Are the Seattle Mariners poised to level up this season? Perhaps, if a jersey patch is the boost the team needs.

The Mariners announced Thursday that Nintendo of America will be the baseball team’s first-ever official jersey sleeve partner.

A red and white Nintendo racetrack logo will be featured on Mariners home jerseys, and a Nintendo Switch 2 logo will appear on away jerseys for all regular and postseason games. The Mariners are the first team in Major League Baseball to feature different marks for home and road games.

The patch will debut next week on Opening Day, March 27 vs. the A’s at T-Mobile Park.

In a new video, Mariners star Julio Rodriguez is shown wearing a jersey with the patch — after a red Mario hat is shown next to his M’s cap in his clubhouse locker. “Play ball,” he says as video game music plays while he takes a swing of the bat. “This is gonna be fun.”

The All-Star centerfielder will serve as a brand ambassador for the collaboration.

“It’s a me Julio,” one fan wrote on Reddit, in a nod to Mario’s iconic video game catchphrase.

Nintendo of America, headquartered in Redmond, Wash., bought the Mariners in 1992 under then Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi. It sold the majority of its shares in 2016 and maintains a minority stake.

“Nintendo and the Mariners have been inextricably linked since 1992,” Seattle Mariners President of Business Operations Kevin Martinez said in a statement. “Now, each time the Mariners take the field, our jersey sleeves will help serve as a reminder of all that Nintendo of America has done for the Northwest community and the team.”

The M’s are the latest MLB team to secure a uniform patch deal. The Athletic reported last summer that 23 teams had such deals, and that the league average for the patches is around $7 million to $8 million a year. The biggest sponsorships are believed to be the Yankees and Blue Jays in the low-to-mid $20 million range annually, and the Red Sox at around $17 million, according to The Athletic.

The Portland Trail Blazers will offer technology from a Seattle startup to help blind and low-vision fans better follow the action on the basketball court.

The Trail Blazers are the first professional sports team to provide the haptic device from OneCourt at every home game. The NBA team offered the tech in a three-game pilot at the end of last season.

OneCourt’s laptop device uses generative audio and haptics to translate live gameplay into trackable vibrations, so fans can follow the live action with their fingertips. The Trail Blazers worked with the NBA to provide OneCourt access to the league’s live gameplay tracking data in real-time.

Many blind or vision-impaired sports fans rely solely on audio to follow a sporting event, but that audio can often be behind the live action, and makes going to in-stadium events less appealing. Audio can also lack certain spatial details about what’s transpiring.

OneCourt was co-founded by a group of University of Washington graduates, including CEO Jerred Mace.

“We believe that sports are for everyone, and last year’s pilot proved that OneCourt doesn’t just make live games accessible, it makes them more enjoyable for fans of any age, background, or visual ability,” Mace said in a news release Wednesday.

The Trail Blazers — owned by the estate of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen — are partnering with Tickemaster to make five devices available at Moda Center in Portland on a first come, first served basis.

Fans can email guest.experience@trailblazers.com for reservation inquiry. The devices may be checked out from the guest services stand at entry A7, A24 on the 100-Level and C23 on the 300-Level at each game.

While millions of Americans think of Black Friday as a prime day to launch their holiday shopping, Prime Video will be focused on yet another live sporting event, streaming today’s NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders.

It’s the second year in a row that Amazon and the team behind its regular “Thursday Night Football” broadcast will serve as the exclusive platform for the holiday weekend game, a new addition to the NFL’s traditional slate of Thanksgiving weekend action.

And even though Prime Video has proven for years that it can pull off live sports for large audiences, Friday’s game comes at a time of heightened attention on streaming reliability in the wake of the issues Netflix had during the Nov. 15 boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul.

While Netflix said the fight was streamed on 65 million devices around the world, and dubbed it a big success, buffering problems were an issue for many viewers who flocked to social media to complain. And the NFL reportedly reached out for reassurance, since Netflix will stream two games on Christmas Day.

The NFL’s not checking in with Amazon. For seven years the tech giant has been perfecting what it takes to carry live sports across the internet, starting with non-exclusive NFL games in 2017, then Premier League soccer games in 2019, and exclusive “TNF” streaming starting in 2022. “TNF” is averaging 14.31 million viewers this season.

With NBA and NASCAR to come, it’s all part of Amazon’s major bet on sports streaming to boost its Prime memberships and advertising revenue.

Eric Orme, Amazon’s vice president of live sports, runs the engineering teams that stream Prime Video games.

“In terms of our approach, our architecture, things we would really care about, we often talk about ‘feature zero’ — it just has to work,” Orme said. “Customers turn it on, what they really want is good picture quality, and for it to be flawless. So that’s really what we focus on, and it’s still at the core of most of what we do.”

Unlike the gradual uptick of viewers during a normal program, Orme likens live sports to a DDoS attack, in which a flood of traffic can make it hard to access online services and sites.

“Your systems have to be ready for that spike,” Orme said.

Prime Video relies on a host of learned and technical advantages to be ready:

• AWS leverage: Being part of the same company as Amazon Web Services does have some advantages. “AWS helps us look around corners” in terms of new technology, Orme said, adding that the relationship is similar to any big AWS customer.
• Full redundancy: There are thousands of variables that can impact a stream at every different venue that Prime Video travels to. From a major internet service provider problem to a piece of equipment going down to someone tripping over a cord, problems arise and backups are key. Prime streams a main feed, Spanish feed, Prime Vision feed, and sometimes another alternate feed, and all require encoding, decorating, media packaging and more — “you essentially have 36 different feeds because of all that redundancy,” Orme said.
• Latency: “We feel pretty strongly that customers should get the stream as close to real time as possible,” Orme said. “So we’ve got our own proprietary low latency player technology that we have been developing for a while. It gets us basically 10 seconds or less on our streams, which is at least as good, often better than broadcast television, which is a pretty high bar.”
• Frame level synchronization: No matter where a viewer is watching an event, they’re always in sync with everybody else. That helps avoid spoilers from a friend who texts about a specific play or outcome, so that everyone is getting the same experience.
• Broad ISP and device compatibility: Orme says for most streamers the easy path is to work closely with several major internet service providers, or ISPs. “We actually work with thousands of ISPs because we care about the customer in rural Wyoming,” he said. “We want them to have a great experience, too.” Prime also works with the broadest selection of different devices globally. “We want to reach every customer, where they are, whatever device they have. It means a lot of complexity on our side.”

As it became comfortable over the years establishing its technical credibility and attracting an audience, Prime Video has begun to innovate, especially as it relates to NFL coverage.

As part of Prime Vision, fans now see AI-powered “Prime Insights” designed to “illuminate hidden aspects of the game” with such things as “Defensive Alerts” and “Key Plays.”

“Those lessons that we’ve been learning over seven years are literally baked into every single feature that we do, every single line of code we write,” Orme said. “We obsess about making sure that what we’re doing for customers is actually valuable and not just cool because it’s cool.”

Much like last year’s Black Friday game, Amazon will also use the event as an opportunity to attract more Prime subscribers and reach more online shoppers by leveraging its e-commerce prowess.

As Joe Pompliano reported on Huddle Up, Amazon’s $100 million payout for the rights to the game is a strategic investment based on what it could mean for securing shopper dollars. Amazon has developed interactive advertising tech that targets ads based on the search history of a shopper, who can make purchases without even leaving the live game.

Orme compared the streaming possibilities against what consumers have expected for decades from broadcast television. Broadcast is like a train, he said — here’s your train, this is the path you’ll take.

“The internet gives you the ability to say, ‘Yeah, but I want to drive my own train. I want to take this path. I don’t want to go that way,'” he said. “How do we give customers that ability to really drive their own experience?”

Seattle-area startup Fairway Bikes raised a $1.25 million seed round to fuel development of its unique electric bike built for golfers.

The company last year began rolling out its 3-wheeled golf e-bike that’s aimed at helping speed up the pace of play while giving golfers a way to get some exercise on the course.

The bike aims to fill a gap between the traditional motorized golf cart and a manual pull cart. GeekWire tested the bike earlier this year.

Fairway Bikes has partnerships with three courses around Washington state that offer the bikes to golfers: Suncadia Resort, Bear Creek Country Club, and Twin Lakes Golf & Country Club.

The company has interest from more than 50 golf courses and the new funding will help fuel production, said CEO Alex Wunderlich.

Fairway Bikes began development in 2021, under the leadership of founder Jim Billmaier, a tech industry veteran and longtime entrepreneur who previously worked with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen on two different companies.

Fairway Bikes also announced that it added Rad Power Bikes co-founder Ty Collins as an advisor. Collins helped launch Seattle-based e-bike maker Rad Power Bikes in 2015 and stepped down in 2021.

“Unlike other golf-focussed EV options, this isn’t just an e-bike with a rack for your bag slapped on,” Collins said in a statement. “It’s a purpose-built product and that shows while riding it.”

Other innovative transportation devices for golfers include the GolfBoard, a skateboard-like electric four-wheeler built by a company in Bend, Ore., as well as an electric motorcycle called Finn Cycle from Missoula, Mont.-based Finn Scooters.

Wunderlich, a former investment analyst and product leader, previously told GeekWire that Fairway Bikes sees trends including a growing number of golfers and the continued push to improve the pace of play as tailwinds for its business.

Fairway Bikes’ investors include Andrew Weber, CEO of water filtration company Grayl, and Brad Griffith, founder of ticketing startup GameTime. Scott McNealy, founder of Sun Microsystems (Billmaier worked at Sun for four years), is an advisor.

Wunderlich is the company’s only full-time employee. Other team members include COO Frank Paganelli, the former COO at produce delivery service Full Circle and CEO of biotech firm Salish Bioscience, and CTO Alex Millie, a longtime product engineering leader.

Previously: Riding bikes and making birdies: We played golf with an electric 3-wheeler built by a Seattle startup

Lumen Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks, holds the geeky distinction of having the most cashierless locations that use Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology of any stadium across the U.S.

Amazon’s system is an amalgamation of overhead cameras, shelf weight sensors, and computer vision software. Fans scan their credit card (or palm) upon entry, and the technology tracks what items they grab. Then they simply walk out without needing to interact with a cashier or self-checkout process.

Amazon first unveiled the technology at one of its Amazon Go convenience stores back in 2018. It has added the system in other store formats, though recently backed away from Just Walk Out in most of its large-format Amazon Fresh grocery stores and shifted to smart shopping carts.

Stadium concession stands, however, seem like the ideal use case for Just Walk Out. It’s a more streamlined shopping experience (fewer items, consistent format, and a small footprint) where speed really matters (fans want to get back to the game).

Amazon white-labels Just Walk Out to retailers in stadiums, which is why you won’t see much of the company’s branding on the stores. Amazon has grown its third-party Just Walk Out business, selling the tech to more than 200 stores in airports, hospitals, and college campuses, in addition to sports and music venues.

We checked out all 15 stores at Lumen Field last week — six were added this season — when the Seahawks hosted the 49ers for Thursday Night Football, including two apparel shops that use RFID tags instead of cameras. Here’s a quick rundown of each location, starting with our favorites.

Tutta Bella, sections 107 and 137

Tutta Bella is hard to beat if you’re looking for a higher-end Just Walk Out food pickup.

Pizza ($17.99 for pepperoni), salads ($16.99 for a chicken caesar), charcuterie ($12.49), tiramisu ($14.49) — all from a well-known Seattle-based pizzeria.

There’s even a chicken pasta primavera ($15.49) and rigatoni bolognese ($15.49). This is elevated “fast food.”

The Tutta Bella locations also have Red Vines, M&Ms, Sour Patch Kids, and peanuts.

The drink selection is somewhat limited, relative to other Just Walk Out shops at the stadium.

But the personal pizzas and Italian specialties push Tutta Bella atop our rankings.

District Market, section 300

Fans seated up in the nosebleeds aren’t left out when it comes to Just Walk Out.

In fact, the District Market location seems like the most well-rounded cashierless location at Lumen Field.

There is a wide array of beers and other alcoholic drinks, and some fun food options. The butter chicken wings ($14.99) looked tasty. The chicken teriyaki bowl ($13.99) and pork belly BBQ burnt ends ($14.49) were intriguing.

Throw in some peanuts, chips, and candy (Swedish Fish at this one!) — and you’ve got a solid Just Walk Out option on the 300-level.

Fly Thru Market, sections 105, 114, 122, 304, 310, 323, 334 and 340

You can certainly “fly through” these drink-focused locations. There’s something for everyone here, from local craft beers to domestic tastes, to wine and various hard seltzers — even mixed cocktails, non-alcoholic, and Starbucks drinks are available.

The Fly Thru Markets are located directly across from the traditional concession stands, which usually have lines.

It’s almost as easy as getting up off the couch and grabbing a drink from your fridge while watching from home. Except this particular fridge is a lot bigger — and the drinks will drain your wallet a bit more.

Hempler’s/Bavarian Meats “Local Dog & Brats” section 109 and 135

If you’re looking for that classic gameday dog and pretzel, supplied by two Washington state brands, this location will do the trick.

There are several hot dog choices here, including the “Seattle Dog” ($15.49), a vegan option, and a regular dog for just $5. There are also $5 cans of Busch Light sold here. That’s a pretty good gameday deal.

