Accomplished Media Executive Dave Clark Appointed as New CEO, Kent Heyman Transitions to Chairman of the Board to Drive Ongoing Innovation and Continued Success   

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., July 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Cast Iron Media, a technology-driven leader in sports streaming and advertising, today announced the appointment of Dave Clark as Chief Executive Officer. A seasoned executive with broad industry experience, Clark joins the company to lead its next phase of growth and innovation in the rapidly evolving sports media landscape. Kent Heyman, who has served as CEO, will transition to Chairman of the Board. In this role, he will continue to help shape Cast Iron Media’s strategic direction and support its long-term expansion.

Dave Clark takes on the role of CEO after a career leading high-growth companies and navigating industry disruption. He most recently served as CEO of TripleLift, a programmatic advertising technology company, where he guided the company through a strategic reset. Before TripleLift, Clark held leadership positions as General Manager of FreeWheel, A Comcast Company, where he led the integration of six acquisitions in the CTV space to form the world’s leading streaming technology and monetization platform. Prior to FreeWheel, Clark was President of The Weather Channel, where he led a major transformation of the company’s brand and operations.

Earlier in his career he served as Executive Vice President, Advertising Revenue for The Madison Square Garden Company, overseeing sales for properties including the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, and New York Islanders.  Clark also serves on the Board of Directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, reflecting his commitment to community involvement. 

“I am honored to join Cast Iron Media as CEO during such a pivotal time for the company,” said Clark. “With the support of Kent, the board, and the leadership team, I look forward to driving the company’s next phase of innovation and helping our partners unlock new value in the evolving sports media ecosystem. Cast Iron is uniquely positioned to lead the way in sports streaming monetization. I’m excited to build on the momentum we’ve established.”

Kent Heyman, a founding partner of Cast Iron Media, has been instrumental in guiding the company through its initial phase of growth, including securing key partnerships and strategic investments such as the MLB media rights extension and new investments from Orkila Capital and Bolt Ventures. Under his leadership, Cast Iron Media developed its proprietary ad-tech platform, The Foundry, solidifying its position in the live sports streaming market. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Heyman will continue to advise on the company’s long-term strategy, supporting Clark as he leads Cast Iron Media into its next chapter. 

“It has been an incredible journey helping build Cast Iron Media, and I am honored to have served as CEO through such a defining period in the company’s history,” said Kent Heyman. “I’m excited to continue supporting this talented team as Chairman of the Board. I have the utmost confidence in Dave’s leadership and vision for the future, and I look forward to seeing the innovation and growth that lies ahead.”

The senior leadership team at Cast Iron Media will remain in place, ensuring continuity and a smooth transition as the company executes its strategic vision under Dave Clark’s leadership. With continued support from Major League Baseball (MLB) and its new equity partners, Orkila Capital and Bolt Ventures, Cast Iron Media is well-positioned to scale operations and capitalize on the growing demand for live sports content across OTT platforms.

“Cast Iron Media has grown exponentially over the past several years, and we deeply appreciate Kent’s strong leadership during this time,” said Jesse Du Bey, Managing Partner at Orkila Capital. “Looking to the future, we believe Dave’s extensive experience in media and technology, particularly in live-streamed sports, will help the company accelerate value creation moving forward. We look forward to supporting Dave and the Cast Iron team through the next phase of growth.”

Cast Iron Media is committed to expanding its proprietary platform, The Foundry, to enhance advertising capabilities and deliver greater value for advertisers and partners, including sports leagues and teams. The Foundry is central to Cast Iron Media’s operations, enabling precise delivery of local advertising across live sports content, ensuring advertisers can reach their desired audience in real time. With a strategic focus on innovation, localized ad delivery, and long-term partnerships, Cast Iron Media is well-positioned to strengthen its leadership in the OTT advertising space and continue its success in the evolving sports streaming landscape.

About Cast Iron Media

Cast Iron Media is a technology-driven sports media and marketing company that specializes in delivering targeted ads with precision through its advanced ad-tech platform, The Foundry. Through established partnerships with major sports leagues, teams, and Virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (vMVPDs), Cast Iron Media manages expanded commercial inventory across live MLB, NBA, NHL, and NCAA games. The company’s cutting-edge platform ensures precise ad delivery, maximizing reach and engagement for advertisers across live sports content. For more information, visit www.castiron.media.

Press Inquiries:
Chris Tropeano
Prosek Partners on behalf of Cast Iron Media
[email protected]

SOURCE Cast Iron Media

Backed by Kayla Itsines and the founder of Grenade nutrition, Neutonic is ready to pop the top on brain-boosting energy powered by nootropics

Neutonic, the U.K.-based nootropic beverage startup founded by fitness influencer James Smith and “Modern Wisdom” podcast host Chris Williamson, has raised $3.7 million in its first funding round, propelling its valuation to $20 million just 18 months after launching.

