The Time-Critical Logistics Company has been named as Official Freight Partner

LONDON, New York, United States (27 April, 2023) –The STA Group today announced that Rock-it Global has become a sponsor of The Sports Technology Awards, the leading global celebration of tech-led innovation in sports.

Rock-it Global’s three-year partnership will commence with The 2023 Sports Technology Awards, The Awards’ inaugural event in the US, which takes place on May 18^th in New York City.

Rebecca Hopkins, CEO The STA Group, explained: ‘Bringing The Sports Technology Awards to the U.S. for the first time is a very intensive operation, involving a large amount of logistics so we are delighted to have an experienced and respected partner, such as Rock-it Global, working with us on this’. 

‘Taking the opportunity to applaud innovation and excellence was an easy decision for the Rock-it Global team.’ said Adam Tubaro, Director, Key Accounts, Rock-it Global.

He continued: ‘We pride ourselves on being the best sports time-critical logistics provider so naturally we are eager to help recognize and celebrate those striving to be the best in technology innovation in sport.’

Rock-it Global, along with the other logistics specialists of GCL, provides logistics and freight forwarding services for the live entertainment and music touring, theatrical, fine arts, sports, motor sports, corporate events, film, television, and broadcasting sectors.

The Sport Technology Awards, dubbed ‘The Oscars of Sports Technology’ are owned and operated by The STA Group. The Group operates at the heart of sport globally whose mission is to identify, inform and celebrate the world’s leading sports technologies and the brands which embrace them.

Aggregate Sports, The STA Group’s North American partner, helped facilitate the agreement. 

The Sports Technology Awards 2023 is presented in association with NBC Sports Next. 

More information about The Awards and the Rock-it partnership can be found here.

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About The STA Group

The STA Group’s mission is to identify, inform and celebrate the world’s leading sports technologies and the brands which embrace them.  It does this through The Sports Technology Awards, The STA Startups, The Sports Technology Annual Review, The Sports Technology Power List, its newsletter, Access Innovation and Tech Chairs: The Sports Technology Podcast. The Group’s Partners include Capgemini, The English Institute of Sport, Sportradar and HOK.

About Rock-it Global

Rock-it Global is a leading provider of time-critical air, ocean, and surface freight forwarding and logistics for the live entertainment and music touring, sports, motor sports, broadcast, performing arts, tradeshow, and corporate event sectors.

Rock-it Global is a Global Critical Logistics Company (GCL), the holding company for a family of leading brands including Dietl, Cosdel, CargoLive, Dynamic International, and CARS who work with customers in fine arts, classic and high-end automobiles, film, television, and industrial projects.

Headquartered in Los Angeles CA, GCL has offices in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Australia, and Central and South America, augmented by a network of long-term partner agents specializing in critical logistics.

GCL is backed by ATL Partners, a premier sector-focused private equity firm based in New York.

The companies of GCL have served thousands of customers annually for over 40 years with bespoke, specialized logistics solutions for the most demanding transportation requirements across every continent.

For more information, please visit https://rockit.global/

Tech Chairs is a new sports podcast, brought to you by broadcaster, John Inverdale and STA Group CEO, Rebecca Hopkins.

Each week, John and Rebecca are given insider insights by tech experts, sports entrepreneurs, elite coaches, industry leaders and champion athletes, including Ben Ainslie, Paul Hawkins and Chris Boardman.

If you’ve ever wanted to know why the handlebars of bikes got so small, how Hawk-Eye was invented, which football team had the first club TV channel or why Ali, Jordan, Messi or Ronaldo might not be sports biggest GOATs …tune into Tech Chairs.