The Pro Shop, section 124

There are two apparel stores at Lumen Field that use a different format of “Just Walk Out.” Instead of scanning your payment option at the entrance, you do it at the end, where sensors scan RFID tags of each item you’re holding.

The larger, better shop at section 124 is stocked with jerseys, hats, beanies, and more.

The other apparel location, over by section 140 in the Northwest corner of the stadium, is an “outlet” shop that is much smaller and sells discounted items. The options here are not as good, unless you’re looking for cheap jerseys of former players. We tested out this store when it debuted last season.

Final thoughts

It was a fun experiment walking through the concourse with the various store formats, from the old school stand-in-line-for-your-food, to the cashierless options.

There are several “Grab & Go” stores which use self-checkout machines. It’s not as fast as just walking out, but for venue operators, they don’t require as much technology and there is more flexibility to rotate food/drink.

One particular “Grab & Go” location in the lower bowl sold drinks, chips, candy, and sandwiches — even a tofu bahn mi from Saigon Drip Cafe in Seattle’s International District. There was also an apparel stand with hats and the “coozie of the game.”

The store had a nice selection of various items, with plenty of room for patrons to move around and little waiting time.

Finally, this installation from Bellevue, Wash.-based wireless carrier T-Mobile caught my attention. T-Mobile customers could get into “Club Magenta” — which came with a free snack and drink — if they showed a pass in the company’s T-Life app.

A nice perk for existing customers — free beer at the game! — and a good way to get folks to download the app. Could Verizon, AT&T, or other brands beyond wireless also do something similar?

Cashierless technology definitely seems like a permanent fixture at Lumen Field, and at stadiums across the world. The Seahawks say they’re seeing higher throughput and sales at certain locations after transitioning to the Just Walk Out format.

It’s still not clear if Amazon’s particular system will proliferate elsewhere, such as traditional grocery or department stores. There are also other companies and startups developing their own versions of the technology. And questions remain about the cost of installing and maintaining the tech, learning curves for consumers, and data privacy concerns.

But for NFL fans or music concert attendees who just want to grab a drink and a bite and get back to their seat without waiting in line, Just Walk Out fits the bill.

After Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith threw an interception in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s game against San Francisco, Amazon’s stream showed him on the sidelines slamming the Surface tablet on his head before throwing it on the ground.

Play-by-play commentator Al Michaels quipped: “Not since Bill Belichick have we seen a slam-down like that.”

That’s a reference to the former Patriots head coach doing a similar slam back in 2016.

Microsoft’s custom-built, ruggedized tablets have been used by coaches and players on the sidelines since 2014 as a tool to review past plays, replacing the three-ring binders with paper printouts.

The rollout initially got off to a rocky start as commentators, including Michaels, referred to the Surface as an “iPad” or “iPad-like tool.”

But, as we detailed in 2021, Microsoft’s tablet ended up changing football forever: the tablets are now a mainstay on the sidelines.

And the deal was a boon to the company’s tablet brand. It now serves as a marketing case study for a successful sports tech partnership.

From earlier today: Amazon bets big on sports streaming in bid to boost Prime memberships, advertising revenue

When Charlie Neiman arrived at Amazon in 2016, the company had never streamed a live event, let alone live sports.

Fast forward eight years later, and Amazon has emerged as a leader in the burgeoning sports streaming world.

“It is crazy how far we’ve come in a relatively short period of time,” said Neiman, head of sports partnerships for Amazon Prime Video. “I don’t think there’s really a precedent for what we’ve accomplished as an organization.”

Amazon has invested billions of dollars to buy expensive sports media rights and build out extensive cloud computing infrastructure required to stream games for Prime members around the globe.

The company is betting that the strategy will pay off in the form of additional Prime membership sign-ups ($139/year) and new revenue to fuel its growing advertising business.

Live sports remains one of the most-watched telecasts.

“Sports are very attractive for our customers and you can expect us to do more,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told CNBC earlier this year.

As more people cut the cord, sports leagues are increasingly engaging with tech companies as their existing deals with traditional cable providers expire. Google has a substantial deal with the NFL, Apple partners with Major League Soccer, and even Netflix is getting in on the action.

“Over time, I think live sports is going to be viewed just as often and as frequently on streaming as it is on linear TV,” Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video, said at a Bloomberg event this week.

The company’s live sports investments are part of a broader move to build the “next generation of an entertainment service” that goes beyond on-demand movies and TV shows, Hopkins said.

Amazon is reportedly expanding into live news, tapping longtime anchor Brian Williams to lead election night coverage next month, according to CNN.

Tonight at Lumen Field in Seattle, just a few miles from Amazon’s headquarters, the tech giant will stream this week’s NFL Thursday Night Football game to millions of Prime members worldwide as the Seahawks host the San Francisco 49ers in a NFC rivalry matchup.

The exclusive NFL deal, worth a reported $10 billion over 10 years, is the crown jewel of Amazon’s live sports catalogue. Viewership through the first four games this seasons was up 20% year-over-year, at 14.17 million viewers.

Later this week, Amazon will stream its first regular season NHL game in a new deal this season with the Seattle Kraken, part of a larger potential move into local sports.

The company is also set to stream NBA games starting with the 2025-26 season (and reportedly pay the league $1.8 billion annually). NASCAR races will come to Prime next year. It has additional deals with the WNBA, UEFA and Champion’s League (men’s soccer), NWSL (women’s soccer), PBC (boxing), and others.

Amazon has differentiated itself by building out technical capabilities, taking advantage of Amazon Web Services, its $100 billion cloud business.

The company got off to a rocky start with its initial Thursday Night Football streams several years ago but the latency has been vastly reduced with new proprietary technology, Neiman said.

It can also offer unique advertising opportunities through “audience-based creative,” which lets brands tailor ads to specific customer segments, thanks to the company’s vast data trove on more than 200 million Prime members.

“You’re no longer beholden to a one-to-many message,” Neiman said.

Last year Amazon aired the first Black Friday game in NFL history, incorporating various in-game shopping features.

Amazon has helped bring 50 new advertisers to NFL programming, Neiman said.

There’s also the opportunity for leagues to experiment with new broadcast experiences.

In addition to its main broadcast for Thursday Night Football, Amazon offers “Prime Vision” as an alternative viewing option that incorporates additional circles, colors, orbs, and other digital shadings, powered by machine learning and RFID chips embedded on each player.

Features include “Defensive Alerts,” which is able to spot potential defensive players that will rush the quarterback, or “Prime Targets,” which identifies open receivers during a play. 

Some aspects of the Prime Vision stream periodically end up appearing in the primary broadcast.

GeekWire reviewed Prime Vision last month — the technology is impressive, but it may not be for every NFL fan.

And that’s part of the point, Neiman said.

“There is a segment of fans who want more, and they want to experiment with different pieces of going deeper,” Neiman said. “That could be advanced stats, that could be alternate streams, it could be AI integrations. We’re investing and inventing the experience to try to figure out how to best serve those fans.”

Streaming sports over the internet, versus a traditional cable broadcast, gives Amazon the flexibility to experiment.

“It’s the beauty and freedom of being a digital-first entity,” Neiman said.

You can expect more testing as Amazon pushes the envelope on the consumer viewing experience — both during games and commercial breaks.

“Sports fans are incredibly passionate about their teams and leagues and the games,” Neiman said. “It’s an area where there’s endless opportunity for innovation.”

You can’t exactly grow an up-and-coming professional hockey franchise in the same way that you’d scale an early stage software company.

But Samantha Holloway is certainly using lessons learned from years as a tech startup founder in her role leading the Seattle Kraken.

GeekWire sat down with Holloway for an interview in Seattle last week, just before the Kraken’s fourth season in the NHL begins Tuesday.

Holloway joined the team as a minority investor when it debuted in 2021. The following year she was named chair of the team’s executive committee.

She later became a co-owner alongside her father, billionaire businessman and Kraken founding owner David Bonderman — elevating her to the top of the organization and making the 44-year-old one of the few principal female owners of an NHL franchise.

Holloway’s path to pro hockey included unique pitstops along the way. The Washington D.C. native earned a graduate degree in forensic psychology, launched a high-end women’s boutique store in Denver, and then had a nearly decade-long run as co-founder of a Denver startup called GoSpotCheck, which was acquired in 2020 by Form.com.

Her tech startup journey began inside the 2011 cohort of the Techstars Boulder accelerator, where she helped pursue an idea related to renting maternity wear to women.

But her team quickly shifted gears after customer focus groups and investor apathy forced a new direction.

A couple of pivots later eventually turned into GoSpotCheck, a B2B software product used by beverage, retail, and consumer goods companies to audit products in stores.

“It was a huge learning experience,” said Holloway, who was the company’s chief customer officer.

In many ways, she’s doing the same job today.

Holloway is constantly looking for feedback — surveying season ticket members or asking fans in the elevator at Kraken games about their experience.

“If your customer isn’t liking your product, there’s going to be churn and it’s going to be hard to grow,” Holloway said. “So for us, it’s really important to listen to the fan.”

Speed also matters — not just on the ice, but also in execution of front office initiatives.

Holloway said the team leans on “iterating quickly.”

“That’s not being reactive,” she said. “That’s just being able to move quickly without a lot of red tape, and I think that’s important. It’s similar to a startup.”

Technology, meanwhile, is “in the DNA” of the franchise, said Holloway.

“This is a sports team,” she said. “But it’s really enabled by technology.”

That shows up in various forms — from the team’s smartphone app (which doubles as a free transit pass for fans), to the new first-of-its-kind live game streaming deal with Amazon.

It doesn’t hurt that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is a Kraken minority owner. He was “instrumental” in building the team’s app, Holloway said.

“Andy is great,” she said. “He is extremely smart, but also empathetic and a great partner. And he loves hockey, so that’s the most important thing.”

Amazon’s cashier-less Just Walk Out technology is also embedded in several retail stores around the team’s Climate Pledge Arena — which bears the name of Amazon’s environmental initiative and is a stone’s throw away from Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle.

“They’re obviously huge and moving quickly and doing really interesting things,” Holloway said of Amazon. “We’re certainly very lucky to be associated and working with them.”

The Kraken made it to the second round of the NHL playoffs in 2023. The team struggled last season and finished seventh in its division, but home attendance metrics remain strong.

The goal, of course, is to win a Stanley Cup — something not done in Seattle since 1917.

But there are other ways to measure success, said Holloway, who still keeps one foot in the startup world through a venture fund and startup studio.

She points to helping teach kids how to play hockey outside her office window at the Kraken Community Iceplex, or broadening the sport to new fans.

Seattle is also a reported front-runner to land an NBA expansion team in the near future — an effort that would be led by the Kraken ownership group.

“As we grew GoSpotCheck, we didn’t think too much about the end game,” said Holloway, who moved to Seattle in 2022. “You focus on building a great business, and then something great will happen. In a lot of ways, that’s what we’re doing here as well.”

More than 100 years ago, Seattle-based Brooks Running actually made ice skates. While there’s no intention of getting back into that line of business, the company is announcing a new partnership with the Seattle Kraken as official supplier of off-ice footwear and apparel for the NHL franchise.

In the multi-year deal — terms of which were not disclosed — Brooks replaces Adidas in outfitting Kraken players, coaches and staff for their training needs. Brooks will also support the team as needed through the high-tech Run Research Lab that it operates at its headquarters building on the north end of Lake Union.

On Wednesday, Kraken goalie Joey Daccord, who will serve as a player ambassador in the partnership, was put through the paces on a treadmill in the lab. An avid runner and longtime Brooks customer now in his sixth NHL season, Daccord helped demonstrate how biomechanics and athlete insights are used to not only inform the development of products, but also aid in training efficiency and injury reduction.

A team of about 25 Brooks employees works in the lab, where infrared motion-capture cameras ring the ceiling and assess athlete movement via small sensors stuck to various points on the athlete’s body. At one point, Daccord jogged at a steady pace for about two minutes while wearing a metabolic mask to test his VO2 max capacities.

Pete Humphrey, head of research and development at Brooks, said everything at Brooks has to be grounded in science with the goal of making athletes better and helping them enjoy the run.

“In the beginning, we had a little insole we put in a shoe. The lab was located in the same room with our printer/copier machine,” Humphrey said. “We’ve grown it into what is today one of the one of the most state-of-the-art facilities. This is the foundation of all product we build.”

The treadmills in the lab are running about 300 days out of the year, sometimes with high-level athletes like Daccord or members of the Brooks professional team, or with ordinary runners and walkers. Each product goes through anywhere from three to seven iterations, depending on the innovation involved.

Data coming off the treadmill might help engineer a shoe midsole so that it works best with an athlete’s body. Cushioning, energy, return, release, and support information is all used to build a shoe from the athlete up, versus just putting a shoe on a runner and hoping it works.

“It’s all about the athlete from start to end,” said Jennifer Sumner, director of run research at Brooks. “That’s going to be understanding how they’re moving from the outside, and then what’s actually happening inside their body as well.”

Following the demonstration with Daccord in the lab, Brooks and the Kraken held a post-game “press conference” higher up in the HQ building. Joined by more than 100 Brooks employees, Brooks CEO Dan Sheridan and Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke discussed their appreciation for each others’ brand and their excitement about working together and serving the community.

