Fluid Fan Featured Four Newsletter
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From our Founder Angela Ruggiero
"The teams who are most innovative are investing in talent, leveraging data, learning from adjacent industries, and launching and investing in new ventures."
One of the 3 pillars of our Top 25 Most Innovative Teams in the World Rankings is Organizational Agility. This core of innovation, is about staffing for the future, leveraging new skill sets, looking to other industries for talent, as well as, diversity & inclusion. The teams who are most innovative are investing in talent, leveraging data, learning from adjacent industries, and launching and investing in new ventures. Recently, the Arizona Coyotes of the NHL hired former NHL player Lee Stempniak as the club’s first hockey data analyst. Stempniak will analyze player data, work with the scouting department and coaches, as well as the management team in Arizona. Connecting the business and the hockey sides of the organization while using data to improve the club as a whole is a perfect example of organizational agility. The recently crowned Super Bowl Champion, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had a historic coaching staff from a diversity perspective. Not only did the staff feature the first two female assistant coaches to win a Super Bowl, but also featured three black coordinators, and a black assistant head coach. You cannot innovate if you think alike, look alike, or don’t invest in your organization. To learn more about this innovation pillar, as well as other organizations in sports that are working towards creating a more agile organization, download our latest report.
Weekly Brand Breakthrough
Verizon delivered again last night at Super Bowl LV, outfitting the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay with state of the art 5G connectivity. Although in many ways, 2020 feels like a monotonous blur, this past year saw the advancement of 5G connectivity across the country, transforming it from last year’s exciting novelty to today’s imminent reality. Although, in many ways, 2020 feels like a monotonous blur. This past year saw the advancement of 5G connectivity across the country, transforming it from last year’s exciting novelty to today’s imminent reality. Verizon showed off their power by enabling a 5G SuperStadium Feature in the NFL app, which allowed fans in the venue to access seven unique crystal clear camera angles. In addition, Verizon Media’s “Watch Together” feature brings immersive video streams directly to the hands of fans. Verizon has made a name for themselves as a leader in 5G, as they rapidly bring 5G to cities, stadiums, and venues all across the country.
Weekly Live Entertainment Breakthrough
From the very beginning, Topgolf Entertainment Group has put accessibility at the center of its mission, hoping to bring the game of golf to new communities and foster connections. Their launch of the “9 Shot Challenge” in partnership with Toptracer Range does just that. The competition will occur both virtually via the World Golf Tour online game and in person at participating Toptracer Range locations. Players will compete on virtual courses, showing off their skill in nine different shots. Each participant’s success will be tracked on a global leaderboard, accompanied by the competitor’s home country flag, further demonstrating the global diversity present at such an interconnected event. In the last year, events like these have multiplied as consumers and companies begin to realize the power of the technologies at hand and the innumerable ways to build connection even from thousands of miles away.
Weekly Media Breakthrough
It is no secret that the Sacramento Kings are innovative. With an owner like tech entrepreneur Vivek Ranadive, how could they not be? They have recently launched their collaboration with Intel True View at their home stadium, the Golden 1 Center. The Intel technology allows fans to access one of a kind immersive content from 360-degree highlights to unbounded perspectives. Over the last year, Intel has slowly been installing the True View HD cameras throughout the venue. These powerful cameras can capture games in volumetric data or voxels, capturing 85GB of data per second. The Kings and Intel partnered to bring the NBA’s first Research and Development site to the Golden 1 Center, which will serve as a hub of media advancement for years to come.
Weekly Athlete Breakthrough
Last week the top-flight German club Bayer 04 Leverkusen extended their relationship with Stats Perform, mainly because of their AI-powered match prep tool, Edge Analysis. The smart player tracking system is the most sophisticated of its kind, providing predictive insights of opponents and pre and post-match analysis. Specifically, in their 2021 revamp, the software allows for “new insights into a team’s playing characteristics, changes to their shape during a game, ball progression and each player’s impact on generating goal-scoring opportunities.” The platform combines Stats Perform event data with additional tracking data provided by Sportec Solutions, the DFL’s in-house data provider. Player tracking and in-game analytics are the future of sports and can change the outcome of games. Programs like Edge Analysis have redefined what it means to be well-prepared.
For more information on the changing trends in sports and all of our latest research visit sportsilab.com
Sports Innovation Lab Events
Creating a Connected Fan Experience with Venuetize
On this week’s episode of the Fluid Fan Podcast, Angela Ruggiero is joined by Venuetize Founder and CEO, Jon Romm. Jon and Angela discuss how Venuetize’s mobile platform helps venues and venue operators create a connected and seamless experience for Fluid Fans. The importance of engaging fans before, during, and after the game relies on a well connected and multifunctioning application. Jon walks through how he founded the company, how they are continuing to grow and enter the global market, and develop new use cases for the mobile platform. As fan engagement becomes more about a lean in experience, Venuetize is utilizing its technology to facilitate fan behaviors like sports betting and payments through cashless technologies. Learn about how Venuetize’s mobile platform is helping fans have connected and memorable experiences from their CEO and Founder, Jon Romm.
The Fan Project Live Chat:
Women's Sports, Leaving Billions on The Table
With some of the most-watched games during the pandemic and most loyal fans, why don't women's sports get more air time and bigger sponsorship deals? This Thursday 2/11 at 2:30pm ET, 4X Olympic Medalist and Sports Innovation Lab CEO Angela Ruggiero sits down with Caroline Fitzgerald the Founder of GOALS, a fast-growing community of women working in, and supporting other women in sports, to get real on the roadblocks keeping women's sports below the bar, and what The Fan Project is doing to change that.