• Episode One: How Tech Snuck Up on Sport (Part One) with Andy Harland (Loughborough university), Naomi Stenhouse (The English Institute of Sport) and Andy Miah (Salford University)  AVAILABLE NOW

• Episode Two: How Tech Snuck Up on Sport (Part Two) with Andy Harland (Loughborough university), Naomi Stenhouse (The English Institute of Sport), Andy Miah (Salford University) and Ben Langdown (The Open University) AVAILABLE NOW

• Episode Three: How Hawk-Eye Happened with Paul Hawkins (Inventor of Hawk-Eye) AVAILABLE NOW

• Episode Four: Athlete Genetic Mapping, with Andrew Steele (Olympic Sprinter and DNAfit Founder) Drops 4^th April

• Episode Five: From the Track to the High Street: How Sports Apparel Is Big Business with Phelan Hill (Olympic Rower and Nielsen Sports) and Sandra Halliday (Fashionnetwork.com) Drops 11^th April

• Episode Six: Sports Broadcast – When Did One Screen Stop Being Enough?  With Paul Davies (AELTC) and Dave Roberts (Founder Boro’ TV) Drops 18^th April

• Episode Seven: F1 –Driving to Survive The Technology? With Simon Taylor (Motorsport Broadcaster) Drops 25^th April

• Episode Eight: When Did Sailing Become F1 On Sea? With Sir Ben Ainslie Drops 2^nd May

• Episode Nine: So Why Are Your Bikes’ Handlebars 42”? With Chris Boardman Drops 9^th May

• Episode Ten: The Top 20 Sports Tech GOATs – as nominated by you! Drops 16^th May

• Episode Eleven: The Sports Technology Awards Special – Winners Interviews from The Big Apple Drops 23^rd May

From the evolution of trainers to how DNA impacts your injuries, Tech Chairs is a must listen for sports fans, sports executives and the ‘sports tech curious’.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Technology has been a factor in sport for centuries, but where has it made the biggest impact?

We’ve asked all the experts we’ve welcomed onto Tech Chairs – with some very surprising answers – prompting us to ask the question ‘But is it a GOAT?’

GET INVOLVED – WHAT’S YOUR GOAT?

We don’t just want to hear from our guests – we want to hear from you, too.

In the 10^th episode of Tech Chairs (link) we’ll be counting down the top 20 sport tech GOATs of all time and you can nominate your GOAT (LINK).

Here are some ideas to get you started (link to the winner’s pages of The STAs)

If we like what we hear, you’ll be name checked on the show!

LONDON, England (Jan. X, 2023) – The Sports Technology Awards, dubbed the “Oscars of sports technology” today announced that NBC Sports Next, the technology and innovation division of NBC Sports, will be the presenting sponsor of the Awards’ first ever U.S. event in New York City on May 18.

The Sports Technology Awards are recognized as the leading international mark of excellence and celebrate the best tech-led innovations in sports around the world. The gala ceremony, which is moving from London, England to New York City for the first time, is being renamed ‘The Sports Technology Awards 2023, presented in association with NBC Sports Next.”

NBC Sports Next is home to NBCUniversal’s digital applications and technology platforms in sports, which equip more than 30 million players, coaches, athletes, sports administrators and fans in 40 countries with more than 25 sports solution products serving the golf, youth sports and recreational sports industries. Leading brands within NBC Sports Next include global online tee-time platform and golf course technology provider, GolfNow; digital golf membership and video streamer, GolfPass; and youth sports team management platform, SportsEngine.

“As a rapidly growing division within NBC Sports, we’re committed to facilitating technology growth and innovation so the sports we love to play, watch and experience continue to thrive and enrich our lives,” said Will McIntosh, President, NBC Sports Next. “Recognition by The Sports Technology Awards signifies a mark of excellence, which is why we’re excited to partner with The Awards, as well as present them in the U.S. for the first time.”

Rebecca Hopkins, CEO The STA Group added, “2023 is the 10^th anniversary of The Sports Technology Awards and our first ceremony outside London. We couldn’t be prouder to bring the celebrations to New York with such an exciting partner. We are delighted to be working with a brand that has made such a demonstrable commitment to innovative technologies in sport. NBC Sports is internationally known and respected, and the work it does via NBC Sports Next creates tangible value for the wider sports sector.” 

