

“Combining ShotTracker sensor data and our DreamCatcherTM suite of products will enrich live productions — on-premise and cloud-based — for broadcasters, leagues, teams, and fans.” said Vince Silvestri, Evertz VP of Software Systems. “We are excited to be working with the ShotTracker team to bring enhanced and personalized game experiences to fans everywhere.”

“As real-time data tracking and analytics become critical components for coaches and players, instantaneous and interactive delivery powered by 5G is critical,” said Michelle McCarthy, Verizon Ventures Managing Director. “ShotTracker’s real-time sports data will transform fan experiences, athletic performance, sports broadcast and more. We’re proud to invest in a team of industry veterans as they pave the way for data capture in game play to improve all areas of the sport.”

“The entire ShotTracker team is excited to have the opportunity of working with two such farsighted technology leaders as Evertz and Verizon Ventures, each of whom brings special capabilities to enable us to fulfill our vision of what truly real time statistics and analytics can mean,” said Bill Moses, ShotTracker CEO. ShotTracker Founder and COO, Davyeon Ross, added: “The impact of tying the cameras to the ShotTracker sensors, in cost savings and in the quality of unique content which then can be delivered, will be dramatic and literally game changing for the sports world.”