Sheridan, who has been at Brooks since 1998, assumed the CEO role six months ago, succeeding Jim Weber, who spent more than 20 years in the top job.

Leiweke, a lifelong runner with seven marathons and a few Mount Rainier climbs under his belt, said he was looking forward to wearing his Brooks gear at Kraken games.

“We get to wear not just a shoe we believe is trustworthy and all of those things, it’s a shoe we’re proud of, because you have a culture here that is so unique and so special,” Leiweke said.

Started in 1914 in Philadelphia, Brooks is the oldest American sporting goods company in the U.S. The company made its move to the Northwest in 1993 and to its current location along the Burke-Gilman Trail on the Fremont-Wallingford border 10 years ago. The company now employs 550 people in Seattle and 1,400 worldwide, and will occupy part of a second building being built next door.

A subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Brooks reported record revenue in the second quarter, up 15% year-over-year. It has the highest market share in the adult performance running footwear market for U.S. retail. The company said its e-commerce revenue grew 22% year-over-year in the first quarter.

Brooks-Kraken-branded gear will eventually make its way into team pro shops for fans to purchase. And Brooks branding will also show up in Climate Pledge Arena and during televised games, via digital displays.

So why pair a longtime running brand and a 3-year-old pro hockey team?

“Run is at the center of every performance athlete’s training — doesn’t matter what sport you’re in,” Sheridan said. “What we know as a universal truth is that athletes choose to run for their training, and the biggest fear that an athlete has is injury. So we spend every waking hour on the biomechanics of human motion, the kinesiology and physiology of how to make a run better for the athletes.”

AI seems to be everywhere these days — even on the screen during live NFL games.

Amazon is kicking off another slate of Thursday Night Football games, part of a decade-long deal it inked with the NFL to exclusively stream live action every week during the NFL season.

A new feature coming to Amazon’s main TNF feed this year is called “Defensive Alerts.” It uses AI and predictive modeling technology that tracks the movement of defensive players before a play and tries to determine who is most likely to rush the quarterback. A red orb appears around the moving players to help viewers spot potential blitzers.

“It really gives the fans a bit of insight as to who could be rushing the quarterback and changes the way they view the game,” former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman, now an NFL analyst for Amazon, said in a press release.

The feature was tested in Amazon’s alternate TNF feeds last year and now it will be used in the main broadcast for each game this season, starting with the Miami vs. Buffalo matchup Thursday.

Amazon experiments with a bevy of analytics-focused features as part of an alternate broadcast called Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats that fans can access while watching via Amazon.com, Fire TV, or Prime Video app.

New features in the alternate feed this year include “Pressure Alert,” which highlights defensive players in position to disrupt a play, and “Coverage ID,” which uses live player tracking data to show defensive schemes before the ball is snapped.

There’s also “Defensive Vulnerability,” which identifies areas on the field where the offense should attempt to attack.

“When I watch a game, I like to see how the pre-snap motions force the defense to adjust,” Kirk Herbstreit, a longtime commentator and analyst on TNF, said in a statement. “The new Defensive Vulnerability feature will show exactly where the offense should exploit mismatches.”

Of course, not every fan may want to watch a game in the same way as commentators or former players. So it makes sense that Amazon appears to take a methodical approach to adding any fancy tech features to the main TNF stream.

Amazon this season will broadcast an NFL playoff game for the first time, streaming a Wild Card matchup later this year. It’s also streaming a game on Black Friday after doing the same last season. The company integrated e-commerce shopping features as part of the game feed last year, offering a potential glimpse at the future of advertising during live sports.

Amazon paid a reported $100 million for the TNF deal. It’s part of Amazon’s growing sports streaming catalog that will also include NBA games starting in 2025.

As more people cut the cord, sports leagues are increasingly engaging with tech companies as their existing deals with traditional cable providers expire. Those companies are hungry for valuable content such as live sports — one of the most-watched telecasts — to draw more subscribers to their respective platforms.

For Amazon, the streaming deals offer a way to boost Prime memberships, which are required to watch games. It also opens up more revenue opportunities via advertising, which has become one of Amazon’s most profitable businesses.

Just in time for the start of another NFL season, a new startup out of Portland, Ore., is using artificial intelligence to help football fans make more informed bets on games.

Field Vision officially launched its new football analytics app Tuesday with the goal of providing the most accurate game and player-specific predictions and analysis.

CEO and co-founder Scott Bouska is a former Nike executive and NFL agent who was looking for the right time to combine his sports knowledge with his desire to create a startup. He teamed up with co-founder and chief data scientist Cameron Taylor, a Stanford PhD who spent time at Instacart and is now at Netflix.

With its proprietary model, the Field Vision app provides weekly matchup analysis across every NFL contest. It uses historical data to predict future outcomes based on scheme, tendency, game plan, and personnel. The app — subscription priced at $9.99 a month / $49.99 for the year — also offers player and team rankings and expert analysis via a blog and newsletter.

And it provides betting recommendations, keying on an industry where fans wagered nearly $120 billion in 2023, but where their winning percentage continues to decline.

“The game of football is such a perfect game to apply AI to in a way that something like baseball is not,” Bouska said, adding that the whole concept behind the company is that things that happen on a football field can mostly be modeled and predicted.

Field Vision is built around data from the last five years of NFL games that shows millions of on-field variables, such as how a defense lines up and how an offense reacts to that defense. Certain players respond to and perform better than others when certain variables present themselves, and the app’s AI crunches those scenarios.

“It’s football-specific variables put into an AI-driven model that can project performance,” Bouska said. “This is a betting tool more than anything else, and consumers need more information on betting because there’s more people doing it, and it’s only going to continue to grow.”

The startup will hope to ride tailwinds from a growing legal sports betting industry that has quickly been embraced by the NFL.

Field Vision is partnering with a fantasy football provider this season. Bouska said the company may add fantasy to its offerings, though initially he’s not interested in that complexity. But using the app every week as is can still provide valuable fantasy insights, he said.

Bouska also said Field Vision may develop a B2B software platform that could be used by media who cover the NFL or eventually as something teams could use.

“We decided to start on the consumer side because it’s a bigger business,” he said.

Field Vision is bootstrapped and employs seven people. The app is available on iOS and Android.

While some Major League Baseball teams call on a monkey for help, or try to chop their way to a dramatic win, the Seattle Mariners managed to rally during a game this season on the strength of a presumably failing computer.

The situation was the bottom of the eighth inning of a 4-4 game on May 31 against the Los Angeles Angels, who had just erased a 4-0 deficit with a T-Mobile Park-silencing grand slam in the top half of the inning.

Sensing the need to get the crowd’s energy level back up, members of the Mariners’ game entertainment team turned to a rally video on the centerfield scoreboard that, at first, looked and sounded like a major fail.

As a Mariners hype clip began to play along to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the music and video suddenly stopped with an error message. The giant video screen then displayed the dreaded “blue screen of death,” which happens in Microsoft Windows when a serious problem causes the operating system to shut down or restart.

As the screen switched to the rolling green hill and blue sky of Microsoft’s default Windows XP desktop wallpaper image, the hush in the ballpark seemed to indicate fans’ cringing sense of sympathy for whomever was running the video board.

Adding to the increased attention: it was Microsoft night at the ballpark, with thousands of fans in attendance with ties to the Redmond-based software giant.

But as a cursor arrow quickly moved across the screen and new windows began to pop open, including a Spotify playlist titled “Emergency Rally Songs,” the rally gimmick started to materialize. The “operator” opened a PowerPoint document and started typing: “Sorry our last video bugged out … BUT FANS, WE NEED YOU NOW!!!! …. SEATTLE, ON YOUR FEET!!!!!!!!! …. IT IS RALLY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Motley Crue’s “Kickstart My Heart” kicked in and fans jumped up. Thin “ribbon” video screens at T-Mobile were turned into status bars of sorts, showing the rally clip “loading” as the adrenaline in the stadium increased.

Mariners first baseman Ty France eventually stepped to the plate and hit a go-ahead home run in what would become a 5-4 Seattle win. Another successful rally — and rally video.

“You’re always looking to engage the fans, or surprise and delight them in some kind of way,” said Nick Sybouts, a game entertainment coordinator with the Mariners. “It’s those things that I feel like everyone can relate with — that iconic desktop background, the blue screen of death — that not only myself, but probably hundreds of thousands of other people have seen.”

Sybouts, who previously did similar work as an intern with the Seattle Seahawks, is a University of Washington graduate who works closely with Tyler Thompson, a former Spokane Indians press box manager, who is a senior manager in the experiential marketing department and game entertainment team with the Mariners.

Along with video editor James Carlin and others, the small team handles live entertainment elements on Mariners game days, from writing scripts to coordinating ceremonial first pitches, anthems, contests, content for the video board, music, the new Salmon Run and (very viral) Hot Dogs from Heaven, and more.

Sybouts and Thompson alternate at home games, working with producers to “call the show” from a T-Mobile Park control room.

“It is 100% my dream job,” Thompson said. “Working in entertainment, and specifically in sports, this is what I’ve always wanted to do, and there’s no team in the world I’d rather do it for than the Mariners.”

“I didn’t know a job like this existed, and now I know it does and I’m just having the time of my life with it,” Sybouts added.

The win over the Angels was not the first appearance of the so-called “desktop rally.” It was used on Opening Day this year and a couple other times. The reaction was good, so the entertainment team kept it at the ready.

Thompson said you could “hear a pin drop” when fans actually thought something was going wrong in the control booth.

“People think one of two things,” he said. “Whoever this is is the most brilliant on-their-feet thinker of all time, and was just able to turn a live production catastrophe into the hype moment of the year, or, dang, the Mariners really got us because we thought that they actually were experiencing technical difficulties.”

Fans on social media agreed that the Mariners entertainment team pulled off a superior piece of ballpark content. Jack Surge, who writes a newsletter about how to elevate your brand through memes and viral trends, called the video the greatest thing he has ever seen in a post on X that has 12.6 million views.

Thompson said the sweet spot with such content is to not overuse it. It has to remain a surprise for fans. Last July, the team went viral with another clip in which they laid Mariners highlights into a SpongeBob SquarePants “Sweet Victory” video.

“It got posted online and received millions of views and we haven’t run that rally clip since, trying to preserve a little bit of what was special that night,” Thompson said.

Ultimately, the team says it’s in the lab every day trying to pick its spot for the next big moment. They’ve found that rally video success doesn’t necessarily need to come from intensity or drama or be set to “Thunderstruck” or “Seven Nation Army.”

“With young millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha, there’s energy and excitement that can be created from meme culture and from the surprise or silliness of something,” Thompson said. “It’s a little bit of our niche, but also something that separates us from the rest of Major League Baseball teams. And we’re going to continue to go down that path, and I can’t promise you that it won’t continue to get weirder.”

More operators. More sizzle. More founders investing in each other. And making the city a better place to live.

Those are some of the ingredients that could boost Seattle’s startup scene, according to four early stage venture capitalists who spoke on a panel at the Seattle AI Investor Summit + Showcase, hosted by the Technology Alliance on Tuesday.

Seattle often gets criticized for not having enough homegrown money to help fuel the next great tech startups. The number of firms deploying dollars pales in comparison to Silicon Valley, New York, Boston, and Los Angeles.

But the panelists didn’t point to that as a pressing problem.

“We spent a lot of time here navel gazing and beating ourselves up for something that I don’t think matters — which is the number of VCs or the amount of money that lives here and gets deployed in this ecosystem,” said Kirby Winfield, founding general partner of Seattle venture firm Ascend.

Most Seattle startups raise investment from firms based outside Washington state. That’s a feature, not a bug, said Leslie Feinzaig, founder and general partner of Graham & Walker.

“Being a net importer of dollars is something we should be proud of,” she said.

Feinzaig said there’s something else lacking from the Seattle ecosystem — founders supporting founders.

“At the very earliest stages, one thing that I see in the Bay Area, and to a lesser extent New York and L.A., is founders investing in each other — really experienced startup people being the angel investors that fuel other startups,” Feinzaig said.

Winfield agreed, calling it a “level of connectivity” between founders at different stages in their careers that can make it easier for investors to back startups in those types of entrepreneurial communities.

There are efforts in Seattle to try to create those connections. Founders’ Co-op investor Aviel Ginzburg recently unveiled Seattle Foundations, a new invite-only organization and shared workspace that supports tech founders by surrounding them with fellow entrepreneurs and experienced startup mentors.

The panelists also touched on another critique — or advantage, depending on who you ask — of Seattle startup founders: their general subduedness.

Feinzaig said Seattle founders “need a little bit more sizzle” in their pitches. Her firm mainly invests outside the region, and she’s noticed a difference in the delivery of other founders.

The local startup scene also has too much “Seattle Nice” that can stall future innovation, said Heather Redman, managing partner at Flying Fish. In other words: investors and advisors need to be more transparent and direct when giving feedback.

“In the Bay Area, I think there’s a little bit more ruthlessness of, ‘that’s not going to get funded, so don’t do it. Do another thing.’ And Seattle doesn’t always do that,” Redman said.

