Had the opportunity yesterday to speak with ChampTrax founder Elias Anderson regarding his HearMeCheer technology. Wonderful piece of tech that teams can use to bring the live event experience to fans at home. There is definitely a use case during the period now where we will see empty arenas temporarily but I also see this tech being used to enhance the atmosphere when fans are back. HearMeCheer brings that live event experience to fans living rooms making them feel like they are part of the action. Brands and sponsors can jump on this to help create that authentic experience that is so crucial in sports sponsorships.
 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/larryfleisher/2020/04/16/if-sports-returns-champtrax-is-hoping-to-fill-the-crowd-noise-void-remotely/#15ab45ff45d8

Great way to expand your event beyond its borders using technology and  a great way to create digital assets for your partners.
"Partner brands can reach both participating athletes and the online viewers through opportunities for branding on the Facebook broadcast as well as within Ironman’s augmented reality bike courses themselves. "

​https://frntofficesport.com/ironman-virtual-racing-sponsors/

Smart technology investments are the only way that we are going to get fans into stadiums faster. WaitTime is one of those technologies that venues need to invest in to get fans back in the door and start generating revenue again.
​https://thespoon.tech/waittimes-new-crowd-management-tools-could-help-stadiums-re-open/

 5G(Wifi 6e following right behind) is here. What are your plans to engage fans, sponsors and generate revenue?
"The 5G technology will allow fans to try out augmented reality and virtual reality applications, such as taking selfies with avatars of players in front of the stadium or controlling virtual players. Fans will also be able to demonstrate their own ball skills via 5G."

https://www.thestadiumbusiness.com/2020/05/26/5g-goes-live-allianz-arena/

"Technology has become a key battleground in the fight between major European leagues to expand their reach beyond their borders and into new markets. All have portfolios of digital services and applications that aim to offer a ‘matchday-like’ experience to fans who may never set foot in a stadium because of their location might be thousands of miles away."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevemccaskill/2020/05/26/the-bundesliga-is-using-cloud-and-ai-to-power-new-stats-for-der-klassiker/#674400ec60be

The MLB has done a great job using technology and multilayered digital platforms to provide some really unique content to appeal to current and potential fans. One criticism that some people had about MLB in the past, was an inability to connect with a younger demographic.  It looks like they heard that feedback and really used the downtime to roll out some incredible activations digitally. This digital transformation will help keep fans engaged during the stoppage and also provide new and exciting activation and sponsorship assets when America's Pastime returns (hopefully soon!).
  

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29161137/how-coronavirus-forever-changing-way-mlb-connects-fans

Theres a lot of warranted doom and gloom out there about the economy and especially the sports and hospitality industries. Switching into a growth mindset shows that there is also plenty of opportunity out there. There are so many problems that need solving, industries that are changing, good companies with strong outlooks that are currently at low value etc. The growth mindset people are the ones who are going to thrive because they are actively looking for opportunities to make themselves and the world around them better. The mental game in sports in 80% of the equation and I would say it's the same in life and in business. Be positive, have a growth mindset and find opportunity where others can't see any and you will succeed.

​https://www.wyosports.net/high_school/cheyenne_central/cheyenne-spirit-teams-turn-to-technology-to-conduct-tryouts/article_1766919e-b1da-5a69-a563-ea383e7a6bb7.html

It's a critical time to keep your fans engaged and also a time in which can be used to understand who your fans are, what they want and then build that database to bring in new fans. This will create the next level fan experience when your fans return live and also at home. 
 Your fan data should be coming from many sources in order to get the full picture of your current and prospective fan base and that data should be clean and actionable. Garbage in and Garbage out won't work. A couple of great tools I've found that work for teams and really help do the work for you without hiring a whole data science department are Tradeable Bits and Zoomph. They create an ROI to your social strategy by capturing and understanding who is engaging with you on social which is your largest and most valuable fan data source. These tools make it easy to get the right data and create relevant and actionable reports on that data that can be used by the whole business, not just the stats people.

zoomph.com/blog/ufc-249-shines-with-social-media-engagement/
​https://musically.com/2020/05/20/tools-tradable-bits-know-your-fans-market-smarter/

Great piece profiling Fan$aves from FUTRSPRT. I was lucky enough to be asked to be on the Fansaves advisory board and jumped at the opportunity. I did it not only because the product is solid but I believed in the people behind the product. Shannon and Kris are tremendous entrepreneurs and have stopped at nothing to make Fansaves a success. Even during a pandemic, which has been perhaps the darkest time for sports startups, Shannon and Kris were able to pivot and not only thrive but they were able to do good for their community using Fansaves for charity fund-raising.
  To be successful it's all about the 3P's People, Product and Process and that's just as true for Startups as it is for every other business.

medium.com/futrsprtpodcast/fansaves-is-providing-sponsors-w-better-access-to-fans-via-analytics-d32cc9dfdd2a