Sportstech & Member News

Basketball WA has announced a partnership with Edith Cowan University (ECU) through a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding. This collaboration will see Basketball WA work closely with ECU to explore opportunities in evidence-based education and knowledge translation, research in long-term athlete development, performance, and injury prevention and joint projects that align with both organisations’ strategic priorities.

DAZN today announced it has acquired live rights to a wide range of U.S. college football and basketball content through a multi-year sublicensing agreement with ESPN. From the 2025 season, fans across selected territories in Europe and the MENA region* will be able to enjoy up to 25 college football games per week during the regular season only on DAZN. Significantly expanding its U.S. basketball offering, DAZN will broadcast approximately 20 games per week across men’s and women’s basketball, as well as 63 March Madness games.

IDA Sports, a woman founded and led company that designs cleats exclusively for women athletes, has been named a 2025 Most Innovative Brand by Front Office Sports. The Most Innovative Awards, in partnership with Sports Innovation Lab, recognizes trailblazing brands transforming how athletes and fans experience, embrace, and advance sports culture worldwide. DA cleats are built around the unique foot morphologies of female athletes, backed by extensive research and design that includes foot scanning, data collection and real-life feedback from professional and amateur athletes.

SportVot Australia has announced a partnership with Volleyball Victoria to deliver live broadcast coverage of the Victorian Volleyball League Finals.  Volleyball is now the tenth sport that SportVot has covered since launching in Australia less than 6 months ago. All Victorian Volleyball League Finals broadcasts will be remotely produced from Mumbai, India.

AmpThink, a leader in the deployment of complex technology systems in stadiums and arenas, have released details on what stadium owners spend the most on in technology. Large format display account for 41% of spend, followed by audiovisual at 25%, broadcast at 19% and base technology (such as networks, wifi and telephony) at 15%. These numbers tell an important value story. Real business value is often defined less by technical sophistication or advanced engineering and more by the problems solved and the revenue unlocked.

Reclink Australia has announced a partnership into STWS Conference to share insights on Game Changers Games sports social inclusion program. Reclink Australia provides evidence-based sport and art social inclusion programs to disadvantaged Australians that create socially inclusive, life-changing opportunities. An innovation and extension for these programs is Game Changer Games, a social event with purpose where teams compete in various sports, promoting physical activity, social connection, and mental well-being to solve inactivity and loneliness. Dave Wells, CEO of Reclink Australia, will be delivering a keynote at Australia Sports Tech Conference in Melbourne on Wednesday 29th October 2025 at the MCG on this topic.

Women Sport Australia has entered a partnership with Sports Tech World Series (STWS) for Australia Sports Innovation Week, continuing to lead the change to achieve fairness, inclusivity, and the right for every woman and girl to pursue her passion for sport without judgment, limitations or barriers.

Since 2018 the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) and the Australian Army have had a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in place focused on what elite soldiers, athletes and their teams can learn from each other. This week the ASC CEO, Kieren Perkins, signed a reinvigorated MOU with Chief of Army, LTGEN Simon Stuart in Canberra. Both organisations share interest in emerging research and technology that supports human performance at individual, team and organisational levels.  The MOU also outlines new priorities including transitioning in and out of elite environments, concussion management and resilience. 

In today’s sports and entertainment landscape, fans expect fast, seamless, and personalised engagement across every channel. Yet for many organisations, voice calls, chat, SMS, and social messaging often sit outside core CRM systems—creating gaps in data and missed opportunities to build stronger fan relationships. That changes with the newly announced partnership between EngageRM, a leader in sports and entertainment CRM, and Solgari, the Microsoft-certified customer engagement provider. Together, the two companies are bringing truly native voice and digital engagement directly into Dynamics 365.

Formula 1 announced a partnership with Liberty Media and CAA to host an F1 Business Summit – a sports and entertainment summit that will feature a collection of the most influential minds in sports, entertainment, and business. The F1 Business Summit will be held during race week on Thursday, November 20 at Wynn Las Vegas.