Seattle is certainly not lacking in talent, particularly top engineers. The problem is that many have “beautiful golden handcuffs” at large tech companies based in the region such as Microsoft and Amazon, said Ken Horenstein, founder and partner at Pack Ventures.

“When you’re an AI engineer that can make seven figures, it would be insane to go start a company,” he said.

Horenstein, whose fund backs companies with ties to the University of Washington, said there are ways local government can incentivize entrepreneurial activity.

He added that Seattle could use more “operators.” He said many experienced startup execs, particularly in life sciences, move away after their company gets acquired. “We need to keep those people here,” he said.

The investors also talked about elevating Seattle’s image on a national and international stage.

“The number one thing to concentrate on is making this the best place to live,” Redman said. “If we can attract the very best talent here, because this is where people want to live and where they want to raise their families, then we will be the winners in the long run of the talent race, and we will have the best companies.”

Athletes might possess the right touch to execute a perfect pass or shot. A Seattle startup’s touch is bringing blind or low-vision sports fans closer to the games they love with a device that lets them “feel” what’s happening on the field or court.

OneCourt‘s technology and hardware translates gameplay data into spatial haptics. The company’s tabletop device syncs to the television or radio broadcast of a football, basketball or baseball game, for instance, and tracks key movements and plays in the game with tactile playing-field outlines and vibrations under a user’s fingers.

Many blind or vision-impaired sports fans rely solely on audio to follow a sporting event, but that audio can often be behind the live action, and makes going to in-stadium events less appealing. Audio can also lack certain spatial details about what’s transpiring.

OneCourt’s haptics are intended to augment the audio and fill in gaps. CEO Jerred Mace said it all plays into how we form meaning from different senses.

“With touch, you’re building an understanding through the details. You’re feeling and then you’re building,” he said. “Whereas with vision, you’re seeing the big picture first and then you’re picking out details. So it’s kind of the reverse.”

Mace started OneCourt more than two years ago at the University of Washington, where he studied industrial and product design. His co-founders include three fellow Huskies: COO Antyush Bollini, CTO Andrew Buckingham, and CIO Nick Durand.

“I think my role as a designer, as an innovator is how can we bring this awesome experience to everybody?” Mace said.

OneCourt relies on data that is already being collected and distributed by professional sports teams and leagues for a variety of purposes, such as the NFL’s Amazon-powered Next Gen Stats.

“We view ourselves as a very human-centric application,” Mace said. “We’re out to improve somebody’s foundational experience with the game. And it’s cool that we can do that through data.”

OneCourt’s biggest support has been a 12-month grant through Microsoft’s AI for Accessibility program. The startup is also partnering with T-Mobile on technical support, 5G integration, and access to workspace.

OneCourt took home a $50,000 investment prize — as well as a $5,000 fan favorite prize — at the Flywheel Investment Conference in Wenatchee, Wash., last month. The startup has also competed in a number of UW competitions, such as the Dempsey Startup Competition and the Holloman Health Innovation Challenge, and it went through the Jones + Foster Accelerator Program.

The company also had its first in-venue pilot recently with the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. Mace and others got to go to the last three games of the season and sit with students from the Washington State School for the Blind and the Northwest Association for Blind Athletes who were using the device.

“It was a very special experience to work on this for so long and being able to watch the game with fans who finally feel a part of the action,” Mace said.

Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith and his wife Kathy Surace-Smith have purchased a stake in the Seattle Mariners, becoming just the third additions since the team formed a partnership group in 1992.

Mariners chairman and managing partner John Stanton announced the news Wednesday, saying that the goal of the group has been to find “partners who both love baseball and are passionate about public service.”

Stanton is a wireless industry pioneer who sits on the Microsoft board of directors. He took over as Mariners CEO in 2016.

The Smiths are the first new additions since Mariners legend Ken Griffey Jr. joined in 2021.

Brad Smith joined Microsoft in 1993 after leaving private practice as an attorney. He’s held his leadership position at the Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant for the past nine years. He serves as chair of the Board of the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship program, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of Princeton University.

Surace-Smith is senior vice president of human resources and legal affairs at Seattle-based biotech company NanoString Technologies. She was previously VP and general counsel at SonoSite and Metawave Communications. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fred Hutch Cancer Center and of Columbia University.

In 2022, the Smiths committed $5 million to a campaign to restore the 104-year-old ASUW Shell House at the University of Washington in Seattle. Brad Smith also helped lead fundraising efforts for The Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering at the UW, which opened in 2019.

“We’re excited to join the partnership group and support the Mariners success, both on the field and in service to the community,” the couple said in a statement, via MLB.com.

Kerry Carter, a former pro football player with the Seattle Seahawks and other teams, is tackling a new role as CEO at Atavus, the Seattle-based sports technology company that teaches proper tackling technique.

Atavus has grown beyond being a consulting company for NFL teams and higher-end collegiate programs. The focus now is mainly as a software-as-a-service business targeted at a wider market, including high schools, where coaches can get certified in a tackling system aimed at increasing player safety. Certification opens up access to Atavus drill videos, tackle plans and more.

“I tried to really shift what the foundation of the business would be,” said Carter, who started at Atavus in 2016 and took over as CEO in January. He plans to reintroduce the company’s consulting and analytics product, which will be improved by advances in machine learning and generative AI.

“It’s just finding better ways to intake information and produce better outputs for our clients that are actionable,” he said. “The biggest thing for us is being a resource for coaches.”

Carter is already busy linking Atavus to other sports tech providers. The company announced a new partnership Monday with Hudl, a Lincoln, Neb.-based sports analysis technology company. The plan is to combine Atavus’ player safety expertise with Hudl’s cutting-edge technology to track and improve performance.

Atavus started as a rugby skills platform in 2011 and transitioned to a comprehensive training program for football through its Atavus Tackle System, which offers coaching techniques and analysis aimed at making tackling safer. Former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was a big believer in the system, which he labeled “Hawk Tackle,” and the University of Washington and Ohio State football programs were also early adopters.

The startup was acquired by sports technology and data investment fund Phoenix Sports Partners in 2019.

Carter said there’s a lot of conversation around football and tackling technique right now, especially in the NFL where a rules change will eliminate the so-called “hip-drop tackle” from the game. Carter doesn’t think safety and performance have to be mutually exclusive.

Atavus’ approach is to look at tackling from a data-driven perspective to determine if it’s safe and efficient. Carter points to former Seahawks great Bobby Wagner as a prime example of what a player can achieve with proper technique.

“Bobby’s one of the most efficient tacklers and has been for a very long time, and he’s a high shoulder and chest percentage guy. Bobby’s rarely injured,” Carter said. “[Teams] have invested millions of dollars in these guys and they want to keep them on the field.”

Seattle Kraken fans will have a new place to root for the pro hockey team next season.

The franchise announced an innovative new broadcast deal Thursday that will bring games to Amazon Prime Video and Tegna stations KING 5 and KONG in the Seattle area.

The move is a departure from regional cable broadcaster ROOT Sports, where Kraken games have been televised for the past three seasons.

As part of the multi-year agreements, KING 5 and KONG will broadcast all non-nationally televised Kraken games — more than 70 in total — for free over the air.

Prime Video will stream all non-nationally televised games for Prime members in Washington, Oregon and Alaska, including pre-season, regular season and the first round of playoffs. The Kraken are the first NHL team to have Prime Video as a direct streaming partner. 

Amazon is already a major player in the franchise:

• The tech giant bought naming rights to Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena back in 2020 when the old KeyArena was being redeveloped.
• Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is part of the team’s ownership group.
• The company’s name is on team helmets and its cashierless “Just Walk Out” technology is used throughout the arena.

And Amazon is no stranger to going after the valuable streaming rights to sports broadcasts, most notably with its “Thursday Night Football” deal with the NFL, which runs through 2033. Last year, the company also announced a seven-year content deal with NASCAR to stream five NASCAR Cup Series races beginning in 2025.

Prime subscribers who pay $139 per year or $14.99 per month get access to the live sports streams, and those in the Pacific Northwest will now be able to watch Kraken games, as well. Amazon touted a boost in U.S. Prime signups during its first exclusive stream of an NFL game in 2022.

“Seattle Kraken hockey is synonymous with the Pacific Northwest, and we’re thrilled to bring Prime members in Washington, Oregon and Alaska access to Kraken games on Prime Video,” Charlie Neiman, head of sports partnerships for Prime Video, said in a news release. “Live Kraken games add to our growing selection of premium live sports and deliver additional value for Prime members throughout the Kraken home footprint.”

KING 5, an NBC affiliate, will be the official television partner for the Kraken. John Forslund, JT Brown, Eddie Olczyk, Alison Lukan and Nick Olczyk will continue broadcasting games next season.

All non-nationally televised games will be broadcast on Tegna’s KONG, with a number of games throughout the season simulcast on KING 5. In addition, games will be broadcast free over the air on Tegna stations KGW, the NBC affiliate in Portland, and KREM, the CBS affiliate in Spokane, Wash. Additional markets in the Pacific Northwest will be added.

The Arizona Coyotes and Las Vegas Golden Knights also broadcast games over the air. After a new TV deal last year, Coyotes President Xavier Gutierrez said it was necessary to reach more households, serve the fan base and capture new fans.

ROOT Sports continues to be home for Seattle Mariners baseball games.

When Sanjay Parthasarathy left his last tech job in February 2023, he figured he’d do what he could to help get the first season of Major League Cricket up and running in the Seattle area and at the national level. After that, it would probably be time to go find another “real job,” as he put it.

Just over a year later, Parthasarathy, one of several notable names from the region’s tech industry who are backing the Seattle Orcas, is beyond just getting things off the ground. He’s become fully immersed in the business of the sport he once played as a professional.

“I’ve done a startup. It was 10x a startup kind of pace and velocity,” Parthasarathy said of the inaugural season for the league and the Orcas. “I’ve played cricket my entire life. Running a team — that was something else.”

The Orcas lead investor group includes Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella; Madrona Venture Group Managing Director S. Soma Somasegar; Icertis co-founder and CEO Samir Bodas; and GreatPoint Ventures managing partner Ashok Krishnamurthi. Indian conglomerate GMR Group also has a stake.

Parthasarathy was a longtime Microsoft executive before founding and leading Indix in 2012. The AI and machine learning startup was acquired by tax software giant Avalara in 2019, which was in turn acquired by Vista Equity Partners in 2022. Parthasarathy stepped down from his role as Avalara’s chief product officer last year.

In retrospect, the 2023 cricket season went much better than he and others expected. Parthasarathy said the effort probably accelerated cricket in the U.S. by two or three years. Not bad, considering the goal was “just to survive the season.”

MLC and its six teams — Seattle, Texas, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. — attracted fan and broadcast interest. And the Orcas finished as runners up in the short season of Twenty20 cricket that wrapped up outside Dallas last July.

There are several goals this season and none seem to faze Parthasarathy’s enthusiasm for what’s possible. Those goals include:

Make the Orcas ‘America’s favorite cricket team’

Parthasarathy said the Orcas decided from the start to be loud, different, and fun.

The team boasts a core group of fans from around the Seattle area, including many Asian Indians from the tech community. But as the smallest of the six MLC markets, the Orcas want to grow their base by attracting fans in cities across the U.S.

A redesign of the team’s original, quickly conceived logo added a cricket bat and crown (for King County) to the playful orca mascot. Fans took notice last summer, and Orcas merchandise was a hit.

“Every adult has their favorite team, but if you look at all the kids in the stadiums, they all have Seattle Orcas [jerseys],” Parthasarathy said. “That’s who we need to reach out to as a team.”

Broaden the fan base

“We have product market fit — just to use a traditional startup term — with the core audience,” Parthasarathy said, referencing 30- to 40-year-old males tied to what he calls “the Commonwealth diaspora” — India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and England.

To reach a broader base of U.S. fans used to professional baseball, football, basketball and more, it’s about getting cricket in front of people.

“If people are aware of it and they actually go watch, they’ll get hooked,” he said. “Is that going to take three years, seven years, 10 years? Probably. We’ve got to do out-of-the-box things to attract attention and just be different. Because if people watch it, they’ll enjoy it.”

Grow the sport at grassroots level

Referencing the popularity of the NBA, and basketball in general, Parthasarathy said there are pickup games in gyms, parks and home courts all around the country.

“We don’t have enough pickup games in cricket,” he said. “If you go to India, there’s pickup cricket going all the time, everywhere. How do we get from here to there? I call that grassroots development. … It doesn’t take much to get started. Don’t worry about the rules. Don’t worry about the technicalities. Just start to play. It’s see ball, hit ball, right? That’s where it starts.”

Prepare U.S. for strong showing at 2028 Olympics

Even though it’s regarded as the second-most-popular sport in the world (behind soccer), cricket last appeared at the Olympics in 1900, at the Paris Games. In October, the International Olympic Committee approved the addition of the sport for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, and Parthasarathy called it a pivotal development, especially on the heels of the U.S. hosting matches for the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

“How do we get from Major League Cricket to the Olympics? That’s the journey that is most interesting, because you’ve got to get grassroots awareness and you’ve got to get the domestic team playing at a reasonable level,” Parthasarathy said.

