Begin forwarded message:
From: Dean from Regen Sports <regensports@substack.com>
Date: September 29, 2025 at 12:03:57 PM EDT
To: mark@rauterkus.com
Subject: SportsTech Weekly: MLB Automated Umpires and Athletes Drive Innovation
Reply-To: Dean from Regen Sports <reply+2w23ct&3vced&&5b1c4f4116569ef19bc72b8e7b44e389f86dadd91bcb29556c450958c3003a92@mg1.substack.com>
SportsTech Weekly: MLB Automated Umpires and Athletes Drive Innovation
SportsTech Weekly: MLB Automated Umpires and Athletes Drive Innovation
MLB approves robot umpires for 2026 season while Tom Brady joins AI wellness revolution, showcasing technology's mainstream adoption across professional sports
Hello sports tech enthusiasts 👋🏼 Welcome to Regen Sports, your twice-weekly deep dive into the intersection of sports and technology. Every Monday, catch up on the week's most important developments in sports innovation, and every Thursday, explore in-depth analysis of trends, companies, and technological breakthroughs reshaping the future of sports.
Week 39 marks a watershed moment as Major League Baseball officially approves the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System for the 2026 season, representing the most significant officiating technology adoption in the sports history.
This institutional validation coincides with high-profile athlete partnerships, including Tom Brady's appointment as Chief Innovation Officer at AI-powered wellness company Aescape, demonstrating how elite athletes are transitioning from technology endorsers to strategic innovation leaders.
The convergence of automated officiating systems, AI-powered fan experiences, and celebrity athlete technology partnerships illustrates the sports industry's accelerated embrace of transformative technologies that enhance both competitive integrity and consumer engagement across global markets.
Without further ado;
PARTNERSHIPS & STRATEGIC COLLABORATIONS🤝🏼
Image source: Fanword
FanWord, the AI college sports storytelling platform announced its partnership with the University of Connecticut Athletics, to accelerate and elevate its written content creation
Bauer Hockey, the hockey equipment manufacturer announced that it has partnered with sports tech startup Bearmind to develop the next iteration of smart hockey helmets
Audacy, a sports audio platform, announced a partnership with MOGL, an athlete influencer tech platform, creating NIL sponsorships through athlete collaborations
Veritone announced an agreement with ESPN to license and monetise its archive of NCAA Division I Championships sports audio content from
Valencia CF have extended their partnership with sustainable energy firm Octopus, which becomes a founding partner of its Nou Mestalla stadium project
Inter Milan, have partnered with technology innovation firm Globant to launch INTER 24/7, a FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television) channel
Tottenham Hotspur have struck a 12-year partnership with with Sports Illustrated Tickets, becoming the club's official fan experience partner
Mercyhurst University Athletics has partnered up with FanWord, with the university integrating FanWord Assist, to amplify the reach of its athletic communications
Dyn Media, the German sports streaming platform, has agreed a three-year deal with the Women's Basketball Bundesliga, granting it media rights across the DACH region
The 2025 Ryder Cup selected GoVision as the LED display provider, with 27 LED displays installed at Bethpage Black, creating the largest on-course digital setup
Cosworth, the motorsport engineering company has announced a strategic partnership with Next Level Racing as its Official Simulator Partner
Montreat College Athletics announced a three-year partnership with FanWord, leveraging FanWord Assist to streamline the creation of written content
Image source: Businesswire
The Ryder Cup 2025 has selected wearable technology company Whoop as its official health and fitness wearable partner, delivering real-time insights for fans
Why This Matters: The Ryder Cup's partnership with Whoop represents a continued shift in fan engagement strategy, moving beyond passive viewing toward immersive participation through real-time biometric data sharing. This collaboration enables fans to access the same performance insights that elite golfers rely on during competition, creating unprecedented transparency and connection between athletes and audiences. The partnership demonstrates how wearable technology can transform major sporting events into interactive experiences where fans feel genuinely connected to the competitive intensity and physical demands that define elite athletic performance.
ACQUISITIONS & INVESTMENT💰
Epic Padel, a padel operator and investor has raised $10 million in seed funding, led by NowaisWorld and Stryde Ventures to accelerate U.S. expansion with new projects
Aescape, the AI-powered robotic massage startup, has struck a partnership with Tom Brady, joining on as the Chief Innovation Officer
Betr, a sports gaming and media business, announced a partnership with basketball players Lonzo Ball and LiAngelo Ball, joining on as equity investors and content partners
Ankored, a youth sports safety and compliance platform, closed its $4 million seed funding round led by Rally Ventures to simplify safety and compliance in youth sports
APEX, the athlete-backed sports investment firm, has added Red Bull Ventures as an investor as part of the final funding close of its early-stage Elite Performance Fund
Why This Matters: Tom Brady's appointment as Chief Innovation Officer represents a strategic evolution in athlete-technology relationships, moving beyond traditional endorsement deals toward executive leadership positions. This appointment demonstrates how elite athletes are leveraging their competitive experience and brand credibility to drive innovation in wellness technology, potentially creating new models for athlete involvement in sports tech startups while validating AI-powered recovery solutions for mainstream consumer adoption.
PRODUCT LAUNCHES & TECH INNOVATIONS 🔬
Image source: Tennis
The Laver Cup 2025 introduced an animated broadcast feed, a fusion of live match streaming and dynamic animated overlays between Team Europe and Team World
Major League Baseball announced that the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System, powered by T-Mobile, has been approved for the 2026 MLB season
Arizona State football is piloting facial recognition technology to streamline entry into the Mountain America Stadium and enhance the fan experience
The Australian Sports Commission has launched a virtual innovation hub, the Park, designed to connect technology companies with the Australian sports sector
Why This Matters: MLB's approval of the ABS Challenge System for 2026 represents the mainstream adoption of automated officiating technology in professional sports. This decision validates years of technological development and testing while establishing MLB as another major league to implement comprehensive AI-powered officiating systems. The move will likely accelerate similar implementations across other professional sports leagues, fundamentally altering how competitive integrity is maintained and creating new standards for technology integration in live sports environments.
STRATEGIC APPOINTMENTS 🪜
Video streaming company StreamAMG has appointed ex-Stats Perform executive Martin Bland as its new Commercial Director
FINAL THOUGHTS 💭
Week 39 demonstrates the sports technology sector's transition from experimental adoption to institutional implementation, exemplified by MLB's automated officiating approval and elite athlete strategic leadership appointments.
The convergence of automated systems, celebrity athlete innovation partnerships, and venture capital investment in emerging sports categories positions the industry for accelerated growth across competitive integrity, fan engagement, and new market development.
Strategic innovation hubs and comprehensive technology partnerships further indicate that sports organisations are building systematic capabilities to evaluate and implement transformative technologies that enhance both athletic performance and consumer experiences across global markets.
As always, stay tuned for next week's roundup as we continue tracking the transformative developments reshaping the global sports technology landscape.
Thanks for reading,
Dean
P.S. If you found this newsletter valuable, please consider sharing. The sports tech industry grows stronger when we learn together.
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