The zero-sugar beverage brand has sold over three million cans and generated $10 million in sales since launching in November 2023, emerging as a rising player in the functional drink market with a coffee alternative powered by ingredients like Cognizin, Rhodiola rosea and Panax ginseng, and appealing to a growing base of sober-curious consumers.

In addition to its canned beverages, Neutonic offers on-the-go powder packets and daily “Focus Blend” brain capsules as part of its growing nootropic lineup.

The round drew investment from a high-profile group of creators and entrepreneurs, including Sweat co-founder Kayla Itsines, Contrarian Thinking’s Codie Sanchez, SaaS leader Dan Martell and Gym King’s Jay Parker. Also joining was Grenade founder Alan Barratt, whose sports nutrition brand was acquired by Mondelez for £200 million in 2021.

The move comes as the nootropics space heats up globally, buoyed by shifting wellness priorities and a growing interest in cognitive enhancers.

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“I first met James early in my career and have always admired his drive and passion for everything he takes on,” Itsines said. “From the moment I tried Neutonic, it quickly became my go-to—thanks not only to the quality of the product but also to the integrity and vision of the team behind it. Both James and Chris bring a level of thoughtfulness and ambition that’s rare to find, and I’m incredibly proud to support them as an investor. I truly believe in what they’re building and couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come.”

The capital will support Neutonic’s next growth phase, with plans to expand retail distribution in the U.K. and U.S., appoint regional leads and build out the team with strategic hires. New powder and canned flavors are slated to launch this summer.

“This investment provides the momentum needed to bring our ambitions for Neutonic to life,” Smith said. “We’ve had a clear vision from the outset, and closing this funding round marks a significant milestone in reaching the next phase of our growth. We’re excited to expand into new markets and strengthen our presence in retail.”

Sports technology exists in a fascinating twilight zone where innovation meets regulation. Equipment designers constantly push boundaries, sometimes crossing the invisible line between competitive advantage and unfair edge, as seen in the ongoing creation and regulation of sports equipment that impacts fairness and competition. The history of sports intertwines with technological advancement, from curved hockey sticks to modern tennis rackets.

These controversial innovations force fundamental questions about athletic competition. What constitutes fair play? Where do we draw the line between helpful equipment and performance enhancement? The most banned and debated items reveal not just technical boundaries, but our deeper values about what makes sport meaningful.

10. E-Bikes: Redefining Mountain Biking

Mountain biking has always married human endurance with technical skill in perfect harmony. E-bikes disrupted this balance through integrated electric motors and sophisticated control panels offering various boost modes. Riders can now conquer steep inclines with amplified leg power, experiencing unprecedented trail access.

This democratization of difficult terrain appeals to recreational riders but raises serious competitive integrity questions. Traditional and assisted riders sharing the same courses creates fundamental fairness issues, leading some regions to consider a proposed ban on offroad e-bikes to address these concerns.

9. The E-Bike Performance Gap

Numbers reveal a substantial divide between traditional and electric mountain bikes on challenging terrain. An 8-mile off-road course sees e-bikes cut journey times by approximately 20-22%—advantages that would make any performance coach take serious notice. Motors assist riders up to 20 mph in some regions, making challenging terrain significantly more manageable.

Uphill sections that traditionally test endurance become dramatically easier with electric assistance. This creates enormous competitive advantages that undermine traditional skill assessment, leading many events to implement outright bans on e-bikes in competitive settings.

8. The Ball That Baffled World Cup Stars

The 2010 World Cup introduced millions to the Adidas Jabulani, a ball behaving like chaos theory incarnate. Its unique eight-panel layout and lightweight construction created extreme knuckleball effects with flight paths that defied aerodynamic expectations. Players who spent lifetimes mastering ball control suddenly needed entirely new techniques.

Clean strikes with minimal spin became essential for any control—a fundamental change to skills developed over decades. England goalkeeper David James captured the frustration perfectly: “It was like someone had replaced every football with a beach ball filled with helium.” Nearly every player reported unusual movement patterns that challenged even the most technically gifted professionals, sparking widespread Jabulani ball controversy among goalkeepers and players. Players who spent lifetimes mastering ball control suddenly needed entirely new techniques, much like how the introduction of the new and legal torpedo bat in baseball has forced hitters and coaches to rethink long-standing approaches to the game.