Continue work on bringing a cricket ground to Seattle area

Two years ago, the King County Council passed a motion of support for the development of a cricket grounds at Marymoor Park in Redmond. Parthasarathy said discussions between MLC and the county and cities involved are ongoing.

“If we take a phased approach, we’re hoping we can get games going in this area in 2025,” he said. “But a lot of stars have to align to make that happen.”

MLC and the Orcas ownership group wants the grounds to be a community resource.

“This is not just going to be like the traditional approaches that we have with baseball stadiums and football stadiums,” Parthasarathy said. “There’s a lot more nuances and benefits to both sides that need to be worked out.”

Instant replay has changed the landscape of professional sports and added more eyes to what officials and referees see in any given contest. A new pilot project in Washington state is adding cameras to high school sports, with a twist.

In an effort to address unruly behavior, a high volume of ejections, and concerns over the safety of officials, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) and Washington Officials Association (WOA) announced an initiative earlier this month to test the use of body cameras on referees, starting with basketball.

Approximately 100 basketball officials across the state have already begun wearing cameras, and the project will continue throughout the school year with soccer, baseball and fast pitch softball officials.

The officiating organizations are teaming with Reveal Media, a global maker of body-worn camera technology, whose devices have been used in the lower levels of the English Football Association and are being tested with a youth soccer association in Canada. The WIAA and WOA are the first partners, professional or amateur, in the U.S. for Reveal.

The body cameras, which are always recording, can be activated by basketball officials during a game to create a timestamp for future viewing. Once the camera does get activated, it begins showing what the official is seeing. There are three possible triggers for such activation:

• Unsportsmanlike technical foul.
• An event that creates an unsafe/dangerous environment for the official, such as fighting or fans storming the court.
• Discriminatory or harassing behavior that causes a stoppage in play or delays play from resuming.

WIAA Assistant Executive Director Justin Kesterson told GeekWire that in situations where there is a camera activation, the WIAA and WOA offices have the ability to review each incident.

“If the incident led to an ejection and the school appeals, we can use the video as part of the appeal,” Kesterson said. “However, we will not use the video to go back and retroactively eject a player or coach if the officials did not eject them originally.”

The video will also be used as part of any investigation if there has been an assault on an official or to pick up unruly behavior, including audio, from the stands.

Kesterson said that since Jan. 5 there have been activations for instances in games, but so far the organizations have not had to go through a response or appeal process.

And the reception from schools, players, coaches and parents has illustrated more curiosity than pushback.

“Schools understand the need for this trial program and why we are taking this step,” Kesterson said. “Once we have further explained how the program works and that the videos are only sent to our offices and cannot be edited by the officials or anyone else, it has helped ease some of the worries.”

The move to address poor behavior among sports participants and fans, and to protect officials, shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has witnessed such incidents in person or seen any number of viral videos online. Smartphone cameras always seem to be rolling and sometimes catch violence against officials, as in this youth basketball incident, and this from high school football, for example.

Beyond the body cameras, one Washington state legislator wants to try to curb bad behavior by upping the punishment for such violence in schools.

A bill introduced in the state House of Representatives last week would make fighting at schools among students or adults a class C felony, according to the Everett Herald. Rep. Sam Low, R-Lake Stevens, said his priority is to toughen the punishment for parents or students who intimidate or hurt sports officials.

WIAA and WOA will conduct a review of the body camera pilot project following the conclusion of the school sports season.

On paper, the performance of the rowers at the center of the movie — and at the center of the bestselling book on which the movie is based — pales in comparison with current Olympic and world records. Today, the world’s fastest time for a 2,000-meter course is just under 5 minutes and 20 seconds, which is more than a minute faster than the time that won the gold medal for the Boys in the Boat in Berlin.

One of the big reasons for that speedup can be found at Everett, Wash.-based Pocock Racing Shells. The company’s founder, George Pocock, built the Husky Clipper — the boat in which the Boys won their Olympic gold. In the movie, Pocock (as portrayed by Peter Guinness) plays a role similar to Yoda in the Star Wars saga, performing wizardry with wood and dispensing wisdom at just the right moment.

Today, wood just doesn’t cut it for championship-level racing shells. “The boats have no wood,” says John Tytus, the current president of Pocock Racing Shells. “These boats are all built out of advanced composites, mainly carbon fiber — which, for its weight, is the strongest material available.”

Lightweight materials are just part of the equation. Hydrodynamics and computer modeling have helped Tytus and other boatbuilders tweak their designs to an extent that would impress even George Pocock.

Science has also transformed how today’s rowing men and women are being trained to outperform the Boys in the Boat. “As stark as the difference between wood and carbon fiber might be, the training volume that the crews do now, compared to what the Boys did in ’36 — that’s actually a bigger quantum leap,” Tytus says.

In the latest episode of the Fiction Science podcast, Tytus explains how innovations have taken athletic performance far beyond what moviegoers see when they watch “The Boys in the Boat.”

Building the boat

Although they’re made of sterner stuff, the racing shells that today’s rowers look pretty much the same as they did in 1936. But not exactly the same.

“There’s been a lot of work on the drag science,” Tytus says, “and so the boats are still long, but they’re not as long as they were back in the 1930s. We’re roughly talking about a 67-foot-long boat back then, 66 feet, depending on the size of the crew, [compared] to roughly 59 to 57 feet long now. But otherwise, yeah, they look very similar. Still long and skinny. Still very, very narrow. Still very tippy.”

Tytus says racing shells “are absolutely a different beast” from other boats, because they either stop or go backward every time the crew takes a stroke. That complicates the task of optimizing the way the boat moves through the water.

Engineers use computational fluid dynamics to fine-tune the design of the racing shells, as well as the shape of the oars that are used to propel them. And just as aerospace designers use wind tunnels to test out scale models of their airplanes, boatbuilders use towing tanks to put their models to real-world tests.

“A designer will build a scale model of the form of the hull that they want to drag through the water,” Tytus explains. “They load it up with sensors. The tow tank is then a pool of moving water that drags this form through that water. And it measures flow over the course of the surface area of that hull. Those have been around for a long time.”

When it comes to designing faster racing shells, the computer isn’t always right. “Whenever we design a new shape for a shell, a lot of it’s based on intuition and what we’ve proven to ourselves from previous iterations of hull design,” Tytus says, “because when we go and put certain shapes into various computer modeling applications, sometimes that shape looks promising in one modeling situation, and then in another program, it might look slow.”

Could artificial intelligence generate the optimal shape? “I’m afraid to go there,” Tytus admits. “I haven’t looked into that one, but I’m sure it’s coming.”

Today’s boats are built to be more adaptable to individual rowers. “The improvements would be in adjustability and what we call rigging in the sport, which is ways to modify the gearing per each athlete so that their load might be different from some of their teammates, in order to suit a different body type,” Tytus says.

Modern racing shells are wired up in ways that would have been impossible in 1936. In the movie, UW coxswain Bobby Moch (played by Luke Slattery) has a cone strapped to his mouth to urge on his eight-man crew. “Now, there’s a series of speakers in the boat, and you wear a headset,” UW women’s rowing coach Yasmin Farooq says. “And so there’s an amplification system in there.”

The racing shells are also equipped with sensors to track each rower’s performance. It wasn’t that long ago that coaches gauged their crew’s performance by eyeballing the spaces between the splashes thrown up by the oars.

“Now they have little computers on the boat, and the computers will tell you your distance per stroke, your 500-meter split and your actual speed in miles or kilometers per hour. And then of course it does your time,” Farooq says. “Also, we have these gauges you can put on the oarlocks that actually show how much force each person exerts on their blade.”

Once again, the computer doesn’t have the final word. “We will use those measurements to inform our decisions,” Farooq says, “but you still gotta have the eye at the end of the day. … When you’re doing it well, you know that computer is going to say it’s a good time.”

The human factor

The racing shells may have gotten shorter since the 1930s, but the rowers have definitely gotten bigger.

Director George Clooney and the production team for “The Boys in the Boat” put the actors portraying the Boys through five months of athletic training to get them in shape. However, even after all those workouts, there’s no way the actors — or for that matter, the 1936 Boys in the Boat — could match today’s top crews.

“The size of the actors that are acting — these are not rowers,” Tytus says. “These are actors that learned how to row well enough to film a movie. These guys are not ready to go to a national championship, trust me.”

The actors in the movie are probably similar, size-wise, to how athletes looked in the 1930s. But since then, the typical rower has become bigger and brawnier. “They average now maybe 6-foot-4 to 6-foot-6,” says Michael Callahan, head coach for men’s rowing at UW. “They weigh over 200 pounds. There’s a lot of lean muscle mass. They can produce a tremendous amount of power for six minutes.”

What’s changed? For one thing, the Boys in the Boat lacked the advantages that are typically available to today’s athletes, Callahan says.

“These guys lived through the Depression — and imagine their youth, growing up with poor nutrition and training practices,” he says. “They learned to row in college, and many of our rowers now learn to row in high school.”

The movie shows the UW crew building up their muscles by sawing through a giant log — which was actually part of the training routine back then. For today’s rowing crews, however, the training tool of choice isn’t a two-person saw but rather an ergometer rowing machine, also known as an erg. Over the years, the exercise machines have been fine-tuned to provide an experience that comes closer to feeling as if you’re actually in a boat.

On the erg, and in the boat, athletes are getting real-time feedback to help them fine-tune their performance in return.

“We’re using a lot more GPS,” Callahan says, “We know how fast we’re going at all moments. We know different training zones. … That data allows you to make more educated progress through your training program.”

The swing’s the thing

The Boys in the Boat probably wouldn’t believe how much their sport has evolved over the past 87 years. But Callahan says there are still some things his modern-day crews can learn from their predecessors.

“They had that ‘swing.’ They had that intangible,” he says. “It’s not really about the technology. It’s about nine people coming together as one, and I think that’s what they can learn. These guys were pulling for each other at the finish line, not for themselves.”

The way Farooq sees it, rowing is a sport that blends technology and biomechanics with less scientific factors, including the factor that rowers call swing.

“What’s it all about? It’s physics. It’s a sport of leverage,” she says. “It’s also a sport of endurance, power and mental toughness. So, somebody could have a really long arc initially, but if they don’t have the fitness and the power to support it, you can’t sustain it over the course of the race. And then the other thing is, somebody could have all three of those physical ingredients, but if you don’t have the mental toughness, it doesn’t mean anything.”

On top of all that, Farooq points to the feeling of pulling together — that intangible feeling of swing. “If a person comes off the power, the pressure in a boat, that kills the rhythm,” she says. “So, it doesn’t matter how strong the other people are, or the force, or arc that they are contributing. If one person comes off the rhythm, that’s it.”

Farooq wonders if that’s the sort of feeling AI could ever match.

“I don’t know if AI wants any part of that — unless AI gets to experience emotions,” she says. “When that happens, then I guess it will be meaningful to them.”

“The Boys in the Boat” goes into wide release this weekend. Consult your favorite local listings for showtimes — and get a look at the reviews in The Seattle Times (“a sweet adaptation”), The Washington Post (“handsome but familiar”) and The Associated Press (“both stirring and a tad stodgy”).

The University of Washington is in the midst of a fundraising campaign called Pulling Together, which is tied to the movie release and will benefit UW’s rowing and student support programs as well as the restoration of its historic ASUW Shell House. Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry is also playing up the movie connection with an exhibition titled “Pulling Together: A Brief History of Rowing in Seattle.”

Looking for more books and shows that feature rowing? Check out the original version of this item on Cosmic Log for recommendations from John Tytus — and stay tuned for future episodes of the Fiction Science podcast via Apple, Google, Spotify, Player.fm, Pocket Casts and Radio Public.

In a small corner of Lumen Field, Amazon is putting a new spin on its cashierless “Just Walk Out” shopping system.

At the home of the Seattle Seahawks, just down the street from Amazon’s headquarters, the new Seahawks Pro Shop Outlet store gives football fans a way to grab some gear without needing to wait in line.

We gave it a test run last week before the Seattle Seahawks hosted the Carolina Panthers.

The store uses RFID tags to track individual products, instead of overhead cameras typically found at other stores with Amazon’s cashierless technology.

This makes it possible to sell clothing, apparel, and other “soft goods” merchandise, going beyond food and beverage.

At a typical “Just Walk Out” store, customers scan their credit card or palm at the entrance, and they’re tracked by the cameras. This is how the store knows what you pick up, in addition to sensor tech on shelves or tables.

The new Seahawks shop does not have any scanners at the entrance. Instead, they are placed at the exit. That’s where the system detects any RFID tags, and charges the customers as they leave with their jerseys, shirts, jackets, and more.

It worked pretty much as advertised during our test run. It felt like normal shopping — browse through items, try stuff on, put stuff back, etc. — until the end, when you either plug a credit card in for a few seconds or scan your palm to pay.

The best part was not wasting time in line. There can be a small queue when multiple customers try to exit but I didn’t notice many logjams.

This advantage was made more apparent as I walked down the concourse and saw a hoard of people waiting to check out at the main pro shop store.

I used the extra time to grab pizza and a drink at Tutta Bella, one of four new concession stands at Lumen Field that uses Amazon’s cashierless tech. There are now nine such stores at Lumen Field, the most of any venue globally.