“Our strapline #onlyfortheinnovative summarizes our belief that The Sports Technology Awards was created for people and brands behind world-class technologies. Whether they facilitate innovation with their teams, help their brands respond to the exciting potential of technology or create the myriad of tech-led changes happening in sports each day. Consequently. NBC Sports Next is the ideal company to partner us in recognizing and celebrating such visionaries.”

More information about The Awards and the NBC Sports Next partnership can be found at www.sportstechnologyawards.com

Media Contact

Dan Tunna | daniel@sportstechgroup.org | +44 (0) 7973 824 415

Dan Higgins | NBC Sports Next | dan.higgins@nbcuni.com

About The STA Group

The STA Group’s mission is to identify, inform and celebrate the world’s leading sports technologies and the brands which embrace them.  It does this through The Sports Technology Awards, The STA Startups, The Sports Technology Annual Review, The Sports Technology Power List, The Sports Technology Global Directory and the newsletter, Access Innovation. The Group’s Sponsorship Partners include Capgemini, The English Institute of Sport, Sportradar and HOK.

About NBC Sports Next 

NBC Sports Next is a subdivision of NBC Sports and home to all NBCUniversal digital applications in sports and technology within Golf and Youth & Recreational Sports. Known for its sports technology product innovation, NBC Sports Next equips more than 30 million players, coaches, athletes, sports administrators and fans in 40 countries with more than 25 sports solution products, including GolfNow, the leading online tee time marketplace and provider of golf course operations technology and services; GolfPass the ultimate golf membership that connects golfers to exclusive content, tee time credits, coaching, tips and other benefits; SportsEngine, a youth sports club, league and team management platform; TeamUnify, swim team management services; GoMotion, sports and fitness business software solutions; TourneyMachine, tournament management solutions for youth sports. NBC Sports Next is fueled by its mission to innovate, create larger-than-life events and connect with sports fans through technology to provide the ultimate in immersive experiences.  

Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe is the latest organization to feature in our Post-Podium Stories – a series revisiting our 2022 Sport Technology Award winners.

Last year the media giant scooped the Best Use of Technology by a Broadcaster award for its state-of-the-art mixed-reality studio that transported millions of viewers to Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. In a broadcasting first, it not only beamed the world’s greatest athletes into its virtual studio but was credited with ‘redefining the viewing experience’ in an Olympic Games like no other.

Here, Alex Dinnin, Head of Graphics and Innovation at Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, provides an update on the technology shaping on-screen visuals and graphics and his top tips for business and individuals in the sports tech sector.

What has changed for your business in the last six months?
From a visual and graphics perspective, the release of Unreal Engine 5 is going to be a complete game changer for all virtual studios. Being able to think on a larger scale is a blessing for studio designs. 
 
Traditionally used as a gaming engine, the possibilities of applying it in broadcast production to create truly immersive content and experiences for viewers are endless.
 
To my knowledge, we were the first multi-market broadcaster to use UE5 for a live sports production. We used Unreal 4 for our coverage of a multitude of very different events including Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, tennis Grand Slams, the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes.
 
For the Winter Olympics, using Unreal Engine to develop graphics and virtual settings within our award-winning mixed-reality Cube studio took our coverage to a whole new level. We were able to create 26 different virtual environments offering immersive presentation and analysis positions for our on-air teams, including a vast cinematic winter resort set within the face of a snow-capped mountain. 
 
This meant that everything looked completely realistic to the untrained eye and ultimately provided our viewers at home with a much more exciting and engaging experience.
 
To be able to completely reskin our Cube studio at the touch of a button is revolutionary and enables us to switch between covering different sports immediately from the very same location. I’m excited about the opportunities ahead using Unreal Engine 5 – there is no limit to what we could build over the coming months.

What are the biggest changes happening in your part of the sports sector?
Due to the advances in virtual studios, it’s really exciting to be thinking about a traditional broadcast studio in a completely different way. Gone are the days of two people sitting in a small cupboard. We can now transport our presenters and guests to anywhere in the world, just like we did from our Cube studio for Beijing 2022. 
 