7. Tournament Chaos Unleashed

The Jabulani’s pronounced knuckleball effect made each strike produce unpredictable flight paths unlike any standard ball model. Goalkeepers faced particular difficulties with erratic trajectories that would suddenly swerve at the last moment. Shots appearing to head directly at keepers would inexplicably change direction.

This tournament saw an unusual number of goalkeeping errors that fundamentally changed match dynamics. Questions arose about whether equipment should ever so dramatically alter a sport’s fundamental nature. FIFA and Adidas eventually reverted to traditional designs in subsequent tournaments after widespread player complaints.

6. The Sticky Situation: Goalkeeper Glove Glue

Goalkeeping represents perhaps the most pressure-filled position in team sports where every mistake gets magnified. Glove glue emerged as a controversial substance promising to transform the fundamental goalkeeping skill of catching balls. Applied methodically before matches, this enhancement supposedly improved grip during crucial penalty shot moments.

Physical tests show marginal grip improvement, but real-world effectiveness remains hotly debated among players and coaches, much like the discussions around the most controversial banned accessories in professional baseball. . Brazilian goalkeeper Júlio César once admitted, “Sometimes you need every advantage you can get legally.” The psychological confidence boost might outweigh physical advantages—a fascinating example of how equipment innovation operates in both material and mental realms simultaneously. For more on the rules, see is gloveglu legal to use, which explains its permitted status in goalkeeping.

5. Golf Balls That Made Courses Obsolete

Golfers have eternally sought the holy grail of distance through equipment innovation. Certain balls that pushed regulatory boundaries solved this quest through advanced physics that impressed even dedicated sports analytics experts. High-compression cores maximized energy transfer upon impact while meticulously engineered dimple patterns slashed air resistance.

The result created unprecedented distance gains that threatened established course designs. Strategic hazards placed at specific yardages became irrelevant overnight. Par-5 holes transformed from three-shot challenges to reachable two-shot opportunities, fundamentally altering golf’s competitive balance.

4. The Distance Revolution in Numbers

Professional players typically drive regulation balls 280-320 yards under standard conditions. Experimental balls with enhanced cores and aerodynamics produced significant distance gains that forced continuous USGA regulation updates. Performance improvements fundamentally altered the game’s strategic architecture built over decades.

Courses designed with specific hazards at strategic distances suddenly found those obstacles meaningless. The entire balance between skill, strategy, and course design became compromised by equipment changes. Governing bodies intervened to preserve golf’s traditional challenge-reward structure that defines the sport’s essence. For more background, see the regulation of golf ball technology and its impact on the game.

3. The Shoes That Broke Running

Nike’s Vaporfly series sparked running’s own technological arms race when introduced in 2016. Carbon-fiber plates and PEBAX-based foam created unprecedented advantages that left competitors scrambling. World Athletics eventually established a 40mm stack height limit after prototype shoes pushed boundaries with multiple carbon plates and thicker soles.

These advanced models delivered quicker stride transitions while maintaining exceptional grip in wet conditions. Enhanced energy return maximized efficiency with each step. Most remarkably, performance advantages persisted even during downpours, effectively neutralizing weather as a racing variable. For more, see the Nike Vaporfly shoes controversy and how it changed the running world.

2. The Unfair Running Advantage

Numbers reveal a substantial divide between traditional and electric mountain bikes on challenging terrain. An 8-mile off-road course sees e-bikes cut journey times by approximately 20-22%—advantages that would make any performance coach take serious notice. Motors assist riders up to 20 mph in some regions, making challenging terrain significantly more manageable.

Uphill sections that traditionally test endurance become dramatically easier with electric assistance. This creates enormous competitive advantages that undermine traditional skill assessment, leading many events to implement outright bans on e-bikes in competitive settings.

1. The Future of Controversial Innovation

These equipment battles represent just the beginning of technology’s invasion into athletic competition. Smart fabrics that monitor muscle fatigue in real-time are already being tested. AI-assisted equipment that adapts to individual performance patterns looms on the horizon. Biomechanical enhancement suits could revolutionize multiple sports simultaneously.

The next decade promises even more complex debates about technological boundaries in sports, as the ethical implications of tech doping continue to challenge governing bodies and fans alike. As equipment becomes increasingly sophisticated, governing bodies face unprecedented challenges in maintaining competitive balance. The question isn’t whether new controversies will emerge, but how quickly sports can adapt to technological realities while preserving their essential character.

The post 10 Sports Technologies That Were Banned for Being Too Good first appeared on ATL Braves Country.

Content personalization has been a hot topic ever since the emergence of niche cable networks and the VCR in the 1980s allowed consumers to access content geared to their particular interests and control how and when they watched it. But in the last several years, the importance of finding better ways to tap into consumer preferences has become the key to surviving and thriving in an increasingly complex media landscape.