My only complaint at the outlet was the limited product selection. Clearly this is a test run of sorts as Amazon and the Seahawks figure out if it can work.

So far, it seems so. Amazon said it plans to roll out the RFID-enabled system to more locations this year. And the Seahawks are seeing improved transaction time and reduced friction at checkout compared to a traditional shopping experience, according to Doug Orwiler, managing director of consumer experience (retail) for the team.

Amazon first tested the RFID tech at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, toward the end of the Seattle Kraken season. It’s using RFID technology from an Ohio company called Avery Dennison.

“RFID technology has been around for decades and is typically used by stores to track and manage inventory,” Amazon wrote in a blog post. “Given its prevalence in retail supply chains, we decided to figure out a way RFID could benefit customers in a checkout-free environment.”

More than 70 Amazon-owned stores and more than 85 third-party retailers currently use “Just Walk Out” tech across the U.S., U.K., and Australia. The lineup includes grocery stores, airport travel retailers, music and sports venues, theme parks, and shops and cafes on college campuses. Amazon opened its first Go convenience store, featuring “Just Walk Out,” in 2018 in Seattle.

Stadiums across the country are quickly adopting various versions of cashierless tech from Amazon and others such as Standard AI, AiFi, and Zippin.

The Seahawks opened their first “Just Walk Out” shop last season and said transactions increased 85% while sales per game increased 112% compared to the traditional concession stand that previously was in the same location.

Seattle’s professional soccer club is adding more tech heavyweights to its ownership group.

Seattle Sounders FC announced Wednesday that the families of Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky and Redapt CEO Rick Cantu are now owners. Jay Stein, president of Sand Capital and real estate development company Sandor, is also now part of the ownership group.

They join several other tech execs, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who became owners in 2019.

“These additions bring the team successful, respected and passionate leaders in innovative spaces, as well as deep connections and diversity of insight that strengthens our club and pushes our organizational goals forward,” Sounders majority owner Adrian Hanauer said in a statement.

The equity for the new trio of owners come from Hanauer, via shares he acquired from previous owner Joe Roth.

Hanauer earlier this year announced a six-year strategic growth plan for the club, which includes the opening of a new training facility and corporate office in Renton, Wash., its engagement with the FIFA World Cup 2026 (Seattle will host matches), and potential strategic investments and acquisitions related to tech and fan engagement.

Selipsky rejoined Amazon’s cloud division in May 2021 after five years as head of Tableau Software. He replaced Andy Jassy, who took over as Amazon CEO.

Cantu is the co-founder and CEO of Redapt, the Woodinville, Wash.-based company founded in 1996 that provides various IT services.

Stein is a longtime commercial real estate executive who is also a part-owner of the Colorado Rockies and Leeds United FC.

It’s an all-out blitz of Amazon technology at Lumen Field in Seattle as the Seahawks are expanding the use of “Just Walk Out” and Amazon One technology to a new Pro Shop Outlet location and four more concession stands.

The team announced the plans Tuesday, saying that the new tech will be in place for Thursday’s preseason home opener against the Minnesota Vikings.

The use of Just Walk Out and the Amazon One palm-scanning technology at a team merchandise store is a first for any sports venue, according to the Seahawks. The Pro Shop Outlet, located in the northwest corner of the stadium’s main concourse near section 140, will sell gear at reduced prices, including hats, shirts, jerseys, and souvenirs.

Customers are able to grab items and leave through an exit gate by using their credit card or hovering their palm over an Amazon One device. The credit card they used or linked to their Amazon One ID will be charged. If the customer makes no purchase, they can exit without a card or palm scan.

The technology, which relies on an array of overhead cameras and computer vision, is designed to get fans in an out of retail and concession spaces faster, without the need to wait in cashier lines. Amazon first debuted Just Walk Out at its Amazon Go convenience stores, and it’s now in use in a variety of locations, including grocery stores, airports, music and sports venues.

In addition to the Pro Shop Outlet, Lumen Field is also adding the technology to four existing concession locations: Tutta Bella (section 137), two Local Dogs locations (sections 109 & 135) and Pizza Hut (section 107). There are now eight concession locations with Just Walk Out, and with the Pro Shop, Lumen Field has the most Just Walk Out locations of any sports venue in the world, according to the Seahawks.

“Lumen Field has rapidly become the go-to destination for Seahawks fans to experience the latest in checkout-free technology,” Jon Jenkins, VP of AWS Technology, said in a statement.

Last season, GeekWire interviewed fans at Lumen Field as they tried the technology for the first time before the Seahawks took on the Denver Broncos. Watch the video below:

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas —The promise of cricket in America could be seen and felt in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Awash in Friday night lights after a scorching Texas sun, the trim green cricket oval invited fanatics and families alike to watch the Seattle Orcas chase the Washington Freedom’s 144 runs.

Deep in the Heart of Texas played cheerfully from the loudspeakers during a brief break in the action, and local law enforcement, sporting straw cowboy hats and boots, looked on in bewilderment.

Major League Cricket debuted last week, the cricketing world’s American Dream, a new field of dreams.

Unlike the seesaw, to-and-fro of baseball innings, the format of cricket known as T-20 is played politely with one team batting until 20 overs (120 balls) are thrown – around the same number thrown by a baseball team in 9 innings.

During a cricket game’s overs, the batting squad attempts to score as many runs as possible while the bowling team, the defense, attempts to take the batting team’s wickets. Batting ends when 10 wickets are taken or 20 overs are completed, whichever comes first.

In the opening innings, DC had scored 144 runs and lost seven wickets. Now it was up to Seattle’s assortment of Indian, Pakistani, South African, Sri Lankan, West Indies, and U.S. players to beat that score. Seattle displayed an offense not unlike past Mariners teams — slow but steady small ball.

After eight overs, Seattle still needed 101 runs. With two overs remaining, they needed 17. Imad Wasim of Pakistan and Shimron Hetmyer from the West Indies formed a partnership that produced a pair of 6s (baseball’s equivalent of a homerun), and Shubham Ranjane came up with the winning hit for four (something like a ground rule double) after Hetmyer was dismissed.

The Seattle Orcas won their inaugural match Friday night with 148 runs and five lost wickets. They followed their thrilling victory with another win Saturday night over the San Francisco Unicorns, this time in a more decisive manner, 177 runs and four wickets. The Orcas took all ten San Francisco wickets after the Unicorns put up just 142 runs. Orcas batsman Heinrich Klaasen of South Africa scored the franchise’s first “half-century,” putting up 53 runs.

In 2015, I wrote an article seeking to answer a question: Could cricket in the U.S. be a worthwhile investment? I flew to New York City to watch a tour of the world’s cricketing all-stars because, having fallen in love with the sport thanks to business travel to India and England, I was curious about its viability in America.

Not long ago, the idea that Major League Soccer franchises would pop up in cities across America, each competing for international talent, was a dream to some, and a joke to others. Cricket? It’s too complicated. Don’t matches stretch on for days? It will never work.

But might the MLC and the Indian diaspora attract a legend at the end of his career, like MLS and its “soccer is life” Latino population attracted Messi to Miami?

The night before Seattle’s match, the Texas Super Kings played the LA Knight Riders to commence tournament play. Ross Perot Jr.’s Super Kings beat the Knight Riders by a score of 181 runs and the loss of six wickets to 112 runs with the loss of all 10 wickets.

Thanks to an agreement with the Indian Premier League (IPL), several of the American teams share IPL mascots. Chenai and Texas are the Super Kings, Mumbai and New York are the Indians, Kolkata and Los Angeles are the Knight Riders.

All six teams — Texas, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. — began this week’s tournament in Texas, to be continued in North Carolina, and then return to Texas for the playoffs on July 27.

The scene in Grand Prairie

Major League Cricket debuted to a sellout crowd of around 7,000 fans with the kind of diversity the NFL, the NBA, and MLB can only dream about. Television networks from around the world, including America’s Willow cable channel, broadcast the game live to hundreds of millions in cricket-mad places like India, Australia and New Zealand, the U.K., and South Africa. International news outlets have run coverage almost hourly through the weekend.

MLC took over an abandoned independent league baseball stadium (the Airhogs) in the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie, and invested heavily in a world class cricket oval. There, fans in Dallas Cowboys gear and Bass Pro Shop hats mixed with the national team jerseys from every cricket nation. Country and Western, Bollywood, and hip-hop blasted overhead. Fans munched on chickpeas and rice seasoned with Tex-Mex Chipotle hot sauce.

The Dallas metroplex made for a surprising backdrop. Looming over the new cricket stadium is Lone Star Park, a hulking horse racing venue. Soaring above the racetrack’s spire, commercial jets take off and land from nearby DFW Airport.

Inside the arena, an English gentleman from Birmingham, more recently residing in Jacksonville, stayed over in Dallas when he learned he could catch the first-ever Major League Cricket game.

Tim Miller, 54, and his son Iain, 18, live locally in the Dallas metroplex and were standing near the field an hour before the action began. Iain began playing with friends, mostly Indian, in a nearby park as the pandemic began. He fell in love with the game and has now tried out for an Under-19 team. He and his father watch cricket on Willow.

Mark Roberts and his kids, 10 and 13, drove 12 hours from Fort Collins, Colo., to see the launch. Dad took an interest in 2018 when he stumbled across the sport on Willow. He wanted to introduce his kids to cricket because “it’s a better alternative to baseball.” Why? The action.

Like a winter league baseball game in the Caribbean, fans blew whistles and anticipated, and then reacted to, every play of the game.

By all accounts, the cricket grounds and the quality of play were top-notch. Likewise, the league clearly invested in slick, professional video and merchandise.

Cricket in the Pacific Northwest

Orcas cricket is backed by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella; Madrona Venture Group Managing Director S. Soma Somasegar; Icertis co-founder and CEO Samir Bodas; GreatPoint Ventures managing partner Ashok Krishnamurthi; and former Microsoft and Avalara executive Sanjay Parthasarathy.

Soma and his family attended both Orcas games over the weekend.

“Seattle was initially not a day 1 city for the league,” he said. “But because of the strong and vibrant fan base and sports community in Seattle we made Seattle a day 1 city for the league. We have an important fan base to build upon.”

He pointed out that the U.S. and Seattle should be part of the world’s second most popular sport.

“Sports bring people from different perspectives together” he said. “ We want to unify.”

Tech hubs like Seattle and Silicon Valley in California have long attracted software programmers from India. The Asian Indian population in the U.S. has grown steadily, rising from 2 million in 2000 to more than 5 million.

In the Seattle area, Microsoft is incorporating a recreational cricket pitch on its new campus in Redmond. King County’s Marymoor Park, where Seattle’s amateur league has played for decades, envisions its own professionally-run stadium.

What’s next for MLC?

Seattle will play three more matches in Morristown, N.C., over the weekend. The teams return to Texas for the championship round.

Beyond that, it’s a little uncertain.

MLC franchises expect to have their grounds in order by the 2025 season. Tom Dunmore, who heads MLC marketing, said the hope is that 2025 will be the first regular season.

Next year, the U.S. and the West Indies (Jamaica, Bahamas, Antigua) will co-host cricket’s World Cup. The International Cricket Committee (ICC), the equivalent of soccer’s FIFA, is currently working to identify host cities. New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland are possibilities. With the Oakland Athletics heading to Las Vegas, that could open up a suitable stadium. The Oakland Coliseum is known for its generous foul territory, which would enable a proper cricket oval.

Dunmore says MLC will wait to see what the ICC comes up with, and perhaps next year’s MLC tournament could be played on a World Cup pitch.

“Not to be cliché, but if you build it people will come,” Dunmore said.

A little more on how the game is played

If you’ve played the game all your life, feel free to skip this. If not, read on. More than 10 years ago on a trip to New Delhi, I downloaded Cricket for Dummies in order to be conversant on the subject since the Australian national team was touring India. The test match, this one played over weeks, was all anyone wanted to talk about.

Learning a little about the game helped. In Texas, some fans dressed in Jacob deGrom and Ronald Acuna Jr. baseball jerseys said they watched how-to videos on YouTube to get up to speed.

Here’s a short lesson that might be helpful.

• As in baseball, a batsman (batter) stands before a bowler (pitcher) and swings at pace balls (fastballs) and spin or swing balls (curves and sliders) attempting score runs.
• The batsman can score 1-3 runs with hits inside the boundary (fence) or 4 runs at once if a fielder fails to stop the ball from exiting the boundary. If the batsman clears the boundary in the air, it’s 6 runs.
• What are wickets? Well, wickets are taken by the defense. The defense can take a wicket by catching the ball in the air, smacking the stumps behind the batsman or hitting the batsman’s leg pads without contact with the bat.
• A batsman can stand at the crease (like baseball’s plate) all day if the defense cannot take the wicket.

Who wouldn’t like to watch Aaron Judge or Seattle native All-Star Corbin Carroll stand at the plate for the entire game because no one could get him out?

For further reading

• Major League Cricket secures $120M funding from Microsoft CEO and others to launch in U.S. – GeekWire
• Cricket was once America’s cup of tea | by Greg Shaw | Medium
• Coder by day, cricket bowler by night | Crosscut

The hardest thing about testing a mobile app during Monday’s Home Run Derby at T-Mobile Park in Seattle was the action on the field.

