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 next evolution is coming on June 20,” reads the caption to a teaser video republished by Meta CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth. The Oakley x Meta tie-up was first reported back in January as the sporty alternative to the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, meant to appeal to cyclists and other outdoor athletes.
After EA’s college football game made a successful return last year, the company is preparing to update it for a new year with another full release due July 10th on PlayStation and Xbox. It’s already trawling for pre-orders for both CFB 26 and Madden 26, despite not revealing details about the new games, saying to check back on May 29th ”...for the full reveal including gameplay details and more.”
When you’re looking for The Answer, there’s only one AI option you can trust.
It’s been 75 years since the first Formula 1 world championship race was held at the British Silverstone Circuit in 1950. To mark the anniversary, F1 has shared a rare highlight reel of the race (originally called the European Grand Prix) that has been colorized using a mix of AI and manual processes. There’s also an HD version available on YouTube.
Fresh off the heels of Wrestlemania 41, Netflix has revealed a teaser for its WWE docuseries coming this summer. Details about WWE: Unreal are still slim, but Netflix says it will let you “step into the WWE writer’s room and outside the ring with your favorite WWE Superstars, where the drama is just as intense offstage as it is under the spotlight.”
Says Luka Doncic, talking to ESPN’s Malika Andrews about the iPhone he threw after finding out he’d been traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this year. The back glass is cracked, but Luka is still using it.
After adding UFC president and CEO Dana White to its board of directors in January, Meta will now serve as the UFC’s first “Official Fan Technology Partner,” and the “Official AI Glasses Partner.” Those totally not made-up titles just mean that more UFC content — maybe even including fights that place Zuck in the ring — will be coming to Meta’s platforms.
[businesswire.com]
The baseball season is only a few days old, and a new “bowling pin” bat has set the game on fire. It’s the result of some fascinating science, and a whole bunch of supply chain optimization:
Bowling pin bats take precision to produce. Every fraction of an ounce in bat manufacturing matters. Bats are measured not only on a standard scale but via pendulum-swing tests. The more balanced a bat, the more it oscillates.
The NBA regular season only has a few games left, but the well-known content creator LeBron James is about to kick off a new season of the Mind the Game podcast.
We’ll see if new co-host Steve Nash can follow in his predecessor JJ Redick’s footsteps to an NBA head coaching job, but I’m also keeping an eye out for the podcast return of NBA analyst Zach Lowe, as he launches his new show with The Ringer / Spotify this week.
Nintendo and the Seattle Mariners go way back. The publisher owned the team from 1992 to 2016 and was responsible for publishing the best baseball game ever played by a shiba inu.
The connection got a little bit closer with the announcement that for the first time ever the Mariners will sport Nintendo logos on their jerseys. Nintendo’s iconic “racetrack” logo will appear on home jerseys while the Switch 2 logo will appear on away kits.
Weeks after the SEC dropped its investigation into Robinhood over possible securities violations, the company announced the launch of a “prediction markets hub” in the app. Robinhood writes:
At launch, the hub will allow customers to trade contracts for what the upper bound of the target fed funds rate will be in May, as well as the upcoming men’s and women’s College Basketball Tournaments.
The company has also offered such trading for the Presidential election and the Super Bowl.
[newsroom.aboutrobinhood.com]
TGL is a brand-new spin on golf, trying to meld the best of sports with the best of the digital world — including the biggest screen you’ve ever seen.
The new F1 season is about to get started in Australia this weekend (you’ve caught up on Drive to Survive right?), and its subscription video package has some changes. For $129.99 per year, the new F1 TV Premium tier adds the above features and a customizable multi-feed view -- Pro subscribers should check out the fan-built MultiViewer app.
Other than the extra cost, the bad news is that availability of the new features is limited. They’re not on Android, or browsers other than Chrome, and 4K / HDR viewing will require Apple TV or Roku for now.
One race of a double-header Formula E weekend saw the first use of Pit Boost stops as the nearly decade-old series required drivers to stop for a quick 600kW battery charge that increases energy by about 10 percent.
Feelings about it were mixed, reports Motorsport.com. Winner Maximilian Guenther called it “pretty cool,” however, Dan Ticktum, whose car required a reset to charge, acknowledged its importance but said, “I’m not f*****g interested if it’s going to screw my races over.”
The next season of Major League Soccer kicks off this weekend, which means that so does another marketing push from Apple, which is the league’s streaming home. New for 2025: Apple TV Plus sleeve patches which have been customized for each of the 30 MLS clubs.
Niantic and Major League Baseball are bringing Pokémon Go to ballparks across North America for three whole seasons. Beginning on Opening Day, March 27th, each team’s home park will get themed in-game PokéStops, gyms, and routes.
The New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles, and 11 other teams will even have scheduled Pokémon Go Theme Nights, with wearable in-game home team baseball caps, timed missions, and more.
