The sports world has always been at the leading edge of technological progress. Athletes dominate the list of most-followed celebrities across social platforms. Teams and players have used everything from video games to fitness trackers to AI in order to get an edge over their competition. Nothing has shaped the future of TV more than the bidding wars over live events like the Super Bowl or the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. You’ve seen Microsoft’s Surface tablets thrown all over NFL sidelines, VR cameras promising a courtside view of the NBA Finals, and shoes that make marathon runners even faster somehow. From VAR and robotic umpires to hyperrealistic Formula One simulators and league-affiliated esports, the future of sports is as much a story about technology as it is about wins and losses. It’s taking place across sports, across the globe, and at record-breaking speed.
The bundle, announced previously in August, offers monthly savings of around $10. It includes access to live sports and news across ESPN and Fox’s linear channels in both of their respective streaming apps.
[ESPN Press Room U.S.]
The Jordan Peele-produced sports horror doesn’t quite come together in the end, but some of its core ideas are potent.
ESPN NBA writer Brian Windhorst points out that when Aspiration signed up to be the Clippers’ jersey patch sponsor (and, allegedly, help circumvent the NBA’s salary cap) it replaced another company.
That was Honey, the shopping tool exposed for swapping referral codes, which actually got ads featuring Kawhi.
OpenAI and the Mets are partnering on a bizarre promotion involving a custom pin “powered by ChatGPT”, an AI-generated Citi Field guide and custom portraits from a ChatGPT photo booth. Hey, maybe GPT-4o will hallucinate the Mets winning a game and let fans dream for a bit.
There’s been a backlash to the news that RedZone’s “commercial-free football” promise is coming to an end, but the host explained on X that the new ads shouldn’t be too intrusive with a few points, matching an earlier report by Front Office Sports:
The Schutt F7 Pro is being adopted fast, but that’s not usually the case for the NFL.
Every Sunday, you can watch seven uninterrupted hours of NFL football via RedZone, a program that cuts to the every game that features a team within scoring distance. Not only could you get a glimpse at out-of-market matchups but RedZone also cut away during ad breaks, sparing you from spots hawking beer, gambling, and insurance.
But yesterday, the host Scott Hanson confirmed that this season, RedZone will feature ads of its own. “We are not going to sacrifice any great football for the business side of things,” Hanson said on a podcast, after describing how the show would sacrifice great football for the business side of things.
Forget toilets, a report by Pablo Torre claims the ex-Microsoft CEO invested $50 million in a fraudulent tree-planting company, Aspiration, passing $28 million to Kawhi Leonard in a fake endorsement deal.
The Clippers called the accusations “provably false,” while Mark Cuban says he’s “team Ballmer,” and that the team was scammed.
According to Sportico, ESPN’s moible app will launch an algorithmic feed featuring sports highlights, user-generated content, and clips of Sportscenter. Basically, they’re the latest network to take a move out of the TikTok playbook. The public beta starts this Thursday.
The new “World Soccer Ticket” package costs $85 per month and offers access to almost 60 cable news and sports channels, which include coverage of the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, Major League Soccer, and more. Comcast will also toss in a subscription to Peacock and an X1 TV box.
Disclosure: Comcast is also an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.
The doubleheader will have the Detroit Pistons facing off against the Cleveland Cavaliers, while the Minnesota Timberwolves play the Denver Nuggets.
In addition to appearing on Peacock, NBA games will also air on Prime Video throughout the 2025-2026 season, which begins on October 21st.
Following talks first reported two years ago, ESPN is acquiring the NFL Network and rights to the fan-favorite RedZone Channel in exchange for the league taking a 10 percent stake in the sports network. It’s all fodder for ESPN’s upcoming streaming service which could launch this month for $29.99. ESPN parent Disney reports earnings later today so expect to hear more then.
[thewaltdisneycompany.com]
Today’s example is a Men’s Health article on Luka Doncic and his offseason workout routine. Pretty standard stuff, until the claim about a 42-inch vertical leap at the NBA Combine -- big if true, but it’s not, and he didn’t participate.
Nick Angstadt pointed out the error and its likely source, Google’s AI Overview. It carries the above warning, but as we know, many people never click through to the source anyway. The article has since been corrected, but now the AI summary incorrectly cites the original text.
At the moment, ESPN has the rights. But Apple has made a made a bid “worth at least $150 million a year to stream the races starting in 2026” and ESPN “isn’t going to try to match or beat that,” Business Insider reports.
[businessinsider.com]
The Cupertino company is in discussions with ESPN to acquire the Formula 1 broadcasting rights in the US next year, according to The Financial Times, following the success of Apple’s F1 Movie.
Apple TV Plus isn’t the only streaming platform rumored to be throwing its hat in the ring, however — reports from earlier this year also suggest that Netflix has its eyes on the prize, having helped to build US interest in the racing sport with its own Formula 1: Drive to Survive series.
That’s where Wimbledon organizers placed the blame after the Hawk-Eye electronic line-calling system failed to call a ball out yesterday. It turns out it had somehow gotten switched off.
New to Wimbledon this year, but in place across almost every other tennis tournament, the system’s accuracy has also been questioned by players. A spokesperson says the tournament still has “full confidence” in the tech, the data from which now underpins the sport.
At the same time that football fans tuned in for a gameplay showcase of CFB 26, EA Sports teased the return of its college basketball series that has been shelved since 2009. There are no other details on the game previously released as NCAA Basketball and NCAA March Madness, just “Bring the Madness. Let’s run it back.”
A report earlier Monday from Extra Points said EA submitted a proposal to the college conferences about plans to release EA Sports College Basketball starting in 2028.
Mark Walter is buying majority ownership of the Lakers at a $10 billion valuation, reports ESPN. Walter runs TWG Global, which owns chunks of other sports teams, and also owns a fun grab-bag of other companies, including Shield AI and Slate Auto. LeBron-themed pickup truck when?
You may remember, he funded a literal version of a Saturday Night Live sketch. Well, first of all, it turns out shattering world records in sports like swimming is a little more complicated than just adding steroids. But second: The Enhanced Games are a fancy way to sell supplements.
It’s essentially an Edge 540 in a smaller tougher body that’s tuned for mountain bikers. That means super fast (5Hz) and accurate GPS for navigating your downhill bombs, timing gates to measure splits in real-time, new mounts, and plenty more. DesFit has a preview of Garmin’s new ruggedized $399 bike computer.