It’s not that T-Mobile’s new “MLB Next” app wasn’t up to the task of delivering compelling data through its augmented reality feature, assorted field views, and a live audio stream. It’s that I had to keep closing the app to open my iPhone camera to record video and shoot photos of the historic event.

For fans attending Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game festivities, including the main event on Tuesday, the free app (on Android and iOS) is designed to add a broadcast element to the joy and energy of being at the ballpark.

As I watched home run after home run head for the seats on Monday, MLB Next was an interesting way to enhance the experience. The launch angle, direction and landing spot of each smash showed up in 3D on my phone thanks to a simple AR feature, activated when the app was open and my camera was aimed at the pitcher’s mound.

But I’ll admit, as a baseball fan, that I didn’t want to look at my phone while Seattle Mariners star Julio Rodriguez went on his record tear, hitting 41 home runs in the first round to ignite the home crowd. The cheering told me a ball was headed out in a more exciting way than any app could.

And I needed to close the app and record the chants of “Ju-li-o! Ju-li-o!”

During less exciting moments of the event it was worth playing around with the app to learn whether baseball is better with that type of technology.

Mike Katz, president of marketing, innovation and experience at Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile, believes it is.

“There are some things in today’s world where watching a baseball game on broadcast can be better,” Katz said before the Derby. “And then there’s some things that can never be replicated about being inside the ballpark — like the sights, the sounds, the smells, everything else.

“This allows you to kind of get both together, where you can be sitting and enjoy the actual environment of the ballpark, but then get all those real-time stats,” he added.

The stadium’s own giant video screen in centerfield turned out to be a bit redundant to T-Mobile and MLB’s app. The screen flashed the animated path of all home runs, added the distance for each, longest hit, average distance, and average exit velocity.

And despite a constant promo on in-stadium TVs encouraging fans to download the app, it looked like many fans were either watching the Derby with their eyes or doing what they do on their phones at every other game — taking pictures, texting, scrolling on social media, swiping on dating apps, etc.

Hardcore baseball fans might appreciate one added benefit of the app. T-Mobile teamed with San Francisco-based startup Mixhalo to deliver high-quality, low-latency audio of the live ESPN and FOX broadcasts within the app, using 5G to eliminate the delay typically experienced while listening.

T-Mobile also promotes its 5G network as a nice way for its own customers to connect at the ballpark. As a non-customer, the app worked just fine for me on T-Mobile Park’s Wi-Fi.

Drones will help baseball fans get closer to the action in a first-of-its-kind production feat during the MLB All-Star Game in Seattle on Tuesday.

GeekWire went behind-the-scenes Monday at T-Mobile Park with FOX Sports, which is broadcasting this year’s Midsummer Classic from the Emerald City.

FOX teamed up with Los Angeles-based Beverly Hills Aerials, which will fly its custom-made drones and give viewers unique aerial vantage points. It’s the first time drones will be used in a stadium as part of an MLB game.

The drones will quietly zoom out from the left field bullpen and follow players walking out during introductions or heading back to the dugout after an inning, for example. They won’t be used during live action.

Here’s a short clip from the drone during Monday’s batting practice session before the Home Run Derby.

Two people will be in control of a drone — one that pilots the drone and gets it in place, and another who operates a gimbal on the drone itself.

“As a viewer sitting at home, watching on your screen, you’re going to feel more immersed in the game than ever before,” said Evan Turner, a drone operator with Beverly Hills Aerials and Drone Racing League world champion pilot.

FOX started testing drones in 2015, and its first live event usage was at the 2018 Daytona 500 race. Other sports broadcast giants are also using the devices.

Drones are just one of many tech tools helping FOX broadcast this year’s game to millions of fans worldwide.

A helicopter and a wireline camera that runs from home plate to left field will add more aerial angles. There are seven robotic cameras placed near the field.

There’s also the ump cam, which garnered rave reviews during last year’s All-Star Game and provides a behind-the-batter view.

The entire production is a massive symphony of sorts that blends state-of-the-art technology with real-time decision-making. FOX has around 200 people on-site controlling live video, audio, and replay operations, as well as another 30 in Los Angeles providing support.

“We’re producing a feature film — live,” said Brad Cheney, vice president of field operations and engineering at FOX Sports.

FOX uses eight miles of fiber optics with more than 880 connections; 43 cameras; 45 field microphones; and more than 1,300 hours of 4K HDR storage.

New technology helps broadcasters like FOX meet evolving consumer expectations.

“People expect better pictures, better quality, better audio,” said Cheney, a 25-year veteran of the live sports production industry.

Cloud-based TV production, which got a boost during the pandemic, could gain more adoption in the future, Cheney said.

“As we get more interconnected and the infrastructure gets better, everything’s possible,” he said.

Cheney envisions the ability for a viewer to have any vantage point in a stadium, even pretending to be a batter or a pitcher. The viewing experience may get more personalized.

Want to sit behind home plate? Press this button. Want to access the camera on a player’s hat? Press that button.

But even as more tech is adopted and automates some parts of the production, humans will be essential to the process.

“It still takes amazingly talented people to do this,” Cheney said.

Related: Testing T-Mobile’s ‘MLB Next’ app: AR tech adds boost to in-stadium All-Star baseball experience

The Seattle Storm and Coinbase are teaming up to launch NFTs commemorating Seattle Storm legend Sue Bird’s jersey retirement at Climate Pledge Arena on June 11.

A pair of digital collectables will be available for fans, honoring the WNBA star’s 21-year career that included four championships and five Olympic gold medals.

During the Seattle Storm vs. Washington Mystics game — where Bird’s No. 10 jersey retirement will take place — fans in attendance can claim a NFT, or non-fungible token.

The digital collectible offers a digital keepsake of the event and access to sweepstakes and discounts at the Storm’s team store. The other edition will be released on Bird’s social media accounts the day after the game.

It’s the first-ever POAP — “Proof of Attendance Protocol” — token by a WNBA team.

“Web3 opens the door for fans to engage with their favorite teams and players in new ways,” Coinbase Sports Marketing Senior Manager Maria Grosso told GeekWire.

NFTs are digital certificates of ownership that use blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. They gained significant attention during the cryptocurrency boom of 2021, a time in which athletes, artists, celebrities and others released their own digital collectibles to interact with fans. Even Bird got in on the action. Sports leagues such as the NBA also created NFTs.

But popularity of NFTs have significantly dwindled in recent years amid a broader downturn in the crypto market due to macroeconomic conditions and regulatory crackdown.

The Securities and Exchange Commission this week filed a lawsuit against Coinbase, alleging the company operated as a crypto asset trading platform without proper oversight by the federal agency. That came a day after the SEC sued Binance, accusing the trading platform of mishandling funds and lying to regulators.

To claim the Bird NFT at the game, attendees must scan a QR code, submit their email, and set up a Coinbase Wallet. By clicking a button, they will reach the claim page where they can enter their Ethereum address to finalize the process. Once completed, Bird’s jersey retirement NFT will live in their Coinbase Wallet.

Completing the process automatically enters participants into a sweepstakes. Prizes include an opportunity to win four courtside seats to a Storm game, a meet-and-greet with Bird, and signed merchandise including a jersey and bobblehead. In addition, 10 fans will win two tickets to a catered suite experience at a Storm game, along with a signed Sue Bird bobblehead.

The NHL brought its third annual Technology Showcase event to Seattle this week, a stone’s throw from the global headquarters of Amazon. It was fitting, given the growing connections between the tech giant and pro hockey.

The league took over a private lounge Thursday evening at Climate Pledge Arena for the event, which featured a bevy of technology partners helping the NHL develop new statistics, increase fan engagement, and much more.

I checked out the action at Climate Pledge — named after Amazon’s carbon neutral initiative — and ran into Amazon Web Services chief Adam Selipsky.

“AWS has a great partnership with the NHL,” Selipsky told GeekWire. “We’ve been at it for a few years together and we really look forward to continue to expand it over time and most importantly to bring cutting edge experiences to fans that they’ve never been able to access before.”

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy did not appear to be in attendance — somewhat surprising given that Jassy is a part-owner of the Seattle Kraken, which beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 on Thursday.

Amazon has moved deeper into the sports world over the past several years. The company’s most high-profile partnership is with the NFL and its exclusive deal to stream Thursday Night Football games.

At the NHL showcase, AWS demoed a live cloud-based production of the game — a first for the NHL, and a new alternative to the traditional truck-based environment of live sports production. The demo was done with a remote team — graphics in Seattle; a technical director in Wisconsin; and replay operators in Toronto and Vancouver.

“There are a lot of benefits to producing a live game in the cloud — operational efficiencies, cost efficiencies,” said Dave Lehanski, NHL executive vice president of business development and innovation.

NHL technology leaders showed off a new “Opportunity Analysis” feature from AWS that analyzes real-time and historical data to assess the difficulty of a shot at the moment of release. The stat is expected to appear in live broadcasts later this month.

The NHL is also partnering with AWS for a product called Edge IQ that uses machine learning to predict the winner of a face-off.

Jassy, who previously led AWS before taking the CEO reins from Jeff Bezos in 2021, is “very involved” with the NHL partnership, according to Lehanski.

“It’s great for us,” he said.

Amazon is also working with racing league Formula 1 and Germany’s top soccer league Bundesliga, which is debuting new statistics this weekend from AWS.

Amazon is one of several tech giants teaming up with pro sports leagues and teams.

• Google recently beat out Amazon and Apple to secure a multi-year deal for NFL Sunday Ticket, giving the company exclusive rights to stream most NFL games via its growing YouTube TV platform starting with the 2023 season.
• Microsoft has had a longstanding deal with the NFL that includes the use of its Surface tablets by players and coaches on the sidelines during games, as well as other marketing agreements. It also inked a recent cloud deal with the NBA.
• Apple sponsored this year’s Super Bowl halftime show.
• Google Pixel was the presenting sponsor of the NBA playoffs last year.
• Amazon is installing its cashierless checkout technology in stadiums and arenas across the country, including Climate Pledge.

The sports deals give tech companies a way to market their brands in front of a giant and diverse audience, and also demonstrate case studies that could attract other enterprise customers.

The leagues and teams also know that to grow their fanbase and cater to evolving consumer demand, technology is playing a bigger and bigger role.

The NHL’s tech showcase demonstrated this — but the league is also adopting with caution.

“Technology keeps evolving. We’ve tried to make sure we’re on top of the evolution and not only stay current but be on the cutting edge,” said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, speaking to reporters in Seattle before Thursday’s game. “We do that by using the technology around the game, not changing the game for the technology. And that’s been our mantra.”

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the other technology partners demoing at the event Thursday.

• SAP helped the league build an on-bench coaching app that provides coaches with real-time data, similar to Microsoft’s Surface tablets in the NFL. The latest version of SAP’s app generates a video playlist for every location-based statistic and new camera angles. SAP also powers NHL’s venue metrics platform that can analyze energy usage.
• Extreme Networks monitors network activity and connectivity in NHL arenas, including insights on usage during key plays.
• MLSE Digital Labs brought a physical tabletop overlaid with data from NHL EDGE, the league’s puck and player tracking technology. The plan is to bring the experience into NHL’s official app.

• Beyond Sports‘ virtualization technology is being used by the NHL to create alternate live broadcasts, such as the NHL Big City Greens Classic produced last month that featured animated characters mimicking players in a real game.
• Play Anywhere is working with the NHL to build apps that let fans engage with live game broadcasts, including free-to-play games.
• SMT helps provide player overlays, statistics, and other graphics for traditional media broadcasts.

Technology and tech culture are taking a permanent spot in the lineup at T-Mobile Park this season.

The Seattle Mariners have added three more food and beverage stores with Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” cashierless technology at the baseball stadium — and another food location is named with just emojis.

The three “Walk-Off Markets,” which will be operational on Opening Day this Thursday, join another that debuted last season. T-Mobile Park is the leading ballpark in the country when it comes to this style of concession service.

The new Market locations are in sections 141, 185 and 341. The flagship Market is in section 126.

According to the Mariners, the Walk Off Market on the main concourse behind home plate served the most fans out of any concession location at T-Mobile Park last season. The fastest shopping time last season was 20 seconds, and the average time shopping was 2 minutes and 3 seconds.

The goal of Just Walk Out tech at stadiums is to help fans avoid lines for food and drink and get them back in their seats as quickly as possible.

Just Walk Out first debuted in 2018 in Seattle with Amazon Go convenience stores. It’s now used in some larger Amazon grocery stores and has spread to a number of other locations, including sports and entertainment venues and airports. Lumen Field and Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle both feature stores utilizing the technology, which relies on a number of cameras in the ceiling to track customers and what they pick up. Payment is tied to a credit card used to enter the stores.

Along with Just Walk Out, the new Markets will also feature Amazon One, the company’s palm-scanning technology that allows visitors to enter and pay with credit card information that is linked to a biometric reading of their hand. Fans can register for Amazon One at a kiosk on the spot. Amazon last week announced a deal to bring Amazon One to Panera stores.