While this also ended up supporting the efforts to reduce our on-site footprint while producing our coverage of the Games given the pandemic, it also allowed us to create even more engaging experiences for our viewers.
 
Working with virtual studios is like learning a whole new discipline. Keeping pace with the latest innovations and advancements is a full-time job in itself!

What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given about working in sports / sports technology (personal or professional)?
Earlier in my career I had one piece of advice drummed into me on a daily basis… no matter how clever it is or how good it looks; it has to be editorially relevant.
 
This is something we live for Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe. We don’t simply use new technology for the sake of innovation. We do it to enhance our storytelling around some of the world’s biggest sporting events, helping to better connect our audiences with the action and athletes competing to unlock the power of different sports. Allowing us and our experts to tell even greater stories in the most compelling way.

What is the best piece of advice you’d pass on to a client or start-up in your world?
Think big – it’s only your imagination holding you back! 

The 2023 edition of The Sports Technology Awards will mark the 10th anniversary of the leading international celebration of tech-led innovation in sport and – for the very first time – be celebrated in New York. To find out more about the ‘Oscars of sports technology’ please visit sportstechnologyawards.com.

The latest to feature in our Post-Podium Stories – a series revisiting our 2022 Sport Technology Award winners six months on – is BatFast, who scooped the Best Technology for Fitness and Participation for its sports simulators.

Using an automated ball throwing machine, combined with artificial intelligence and machine learning, the BatFast simulators deliver balls for cricket, baseball or tennis players while creating an augmented reality experience.

Here, Navdeep Sethi, BatFast’s Chief Operating Officer, provides an update on how collecting the ‘Oscars of Sports Technology’ has impacted the business, plus his thoughts on the latest challenges on the market and his top tips for business and individuals in the sports tech sector.

What has changed for your business in the last six months?

The last six months has seen a huge amount of positive change for BatFast. One of the highlights was winning The Sports Technology Award. This was our first Sports Tech award entry, and it definitely represented a significant milestone in our growth and has seen us catalyse our growth from there. To receive such recognition for our efforts from people within the sports industry was a huge boost for the entire team. 

Since June, we have stayed true to our mission of using technology to increase global participation in sport and have had more than 135,000 people play on our simulators across nine different countries. We have also expanded into the US and will be opening new offices in the New Year. To support this growth, we’ve grown our BatFast family by more than 50%, which in turn has seen us move into new offices in the UK.

What are the biggest changes happening in your part of the sports sector?

This is such an exciting and competitive sector to be in, with so much innovation both in terms of technology and how customer interaction and experience is moving forward. We are seeing so much advancement in AI and the use of data by teams and players alike, so naturally we’re keen to be at the forefront of that change. From a BatFast perspective, it’s also great to see the development of sports with entertainment and how this has really catalysed the development of new and engaging fan experiences. 

What the best piece of advice you’ve been given about working in sports / sports technology (personal or professional)?

Remember how lucky you are to combine your personal passion with your profession. Very few get the opportunity to do this and it’s easy to forget how lucky we are to be working in sports tech!

What the best piece of advice you’d pass on to a client or start-up in your world?

Don’t be afraid to partner and be part of an ecosystem, as opposed to trying to do everything yourself. It’s natural and easy for new start-ups to want to do everything themselves and control the entire lifecycle. However, sometimes the fastest way to market and to achieve your ultimate mission, is to partner with other firms that have shared values and complementary skills/purpose.

To join BatFast as a Sports Technology Awards winner, be sure to enter the 2023 edition of the leading international celebration of tech-led innovation in sport. Entries close on December 15, find out more here: https://bit.ly/2jhH142

By Markus Nispel, CTO EMEA, Extreme Networks

From World Cups to Wimbledon finals, Grands Prix to golf majors, the United Kingdom has a rich sporting heritage that isn’t easily surpassed. Hundreds of famous venues and stadiums across the country – many acting as the hub of local communities – have provided a place for millions of fans to take in some of the most extraordinary moments in sport.

