Here’s a fascinating soccer league table that might surprise you. The biggest clubs in the world are revealed and ranked in this infographic that reveals how many social media followers each has right now.  And it’s yet another El Clásico at the top with Barcelona and Real Madrid neck-and-neck.  Six teams from the Premier League (EPL) unsurprisingly feature in the top 20 and it’s Manchester United who is the biggest of these by some stretch.  The marketing of top soccer clubs is so important to their income and sustainability and, in particular, the sales of merchandise to a global fan base. The Sports Techie community blog loves football social media!

Check this social league table periodically and you will see that ...

CTE Awareness Day (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) happened on January 30 before Super Bowl LIII. Most of the Sports Techie community blog followers and readers had no idea this was so because neither did I. The recent Bob Costas interview on ESPN’s Outside The Lines show about NBC Sports pulling him as host of SB53 because of his public statements regarding the sport of football and violence which in many cases manifests as brain related just heated up this real-life and sometimes terrible death topic.  It is exciting to know CTE prevention is being done with equipment and game rules...

Major League Lacrosse is in the good hands of Commissioner Alexander “Sandy” Brown. The Sports Techie community blog welcomed the opportunity to chat with Sandy today about the state of the league. The upcoming MLL 2019 Collegiate Draft presented by Cascade on March 9 is hosted by the NASCAR Hall-of-Fame in what the Commish calls, “a great weekend of lacrosse.” The excitement of drafting in Charlotte, N.C. during March for the first time coupled with the new Crown Lacrosse Classic is creating a buzz throughout the southeast and beyond...

Get to the heart of your game with GOLFPASS, a vibrant community surrounding the great game of golf.  NBC Sports Group and pro golfer Rory McIIroy set out to do just that thorough the launch of GOLFPASS, a new digital subscription aiming to reach all the devices golfers and golf fans use with original content, benefits, insights and industry trends of your favorite sport. Much like the Golf Channel was founded by Arnold Palmer almost 25 years ago, GOLFPASS wants to impact the sport, elevate your game and showcase a lifestyle shared by millions around the world while enabling a living legacy for founder McIIroy...

2019 Is The Year Of The Gamer

The Sports Techie community blog covers both gaming and traditional sports as if they are one. Data shows 65% of households own a device that is used to play video games. The popularity of gaming is growing, and it’s being fueled by strong business financials that have helped it become more mainstream than ever before. With these stats as a backdrop, here are a few trends to watch for in esports this year.

A Growing Awareness

Major multimedia companies like Disney and Comcast have already made large investments into esports. Expect more traditional media conglomerates to follow suit in 2019. The buy-in of traditional media outlets should help esports to become a bigger story outside of the niche circles it has grown up in...

Mercedes-Benz Stadium is ready to illuminate the football field in Atlanta with Ephesus LED sports lighting for Super Bowl LIII resulting in cutting edge lights strategically placed around the amazing facility to ensure the best lighting show on the planet for the world’s biggest game. This marks the third time since 2015 the Big Game has used Easton power management company lights and fixtures. The New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams players, NFL fans from all over the world, and TV and web broadcasters alike can all experience better and more sustainable LED lighting thanks to advanced technology Ephesus sports lighting and control system features...

SportsManias and TikTok are ready for the Big Game on Sunday with an official Augmented Reality (AR) Stickers technology partnership aimed to engage the 500 monthly active users of the Chinese tech company. TikTok is owned by ByteDance and is also called Douyin in China. Their media app was designed to create and share short videos across their international community in a Vine type of environment. TikTok’s first two AR Stickers released on Friday with the newest NFL Player Stickers releasing throughout Super Bowl week here in Atlanta. The Sports Techie community blog interviewed SportsManias, the leading provider of animated sports emojis, back in 2013...

Two Circles has a new office in Los Angeles and SVP Consulting Sam Yardley chatted with the Sports Techie community blog about the two-time Sports Industry Agency of the Year, their data-driven marketing approach, the move to sunny Southern California with his wife and baby, and the soon to be announced news regarding two upcoming client announcements. The level of data usage by each league, federation and association, as well teams, universities and their business partners, are all at different levels of commitment, development and execution when it comes to marketing technologies...

The sports industry in North America is projected to be near $74 billion this year. The very best athletes like Lebron James, Serena Williams, Messi, and all the way back to Michael Jordan have changed the way marketers and advertisers reach target audiences. Many of these superstar athletes have earned billion dollar endorsements deals when looked at over the course of a career because of brands like Nike, Gatorade, Puma and so many more.

Because of this, the New Jersey Institute of Technology just released this detailed data visualization for members in the sports business and marketing community. I am passing the terrific information along to the Sports Techie community blog followers and readers because sports tech like the Fitbit is playing a bigger roll each year.

The graph...

The Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) is to be known as the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association (FSGA). The name and business change beginning in April was announcement at the Winter Conference in Tampa this week. Today, the old FSTA guard gave awards to companies leading the way in the industry. Yahoo won five fantasy sports awards while CBS Sports and Fantasy Footballers each won three. The Sports Techie community blog applauds the FSGA for their new focus on sports betting, games of skills and non-sports contests while staying true to their FSTA core competencies.

Fantasy Sports and Gaming Rebrand

It is easy to understand why this rebrand is happe...