Layercake has announced a new strategic partnership with Broadcast Solutions, one of Europe’s largest media systems integration groups. Broadcast Solutions will integrate and resell Layercake’s Streamcake platform, offering advanced automation and cloud-enabled production capabilities to media organisations globally. This marks an important step in streamlining complex broadcast workflows through hybrid and cloud-native tools for broadcasters and content owners.

Queensland University of Technology researchers have created a powerful new tool that could predict when an athlete is at risk of suffering another injury when returning to play from a previous injury. It uses data from wearable sensors capturing how the athlete moves in training or gameplay, along with data about the preceding injury and contextual information to quantify the risk. The system was developed by Associate Professor Paul Wu, Distinguished Professor Kerrie Mengersen and Yu Yi Yu from the QUT School of Mathematical Sciences and Centre for Data Science, alongside an interdisciplinary team comprising performance health researchers from the Australian Institute of Sport, statisticians from UNSW and informed potential users. Their hope is that it could help coaches, medical staff and athletes spot danger signs early, avoid costly injuries and keep players performing at their peak.

Australia is Fanatics’ fastest-growing market outside the US, with the sports merchandise giant scaling up its local operations and signing more new partners in the region than anywhere else globally. Key moves include, eight new partnerships in two years, spanning AFL, Rugby Australia, NZ Rugby, and more; support for partners at major international events (including the NBA x NBL Melbourne Series and the 2027 Rugby World Cup) and a huge product expansion with Rebel Sport, adding 10,000+ new SKUs from US leagues.

Scrum Ventures and Scrum Studio have announced 11 startups selected to join Hokkaido F Village X (HFX), a global acceleration program designed to foster collaboration between international startups, leading Japanese corporations, and local municipalities in Hokkaido, Japan. The program will focus on implementing cutting-edge technologies in Hokkaido and within the F Village, a mixed-use urban development project and home of the Nippon-Ham Fighters professional baseball team. The goal is to leverage innovative technology to enhance the region's appeal and address local challenges.

Frogbox has announced a continuation of their partnership with every Premier Grade Cricket competition across Australia following 8 partnership renewals throughout 2025 bringing more than 2,000 matches to fans each season. Every week over 100 men's and women's Premier Cricket clubs across Australia set up their Frogbox streaming kits, use the technology to help clubs and leagues promote the game, unlock commercial value and create shortform content for social media.

Hudl, one of the world’s leading provider of cloud‑based technology connecting video and data for sport, has earned FIFA Basic Certification for its broadcast‑tracking solutions. Until recently, evaluating physical performance required GPS wearables, limiting analysis to a club’s own players. Hudl’s certified broadcast-tracking solution changes that. By converting two-dimensional video into accurate positional data, Hudl’s system generates detailed physical metrics from match footage alone covering more than 100 global competitions, providing insights at scale. 

Manchester City Football Club has launched its first project under City Fan Labs, a fan innovation unit focused on next-gen fan experiences, with a Roblox campaign called StickerBook Challenge. City Fan Labs is focused on Virtual Worlds, Gaming, Web3, AI, and XR, created to experiment with the future of fan engagement and build first-of-its-kind experiences for City Football Group and its partners.

Microsoft Corp. is extending its multiyear strategic partnership with the NFL, ushering in a new era of AI innovation across the league. The NFL’s Sideline Viewing System for every club has been upgraded with more than 2,500 Microsoft Surface Copilot+ PCs to empower 32 clubs, roughly 1,800 players, and more than 1,000 coaches and club football staff with real-time game data and analysis tools. Coaches and players have access to a new feature built with GitHub Copilot to filter plays based on criteria such as down and distance, scoring plays, and penalties to quickly analyze formations, decipher coverages and make more data-driven and strategic decisions.

SANFL is pleased to announce a new partnership with CME to illuminate football ovals across the State with cutting-edge lighting solutions. A national leader in sports and stadium lighting, CME will be the official preferred sports lighting supplier for football in South Australia. CME most recently delivered oval lights at Football Park oval, West Lakes, on behalf of SANFL and Adelaide Football Club and are also working with the Adelaide Football Club at its new Thebarton development.

Champion Data has entered into a new collaboration with the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) to support the continued development of Pipelines — a modular deep learning platform initially developed at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) under the leadership of Dr Stuart Morgan, who has since joined Champion Data, as Head of Machine Learning and AI. Pipelines is a flexible AI framework that allows users to build complex deep learning systems by connecting pre-built modules, enabling rapid, real-time development and deployment without the need for writing task-specific code.

