Fluid Fan Featured Four Newsletter
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From our Founder Angela Ruggiero
"Steps have been made in the right direction and a foundation has been laid, but the industry still has plenty of work to do to establish women in powerful positions within sports."
The sports industry saw an unprecedented announcement last week with the Miami Marlins naming Kim Ng as their new General Manager. Kim is the first woman ever to be appointed GM of a Major League Baseball team. Ng comes with more than 30 years of experience in the sport. We have seen more females taking prominent roles in sports recently, but Kim’s appointment is the highest position to date in a men’s pro sports league in North America. In the NBA, Kara Lawson and Becky Hammon have been assistant coaches for the Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs respectively. Earlier this year, the San Francisco Giants named Alyssa Nakken the first female coach on a Major League Baseball staff. Last year, San Francisco 49ers Offensive Assistant Katie Sowers became the first female to coach in a Super Bowl. The latest NHL franchise, the Seattle Kraken, recently hired Cammi Granato as the league’s first-ever female pro scout. Florence Schelling became the first GM of a men’s professional hockey team when the Swiss team SC Bern appointed her to the position back in April. Steps have been made in the right direction and a foundation has been laid, but the industry still has plenty of work to do to establish women in powerful positions within sports.
Weekly Brand Breakthrough
The Cleveland Cavaliers have recently made the switch from ticketing provider AXS to SeatGeek. For the Cavs, SeatGeek’s emphasis on putting the fan first and prioritizing the fan experience made the difference. SeatGeek has a focus on innovation, cultural spirit, and partnership that has set them apart in the ticketing ecosystem. They also provide many features for returning fans safely to Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, such as a consistent ticketing experience across all platforms, the Rally service that provides game day information, as well as their suite of COVID-19 response solutions called “SeatGeek Adapt.” Ticketing is no longer just about selling tickets, it is about a seamless and safe user experience.
Weekly Live Entertainment Breakthrough
As fans in many places contemplate returning to stadiums, we should all take a look at the way Barcelona is utilizing tech solutions to make Camp Nou Stadium safe for fans. A year ago they partnered up with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center in a project initially intended to streamline and inform business decisions, but now it can help safely return fans to stadiums. The project consists of modeling the behaviors of people inside the facilities, collecting anonymous data, and creating a computer simulation. They are now able to incorporate COVID-19 transmission models into the simulation to accurately predict the safest ways for fans to return. Although the pandemic has put a pall over live entertainment, technological solutions such as this one provide us with hope for the future of the industry.
Weekly Media Breakthrough
The Deutsche Football League has recently begun a collaboration with the ESL, the world's largest esports company, to further develop a virtual Bundesliga. The event launched in 2012 as the first virtual football competition hosted by any major league. With the help of the ESL, and their reach and expertise in the virtual sports world, the DFL is hoping to further develop and professionalize the VBL. The ESL will provide all media production surrounding the national VBL competitions. This partnership comes as the DFL hopes to meet the growing demand for esports and invest in an industry much less damaged by the current COVID-19 Pandemic.
Weekly Athlete Breakthrough
The recent wave in COVID-19 cases has forced universities, employers, and sports teams to take a second look at athlete technology and the information it can tell us regarding COVID-19. When the pandemic began in March, many athlete data companies were already working with sports teams and decided to pivot towards COVID-19 detection technology. In the months of lockdown, Kinexon, a German tech company working with NFL and NBA teams, developed SafeZone, a system that keeps track of close contacts between players and coaches and gives out a warning light if they get within six feet of one another. Other COVID-19 wearable technology includes body temperature sensors, proximity trackers, temperature scanning cameras, and symptom check-in apps. Athlete data trackers have proven incredibly valuable in this new Pandemic era and the future only offers more possibilities.
For more information on the changing trends in sports and all of our latest research visit sportsilab.com
Sports Innovation Lab Events
DIVING INTO DIGITAL COLLECTIBLES WITH PANINI AMERICA
This week in the Fluid Fan Podcast Angela Ruggiero is joined by Jason Howarth the Vice President of Marketing at Panini America. Angela and Jason will dive deep into the trading card and digital collectible market that is taking the sports industry by storm. The two will discuss blockchain technology, the importance of storytelling, highlighting athletes off the field, and how COVID has affected the business and the athletes they work with. Learn about the technologies and tactics Panini is implementing to offer athletes new ways to engage with Fluid Fans. Listen now
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION IN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS WITH THE WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM
The Sportico and Sports Innovation Lab Ask Me Anything Series returns Thursday, November 19 at 1 pm ET featuring an interview with Jason Wright, President of the Washington Football Team. Jason is the first Black team president in the history of the NFL and currently is the youngest team president in the League. He’ll answer all your questions about the organization's business divisions, including operations, finance, sales, and marketing. Register for the series here! You can view all of our previous AMAs on our website and our Youtube Channel.