“Personalization really has to be top of mind,” says Preston Smalley, vice president of product management at Roku, which is working hard to maintain its position as the most popular streaming platform in the U.S. by improving the user experience with customized user interfaces, new content destination zones, better search and other efforts to personalize streaming.

Prime Day 2025 is here from Tuesday, July 8 to Friday, July 11, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools. 

• Keep following our live blog to stay up to date on the best sales we find.

• Browse our editors’ picks for a curated list of our favorite sales on laptops, fitness tech, appliances, and more. 

• Subscribe to our shopping newsletter, Add to Cart, for the best sales sent to your inbox.

• New to Prime Day? We have a primer on everything you need to know. Sales are accurate at the time of publication, but prices and inventory are always subject to change.

Our Prime Day coverage is here, giving you live access to the best deals our team of experts can find. We will always use price tracking tools to make sure the deals you see are actually good deals and not just hype designed to fool you.

You need to be a Prime Member to have access to all of Amazon’s Prime Day deals and to get free shipping. Prime membership starts at $14.99 per month ($139 per year) and comes with a lot more benefits than people think. It’s easy to figure out if yearly Prime membership is worth it for you, but remember, you can always cancel your Prime membership once the sale is over. Amazon offers free 30-day trials, so you can shop for the whole event and still have time to cancel before you get charged. (Here’s how to sign up for a Prime account.)

You can check out our live blog of the event below, which features the whole team’s coverage of all four days of Prime Day. We’ll continue covering new deals as they are published, but scroll through the blog to check out all of the best deals so far.

Looking for something else? Retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, and Home Depot have Prime Day competition sales that are especially useful if you don’t have Amazon Prime.

• Walmart’s Prime Day competition sale begins at midnight on July 8 and will include deals up to 50% off. It’s an especially good option if you have Walmart+. 

• Best Buy’s Prime Day competition sale, “Black Friday in July,” runs through Sunday, July 13 and has some of the best tech sales online. It’s an especially good option if you’re a My Best Buy “Plus” or “Total” member.

• Home Depot extended its 4th of July sale through at least July 9, competing with some amazing deals of its own. It’s an especially good option if you’re looking for power tools, appliances, or outdoor equipment. 

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Early Prime Day Deals

Sportech startup Movetru, focused on movement analysis and injury prevention, has raised  €1.4 million Pre-Seed funding. 

Movetru was founded by Naomi McGregor, an award-winning entrepreneur whose journey began after a ballet injury at age 14 went undiagnosed for three years. 

Motivated by a personal mission to improve movement health for others, Naomi combined her lived experience with a Masters in Product Design Engineering to create a more accessible way to understand and improve human performance. 

Movetru’s flagship wearable and AI-powered app-based solution provides real-time biomechanical insights to help athletes and coaches make better, faster decisions about performance and injury risk — on the field, in the gym, or in rehab. 

The product is being used by professional and amateur sports organisations across the UK and Ireland, with strong early results and feedback. 

According to Steve Key, Performance Coach at the Belfast Giants (Ice Hockey), Movetru is a comprehensive tool that can be used in any situation or environment to gain in-depth data points and key metrics around an individual’s movement patterns and ability to function optimally. 

“As a performance coach, having this readily available, in an easily digestible format, is key to making quick and informed decisions that benefit the health and wellbeing of players.” 

“We are absolutely thrilled to be leading this round for Movetru,” said Jessica Rasmussen, co-founder and CEO of Two Magnolias. “Naomi and her team are solving a critical gap in sports performance with grit, vision, and world-class execution. 

Movetru represents the best of Northern Ireland’s tech talent, and we are excited to back them on this journey.”

Two Magnolias led the funding, which was supported by an international syndicate of investors including IAG Capital, HBAN, Angel Academe, AwakenAngels, and various individual angel investors with industry expertise, such as Dr Phil Graham-Smith (co-founder of ForceDecks), Dr Mark Batt (Consultant and Hon Professor Sport and Exercise medicine), and Jeff Mostyn (former chairman of AFC Bournemouth). 

“This success of this round demonstrates the growing international recognition of Movetru’s potential. We’re building something globally relevant, and that’s reflected in our cap table,” said Naomi McGregor, Founder and CEO of Movetru. 

“With this investment, we’re accelerating our mission to empower athletes through better data. When you understand movement, you can improve it.” 

The raise is a major step forward for the company as it scales operations and begins wider commercial rollout, bringing validated, athlete-first technology to clubs, coaches, and clinics.  Athletes, coaches, and sports professionals can now book on-field screenings and pre-order Movetru devices via the official website. 

Lead image: McBurney Photography.