ESPN in the US has launched its new direct-to-consumer streaming service and a set of new features on an enhanced ESPN App, making ESPN’s full suite of 12 networks and services available directly to fans for the first time ever. The unique combination of ESPN DTC within the updated ESPN App gives fans more choice and unprecedented access to all of ESPN, with an elevated viewing experience that makes watching sports more personalized, dynamic and engaging for fans.

Wicket, a leading facial authentication platform provider, announced that the Geelong Cats are offering expedited entry into GMHBA Stadium through dedicated Express Members Lanes using Wicket facial authentication. This is made possible through Wicket’s integration with Ticketmaster, which allows Geelong Cats Members to easily pair their tickets with a selfie photo – streamlining the ticket redemption process to less than 5 seconds per group.

Success is certainly synonymous with Loughborough University. The university has an unparalleled reputation for sporting excellence, both in terms of student performance and research, and has topped the QS World University Rankings for sports-related subjects nine years in a row. And to ensure that aspiring analysts are fully prepared for demanding elite environments, the University has integrated Hudl Statsbomb and Insight into the curriculum of their performance analysis courses.

The NBA is launching a league-wide biomechanics program with motion capture labs to be installed at the training facilities of all 30 teams within a year. The protocols have been developed in consultation with the NBPA as well as sports medicine and performance experts. Provisions for such a screening program are codified in the current collective bargaining agreement, requiring players to participate in up to four assessments per season. The goal is to have identical setups, with the same technology vendors and the same prescribed athlete motions, to ensure standardized data collection. The four tech companies that won the league's RFP include Qualisys, Theia Markerless, Bertec and BreakAway Data. P3, a performance expert company, will be a consultant to the program.

The National Basketball League (NBL) and ESPN today announced a significant multi-year extension of its media rights deal in Australia and New Zealand.  fans will now be able to stream every NBL game live on Disney+ via the ESPN tile. With Disney+ available in millions of Australian and New Zealand homes, the NBL will be exposed to a broader mainstream audience than ever before. In addition to ESPN on Disney+, ESPN's NBL programming will continue to be included on the ESPN networks available through Foxtel, Kayo Sports, and Fetch TV in Australia, and Sky in New Zealand, with Free-to-Air games continuing on Sunday via a renewed deal with Network 10.

Bundesliga International is strengthening its longstanding agreement with Sportradar to further enhance the viewing experience, accelerate innovation through new exclusive data, and deliver next-generation digital experiences for the betting and gaming market. Utilising the 3.6 million data points from every Bundesliga match, a suite of new products have been launched ahead of the start of the 2025-26 Bundesliga season, and available to Sportradar’s global client base. The Live Player Markets product will leverage Bundesliga tracking data and Sportradar’s advanced AI capabilities in real-time will create approximately 240 additional opportunities to bet per match.

Australian video capture startup Flowstate is barreling into new markets and finding fresh customers for its AI-powered technology, after securing $AUD 600k in fresh debt funding from Tractor Ventures. Flowstate’s video technology allows manmade wave parks to track and film riders, with the resulting footage providing new opportunities for coaching — and impressive social media posts. The startup claims its system has captured and analysed more than 12 million rides since launching in 2022, across wave parks in Australia, the USA, Germany, England, Scotland, and the UAE.

Batbox is launching its first Topgolf-style baseball venue in September, and soon its simulators may be in hotel lobbies and airports too, all connected through one digital network. Think Topgolf, but for baseball. With $US 3 million in new funding from EMERGING, Batbox announced plans to license smaller, self-serve simulators to hotels, airports, and office buildings starting this quarter. The latest funding brings Batbox’s total raised to more than $US 10 million, including a previous $US 7.3 million Series A.

C51 Consulting have launched PRO MODE, a mobile fan-engagement game platform designed for brands ready to move beyond passive advertising. C51's bespoke fan games turn customers and fans into active participants, where they compete, win rewards, and interact with brands in real time.