It’s this power to unite and entertain that has helped turn sport into a multi-billion-pound industry in the UK. However, our US counterparts still have the edge when it comes to the digital capabilities of their sporting venues, many of which have undergone digital transformation overhauls in recent years.  By implementing new network technologies, these venues are enhancing fan experiences and improving operations for sporting organisations.  

So, as the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool FC embark on their own digital transformation projects, how exactly can modern networking solutions give sports organisations in the UK the tools to deliver more memorable fan experiences and drive better business outcomes.

Delivering a connected in-stadium experience

Many of the UK’s leading rugby, cricket, and football venues carry a huge amount of history. Although they have slowly upgraded technology infrastructure over time, they were originally designed in a different era that was very different to the highly connected world we live in today.  As these stadiums were not built with wiring in mind, meeting the required level of connectivity has typically been a challenge.

Today’s fans want to be able to share their experiences instantaneously with others around the world, requiring powerful wireless networking solutions built for high-density environments. With new generations of Wi-Fi like Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, stadiums can ensure they have the bandwidth to better support fan devices that are connected to the network, as well as increase their use of fan-facing technologies such as mobile ticketing or cashless transactions.

At the same time, fans’ desire for constant connectivity can provide a goldmine of insights about fan preferences and operational efficiencies for event, venue and stadium operations teams to leverage through network analytics. This could include insights into behavioural patterns such as app usage in the stadium. Or, the data could help identify areas of foot traffic congestion, helping improve fan safety and measure the efficiency of mobile ticketing or mobile concessions.

Centralized network management can also allow operations teams to monitor and control network traffic and behaviour in real-time, so they can quickly troubleshoot and resolve any issues with the network. As venues and fans continue to become more connected, modern network capabilities will be the key to providing a safe and memorable experience.

Leveraging commercial opportunities

As well as continuing to improve existing revenue streams, technology is offering new, innovative opportunities for sports organisations. Pitch-side LED screens and perimeter boards provide a prominent example of how organisations and venues have implemented new technologies to help them connect with their partners and engage fans. However, modern connectivity is now taking this a step further.

Behavioural data is providing sports organisations with new insights into how their fans are engaging across the network. These insights can be used to drive new commercial deals or enhance the promotion of their own brand and merchandise, illustrating how network analytics is becoming ever more valuable across marketing, operations, IT and sponsorships. Understanding consumers’ expectations, in-stadium experience, and how that experience varies from event to event will empower executives to continue to customize and improve the overall experience.

We will continue to see major commercial deals for sports teams and venues which can enable them to reach new levels. Additionally, teams that can provide valuable insights into the evolution of their fans’ behaviour to meet their changing expectations and demonstrate the commercial capabilities of their venues provide a rationale for more lucrative partnerships in the years ahead.

Getting fit for the future

Although it’s virtually impossible to predict precisely how in-stadium experiences will evolve over the next decade, it is becoming increasingly clear that fans will drive the future of their own experiences. The onus is on sports organisations to enable this future in the most effective way.

This could involve gamification and connected technologies, which 7 out of 10 sports leaders view as being the greatest opportunity for sports in the years ahead. Thanks to the capabilities of modern Wi-Fi networks, artificial reality and virtual reality could become part of the in-stadium experience and provide commercial revenue streams for those organisations prepared to embrace them.

Ultimately, many of the UK’s major sporting venues are already taking steps to catch up with those in the US. But such transformations aren’t limited to only the biggest or most prestigious stadiums. We’ll likely see connected venues of all sizes emerge over the coming years, giving more fans and organisations access to enhanced in-stadium experiences and new revenue streams. Whether in venues new or historical, network connectivity will certainly have a key role to play.

Extreme Networks is a leader in cloud networking focused on delivering services that connect devices, applications, and people in new ways. For more information, visit Extreme’s website or follow the company on Twitter or LinkedIn.