The Markets in sections 141 and 126 will feature an assortment of snacks, beverages, value menu items and premium entrees from Seattle partners Just Poke and Din Tai Fung. A new “Ham Swaggerty” sandwich is named for utility infielder Sam Haggerty.

In sections 185 and 341, fans can use Walk-Off Brews to snag snacks and a variety of non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages.

The Mariners announced more new food locations and menu items last week and among them is the first all-emoji food stand.

The ??? (Chick Chick Boom) chicken concept in right field will feature ?? ??(chicken tenders and waffle fries with bottled water) and a T-Mobile Park favorite, ??? (garlic waffle fries).

American football fans who use the Rec Room social gaming app can now grab their favorite team’s gear for their in-app avatars, just in time for the NFL playoffs.

Rec Room, the Seattle startup behind the eponymous app, announced Thursday that it partnered with the National Football League for a new “digital fan experience.”

In the Rec Room app, players can create and customize avatars, then use them to participate in a wide variety of user-created activities, such as sports, paintball, or simple social interaction.

Over the course of the last six years, both Rec Room and its player community have created thousands of pieces of virtual clothing for avatars to wear, such as hats, suits, T-shirts, and carried accessories.

As of Thursday, this now includes official NFL merch. A new pop-up shop in the Rec Room app lets users purchase licensed NFL hoodies and hats for their avatars to wear. All 32 teams in the NFL, which naturally includes the Seattle Seahawks, are currently represented in Rec Room.

Fans who’ve decked their avatars out in official NFL gear can then use the in-app photobooth in the Rec Center to snap pictures, which can then be shared on social media or hung on the wall in their player housing.

“Adding Rec Room as another virtual destination for the NFL will enhance our ability to reach existing fans while discovering new fans in their community of over 80 million users globally,” Ed Kiang, vice president for video gaming in the NFL, said in a statement.

The Rec Room/NFL partnership comes nearly six weeks after the debut of the NFL Zone, an officially-licensed “metaverse experience” built within Fortnite Creative that comes complete with its own sponsored minigames and a virtual tailgate party. At the time, Kiang described it as “a massive opportunity to bring NFL football to a new generation of fans.”

The NFL also recently inked a deal with Google for the streaming rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, which garnered interest from other tech giants including Amazon and Apple.

The NFL partnership with Rec Room comes after a two-year period of record growth for its game, which includes the recent debut of physical gift cards and a recent brand crossover with Mattel’s Masters of the Universe toy line. As of last month, Rec Room reported 640% year-over-year growth on mobile, with 29 million active users across all platforms in Q1 2022. 

The Seattle Seahawks took a loss against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, but fans at Lumen Field who are into cashierless concession stands can at least count the day as a win.

The Seahawks debuted three more stores at the stadium utilizing Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology, designed to eliminate checkout lines and get fans back to their seats faster.

The new locations are on the main stadium concourse in sections 103, 105 and 123. They are called District Market, just like the store that opened in section 323 at the start of the season. The stores serve beer, wine, seltzer and non-alcoholic beverages as well as chips, peanuts, popcorn and candy. The original location is the only one which serves hot food right now.

Fans can enter, shop, leave and pay without having to deal with any food handlers or cashiers. The retail tech, used in Amazon’s Go convenience stores and some of its full-size Fresh grocery stores, relies on overhead cameras and sensors to track what customers grab. Payment is facilitated automatically via a credit card scanned at entry or a card that’s linked to a biometric scan of a shopper’s palm, via Amazon One.

Professional sports franchises across the nation are rolling out checkout-free stores from Amazon and other competitors in a test of the nascent technology.

Amazon licenses its tech for use in such places as stadium and airport stores. In addition to Lumen Field, Seattle’s two other sports venues use Just Walk Out. It’s in use at four stores in Climate Pledge Arena, where the Seattle Kraken play, and at T-Mobile Park, home of the Mariners, where it was introduced in May at a new “Walk-Off Market.”

In September, GeekWire interviewed fans at Lumen Field as they tried the technology for the first time before the Seahawks took on the Denver Broncos. Watch the video below:

Football fans looking for a break from the holiday shopping rush will have some NFL action to watch next year as the league and Amazon announced plans for the first-ever “Black Friday” game.

Amazon will exclusively stream a game on Prime Video the day after Thanksgiving in 2023, adding another day of football to a holiday weekend already packed with games. It’s the latest addition to Amazon’s growing sports streaming catalog.

The game is expected to kick off at noon PT and participating teams will be announced when next year’s schedule is released, the NFL said in a news release on Tuesday.

“Black Friday is the unofficial start of the holiday season, and we’re thrilled to kick it off with a gift for football fans across the country with this new game,” said Jay Marine, global head of sports at Prime Video.

Prime Video became the first streaming service to serve as exclusive home to the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” with an 11-season deal that started this year. Through five games, “TNF” is averaging 10.8 million viewers according to Nielsen Media Research.

Amazon reported the “biggest three hours for U.S. Prime signups ever” during the first game. Boosting signups for Prime is key for Amazon as the membership program is a crucial part of its business. Surveys have shown that Prime members spend considerably more than non-Prime members on Amazon.com.

A new streaming service unveiled by the LA Clippers this morning reflects the philosophy of the franchise’s chairman, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, about the role the NBA and its teams should play in shaping the digital viewing experience.

“We need to define the future of watching basketball,” Ballmer said in an interview with GeekWire. “We’ll always do a better job of that than any distribution partner. Whether we distribute directly or through an ESPN or a TNT or an Amazon, or whoever gets into the business of distributing these things, the experience that makes this the best basketball possible will come, I believe, from our league.”

Called ClipperVision, the new service costs $199.99 per year. Available only to viewers in the Los Angeles market, it will provide access to all the team’s games except those broadcast nationally.

The strategy is the sports equivalent of a retail brand selling directly to consumers as an alternative to traditional distribution channels, establishing a tighter connection to their customers, or fans.

However, the new Clippers’ service will also grapple with a growing trend of subscription fatigue as consumers become weary of all the monthly services needed to access different slices of content, from content aggretators like Netflix and Hulu to narrower streaming sites from entertainment brands and sports leagues.

Individual sports teams launching their own streaming services could take the sense of overload to a whole new level. Although the Clippers are the first in the NBA, other teams could follow suit in the future.

However, Ballmer said the approach reflects ongoing trends in media consumption.

“I think the world’s going to mass personalization, mass customization,” he said, explaining that he sees no reason to fight that trend. “Every other aspect of content is going that direction.”

The ability to stream games in the LA area is a major difference from the NBA’s $99.99/year League Pass, which doesn’t let fans watch games in their local markets due to restrictions built into regional TV deals.

Enabled by new TV contract

For the Clippers, Ballmer said, gaining the ability to launch the service was a “fundamental part” of the team’s recent contract renewal with Bally Sports, which distributes Clippers games and is also launching its own streaming service.

“Come hell or high water, I was going to offer the streaming service,” Ballmer said. But because the team was able to work out a deal, he added, “now it’s without compromise.”

ClipperVision is built on the NBA’s NextGen platform and other shared technologies, with a “clear path” for other teams to launch their own services if they wish, using their own variations on the approach, Ballmer said.

Bally Sports, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, also holds the television rights to more than 20 other teams as part of its regional sports networks. Ballmer declined to speculate when asked if other NBA teams would use the Clippers’ new contract as a blueprint for their own renegotations.

ClipperVision offers six viewing modes, including the team’s CourtVision augmented reality experience; Korean- and Spanish-language streams; and a live commentary mode called BallerVision, featuring former Clippers players such as Jamal Crawford, Baron Davis, and Paul Pierce, with guest appearances by Ballmer and celebrities.

At launch, ClipperVision also comes with a special perk, a limited edition-team jacket exclusive to subscribers. Ballmer said it was important to include something “physical and tangible” with the service.

One long-term goal is to unify user accounts across digital and in-person experiences.

“If you want to buy merchandise, or you’re coming into the arena, we already know you, and want to make your experience as personal as possible,” Ballmer said.

Like this year’s closely watched Clippers team, led by star players Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the organization’s new streaming service is many years in the making.

Evolution of sports viewing

Ballmer said he has been thinking about the potential for bringing new levels of interactivity to sports viewing since he was Microsoft CEO. He pointed out that the Microsoft Surface sponsorship deal with the NFL had its origins in talks about interactive Xbox viewing experiences that didn’t pan out at the time.

He was able to explore his ideas further after buying the Clippers for $2 billion in 2014. Ballmer and the Clippers worked with tech company Second Spectrum to launch the CourtVision experience four years ago, with stats, animations and other graphics overlayed on screen in near real-time.

One advantage of the new direct-to-consumer streaming service, Ballmer said, will be the ability to add new capabilities in the future. He cited the hypothetical example of gamifying the experience as something that would be harder in a distribution scenario.

At the same time, the Clippers are still investing heavily in the future of in-person viewing. The team’s new 18,000-person arena, the Intuit Dome, is set to launch for the 2024-25 season in Inglewood, Calif.

Ballmer, who has become a fixture at Clippers games, cheering from his baseline seats, said he believes the magic of the in-person basketball experience will endure, even as technology progresses.

“There’s still something special in being in the arena,” he said, “with the energy and the sense of community.”

In the long run, Ballmer said ClipperVision could become a meaningful source of income for the team, but the bigger priority for now is to control its own destiny in the distribution of content.

“Over time, I do see it as a way to make money, but we don’t know how the whole world of distribution of content is going to evolve,” he said. In the meantime, he explained, “this lets us be light on our feet.”

It was a bit of a throwback scene here in Seattle on Monday evening: Steve Ballmer revving up the crowd at the top of his lungs, and NBA hoops back on the hardwood.

The former Microsoft CEO had Climate Pledge Arena roaring as he took the microphone at midcourt just before a preseason game between the Los Angeles Clippers, which Ballmer owns, and the Portland Trail Blazers.

“I am so excited to have a game in my hometown of Seattle, Washington!” Ballmer yelled, pumping his fist and pacing around in his trademark energetic fashion.

The game represented the first NBA action at the redeveloped arena, which was home to the Seattle Supersonics until 2008 when the team left town for Oklahoma City.

The departure left a large void in the city — one that Ballmer nearly helped fill while he was running Microsoft, headquartered in nearby Redmond, Wash.

Before he purchased the Clippers for $2 billion in 2014, Ballmer was part of an ownership group that tried to keep the Sonics in Seattle in 2008. He then became a part of an investment team that tried to build a new arena south of downtown.

Since buying the Clippers, Ballmer has made it clear from the beginning that he will not move the team to Seattle. However, when it comes time for NBA expansion, he said he will be in a position to make the case for Seattle to the rest of the league.

In his 75-second speech on Monday, Ballmer thanked the Blazers, owned by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen since 1988 before he passed in 2018. He said Allen “got me interested in basketball.”

Paul Allen’s sister, Jody Allen, is managing The Paul G. Allen Trust, which still maintains ownership of Portland’s team. Jody Allen was sitting courtside at the game Monday.

Ballmer closed out the speech by asking the crowd: “If this is a basketball city, damn it, let’s hear it!”

Approached by GeekWire on the court during pre-game warmups, Ballmer greeted us warmly but said he wasn’t able to comment for this story.

Ballmer sat courtside during the game with his wife, Connie, and displayed a full range of emotion, locked into the action until the final seconds, even at a preseason matchup.

The game had a who’s-who in attendance, including Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who is a part-owner of the Seattle Kraken, the city’s NHL team that debuted last year. Seattle-based tech giant Amazon bought the naming rights to the building in 2020 and changed its name from KeyArena to Climate Pledge Arena.

Government leaders came out to the event, including Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, and King County Executive Dow Constantine.

And of course, Sonics legends showed up: Shawn Kemp, Gary Payton, Lenny Wilkens, Sam Perkins, Detlef Schrempf. Former head coach George Karl was also in the crowd. They were all honored on the court during the game.

“I don’t think we have to prove anything to the NBA,” Schrempf told GeekWire before Monday’s game. “They understand we have a great fanbase; we have an amazing facility; and we have enough wealth in this city that can support a team and pay for all the stuff that’s needed.

“It’s great for people to see this,” Schrempf said of the game, “and keep our hopes alive.”

The NBA called out its partnership with Microsoft as it unveiled a redesigned app on Tuesday.

The new app has content recommendation and personalization features “powered by Microsoft Azure and Azure AI,” according to a news release.

The app will have live streaming of games for NBA League Pass subscribers with higher video quality and lower streaming latency, according to the league. It also includes access to hundreds of past games from the “NBA vault,” as well as other video content. There is a new membership program called NBA ID.

The partnership with Microsoft, first announced in 2020, “will help us redefine the way our fans experience NBA basketball,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said at the time.

Microsoft is the league’s official cloud and AI partner. Last year the two organizations unveiled NBA CourtOptix Powered by Microsoft Azure, which uses Microsoft’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to track and analyze action on the court and turn it into insightful video about how well players perform in various situations and how that data stacks up against league averages.

The deal with the NBA follows other sports partnerships the tech giant has landed, including providing Microsoft Surface tablets on NFL sidelines.

Microsoft’s cloud arm continues to power its overall business. The company said Microsoft Cloud revenue grew to $25 billion, up 28% year-over-year, in its most recent quarterly financial report.