Coachbetter has announced Dr. Suresh Letchmanan, Managing Director of Borussia Dortmund Asia Pacific, as an investor and growth advisor. Over the past 4 years, Coachbetter have built a strong partnership with Borussia Dortmund, serving as their global coaching education and operating system. With his extensive network and experience growing one of Europe’s top clubs in international markets, Suresh will play a key role in accelerating Coachbetter's expansion across Asia.

Hudl, one of the world’s leading provider of cloud-based video and data tools for sports, announced the acquisition of SportContract, a hockey-first software platform built to streamline video, data, and communication workflows for professional and youth teams.

SailGP, the global racing championship has launched a new mixed reality app, 'SailGP RaceScape XR'. Designed for Apple Vision Pro, the first-of-its-kind XR experience in sail racing app will be available via Apple’s Vision Pro store, bringing global fans a front-row seat to every event of the Rolex SailGP Championship. RaceScape has been built on SailGP’s industry-leading production technology - LiveLine. The cutting-edge technology provides fans multi-screen viewing, AR tabletop racing and live data integration. 

TNQ Tech,Co., a sports technology innovator at the intersection of sports science, neuroscience, and behavioral science, announced the US launch of its JUMP! Performance Platform — the world’s first mobile-based athlete monitoring system that integrates physical, cognitive, and vision performance measurement into a single ecosystem. The platform connects TNQ Tech’s suite of AI-powered mobile applications — SAQ!, FAST!, Move!, Load!, BRAIN!, and EYES! — enabling coaches, teams, and sports scientists to collect, analyze, and store athlete data in one secure, centralized hub.

Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games will, for the first time in Games history, allow venue naming rights, unveiling Comcast and Honda as inaugural partners in a move aimed at boosting commercial revenues. The pilot program, developed with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), will let qualifying LA28 partners retain existing venue names during the Games and buy additional marketing assets.

The sports media landscape is shifting, with viewers increasingly turning to streaming via digital platforms, and parting ways with traditional broadcast and cable. But streaming services must deal with technical issues such as latency and buffering, as over half (57%) of sports viewers face challenges when streaming sports. This is according to a new paper released by InterDigital, Inc., a wireless, video and AI technology research and development company. The report, “Streaming Live Sports: Where Opportunity Meets Complexity”, reveals how streaming infrastructure must evolve in line with changing consumer viewing habits, especially with streaming players increasingly paying for sports broadcasting rights. A total 42% of US internet households paid for a traditional pay TV service in Q1 2025, down from 62% in Q1 2020, whilst over half (55%) of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) households subscribe to five or more SVOD services.

Snow ski helmet manufacturer Anti Ordinary selected as finalist in Premier of Queensland’s Export Awards. Anti Ordinary helmets have been sold in more than 50 countries worldwide. Anti Ordinary has been selected in the Emerging Exporter category. The awards are supported by Trade & Investment Queensland.

Kayo Sports has extended its two-decades long relationship with ESPN through a new multi-year agreement. The renewed arrangement, which also includes Foxtel, will see subscribers continue to enjoy live sports and programming on ESPN and ESPN2, including the best of US sports such as the NBA, NFL, MLB, UFC, WNBA and NHL.

Burnley Football Club has announced the launch of the Burnley FC Innovation Hub, a new accelerator programme created to help the next generation of sports tech start-ups turn bold ideas into real-world impact. The Innovation Hub offers early-stage companies the opportunity to pilot their products within Burnley FC’s elite Premier League environment. Over a six-month period, selected start-ups will work directly with club staff to test their solutions in live settings, gain structured feedback, and generate the traction needed to take their businesses to the next level.

ECAL has announced that it is now the official calendar solution for the MotoGP. MotoGP has a fan base of hundreds of millions, and ECAL has supported its recently released 2026 calendar featuring 22 Grand Prix across 5 continents. The solution is much more than just a calendar reminder. It is fans personal gateway to the heart of the sport, delivered straight to their personal calendar of choice. ECAL has a proven expertise in working with the world’s most popular international sports and entertainment organisations to serve huge global audiences with rich, localised, and actionable events content.

Sports Insight Media has announced a partnership with MyClubtap, Australia’s first fantasy sports platform purpose-built for grassroots clubs and leagues. Founded in Melbourne, MyClubtap has reimagined what local sport can look like, allowing clubs to run their own branded fantasy games, driven by real club players. With over 95 fantasy leagues, 3,000+ users, and clubs across six states, the MyClubTap platform is creating new ways for communities to connect, engage, and grow. Sports Insight Media will support MyClubTap's expansion plans through smart media, brand storytelling, and scalable content systems powered by technology and AI.

Paramount has announced a seven-year media rights agreement with TKO Group under which Paramount+ will become the exclusive home of all UFC events in the USA, pulling the mixed martial arts events from ESPN. Disney’s ESPN had secured a deal that, starting in 2019, featured the MMA promoter’s matchups on TV and pay-per-view in ESPN+. The seven-year term, which begins in 2026, has an average annual value of $US1.1 billion, with an overall value of $US 7.7 billion over that period. 

Smart sunglasses startup Minimis has announced a partnership with ElectroKare, an electrolyte monitoring platform. ElectroKare turns your fitness tracker into a personal performance coach generating real-time electrolyte monitoring, AI training insights, and recovery guidance - all without blood tests. Minimis and ElectroKare are building an application which will allow customers to see their electrolyte levels in their sunglasses whilst they workout.

Jump, a New York City–based fan experience and sports technology startup, has raised $US 23 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six, with participation from Courtside Ventures, Will Ventures, Forerunner, and Steve Malik, owner of the NC Courage. Founded by Jordy Leiser, Marc Lore, and Alex Rodriguez, Jump offers a purpose-built platform for sports teams and venues, integrating ticketing, content, commerce, and gameday operations. The announcement follows the company’s recent partnership with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx of the NBA and WNBA.

vivenu, an advanced ticketing platform trusted by more than 800 leading organizers worldwide, has partnered with STWS Conference as part of its strategic expansion into global markets. The partnership supports vivenu's mission to enable event creators to build 360° fan experiences and maximize revenue potential.

A former AFL player has raised $AUD 400k for a new startup making it easier for athletes and everyday travellers to find single-day gym passes on the road. GymGoer, founded by ex-Sydney Swans and North Melbourne player Ryan Clarke, lets users search for nearby gyms and workout facilities offering short-term access. GymGoer allows users to pay for temporary passes, instead of signing long-term contracts they might not need, and sign gym waivers within the app itself.

Femmi CEO and co-founder Lydia O’ Donnell is empowering women to learn about their bodies and move with confidence. As a national level runner for New Zealand O’Donnell was told that in order to be a successful athlete, she had to be skinny, small and lean, which is an unfortunately prevalent narrative. O’Donnell says she’s gutted that she lost so many years to underfueling and overtraining. However, it’s for this reason she decided to create Femmi, a running app that supports people to train in line with their menstrual cycles. Hormones and energy change during a woman’s menstrual cycle. Femmi offers personalised run training, expert women’s health support and access to women-led run communities.

Garmin has acquired MYLAPS, a leading Dutch provider of integrated timing, live tracking and performance analysis tools that helps create the sports experience for millions of athletes and spectators. With operations in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, MYLAPS supports elite brands and race management companies around the world with easy-to-use data-driven technology solutions for running, cycling, motor sports and equine competitions.

iReel has announced a partnership with TrackBox, pioneers in tracking technology that delivers advanced insights into player performance and movement. By combining TrackBox’s tracking algorithms with iReel’s generative AI platform, the companies are exploring how the fusion of tracking data and AI-driven insights can transform tactical and physical decision-making for coaches, players, clubs, and leagues.

Alissa Wilkinson founder of Pursuit Labs announced as a finalist in two categories at the Ausmumpreneur awards for 2025 - Digital Innovation and Health Business Award. Pursuit Labs is a fitness and wellness platform helping people to be proactive in achieving their health and fitness outcomes.

One of the world’s most respected minds in high performance sport is set to join the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS), with Dr David Martin appointed to lead the organisation’s revamped Research and Innovation Unit (formerly the SPIKE research area). Dr Martin’s arrival will be a joint appointment with The University of Queensland, where he will also take up the role of Professorial Research Fellow in Sports Technology and Performance.