Technology

Affina’s managed services model sticks out for sports teams unable to fully on take on a fan loyalty program

CrowdPlay and Rethink Loyalty were speaking separately with the Boston Celtics about their fan engagement efforts in 2023 when a Celtics executive pointed out the two companies’ interlocking capabilities. The two sports fan engagement tech companies should merge instead of competing, the exec suggested. (Light bulb!) Within a year, the companies had merged, officially forming […]

Published

2 months ago

June 27, 2025

Your Sports Nation

(Light bulb!)

Within a year, the companies had merged, officially forming Affina in December 2024. The timing was perfect. Many loyalty programs created during the 2010s withered on the vine, but rapid and widespread adoption of digital ticketing during COVID laid the foundation for the sports industry’s second crack at loyalty programs.

“Because you now have tech adoption mandated to some extent,” said PagsGroup associate Zach Yoshor, “That’s really what’s driving another look at how to incorporate better engagement tools into sports.”

Sports properties are approaching the fan loyalty program 2.0 era in different ways:

Some are designing, building and running programs in-house.
Others are doing some of the digital development and ongoing operations work in-house, but getting specific expertise from third parties.
Many more sports organizations, lacking the resources or wherewithal to do any of that, are outsourcing much of the work and upkeep to a third party, such as Affina.

“We have two companies,” said Affina co-founder and CEO Andrew Pizzi. “[CrowdPlay] was expert in delivering loyalty solutions for sports teams and [Rethink] was expert in building card-linked and affiliate offer platforms. These are not features, they’re two businesses that came together to deliver a comprehensive solution for customers.”

The CrowdPlay portion of Affina’s business lets fans benefit from their fandom by earning rewards for all types of actions, whether completing a trivia quiz or scanning a QR code at a season-ticket members event. The Rethink Loyalty half of Affina provides the card-linked offers that help fund loyalty programs and generate revenue in a way sports loyalty programs didn’t in the past. Industry feedback led to the third leg of the Affina business, its managed services offering, in which the company operates sports properties’ loyalty programs once they’re built.

“That’s a part of the model that made a lot of sense,” said Next League Chief Digital Officer Shripal Shah. “Having dedicated attention to the loyalty touchpoints alone is going to see a higher [return on investment]. Them offering the managed services is why so many people are asking about them right now.”

Managed services quickly proved a differentiator for Affina in a fragmented field of competitors, helping the company double its sports client roster — which now includes Fanatics, a slew of NBA and NHL teams and an impending first NFL team — each year since 2021. The company has made the prospect of launching, maintaining and growing a fan loyalty program less daunting for sports properties, many of which were burnt in the past by loyalty program failure.

“When we first got into sports loyalty, it was a term that teams were scared of. They’d had bad experiences. Loyalty is at this point where it’s very hot, it’s about to really take off.”

— Andrew Pizzi, Affina co-founder and CEO

“I think the hard part was proving out the ROI and the lift was heavy, and it was just hard,” said Matt Griffin, Celtics senior vice president of strategy and business operations. “With companies like Affina, it’s easier to see that now.”

Affina recently closed a seven-figure Series A funding round with Yoshor and PagsGroup, the family investment office of Stephen Pagliuca, a former owner of the Celtics who knows sports team business operations. The company’s revenue has grown 307% in the past 12 months, though Pizzi couldn’t disclose revenue figures or whether the company was profitable. The business is non-capital intensive, and thanks to a timely, Celtics-inspired merger (and investment from its former owner), the Boston-based company is well positioned to take advantage of the fan loyalty renaissance in sports.

“When we first got into sports loyalty, it was a term that teams were scared of. They’d had bad experiences,” Pizzi said. “Loyalty is at this point where it’s very hot; it’s about to really take off.”

CrowdPlay, founded by Pizzi and Mike Cusano, originated as a gamification platform teams could use to engage fans, primarily in the minor league sports world.

The company had just raised a funding round in 2020 when COVID hit, eliminating crowds. Pizzi and Cusano pondered returning the investment, but ultimately sat on it for a year and a half. Because of the pandemic, they could get audiences with the pro sports teams that were previously too busy to meet. The duo listened to teams’ stories, cataloging the unfulfilled visions.

Repeatedly, teams said they had started a loyalty program led internally by a specific employee. Within a year or two, that employee would leave the job, and the program lost its pilot. That cycle would repeat again in another year or two.

What if CrowdPlay, in addition to providing the loyalty program product, could be the consistent shepherd of that program for the team, even through organizational change? Industry feedback was immediately positive.

“No one wants more tools,” Pizzi said, “they want solutions.”

Rethink Loyalty, led by Simon Goldstein, was building a business around the complex topic of CLO and arrived at the managed services model in a similar way. Major financial institutions, such as Chase or Visa, might have in-house card-linked offers expertise, but most companies, including relatively smaller ones such as sports teams, would not. By necessity, Rethink had to design, build and fully manage its solution.

Once the companies merged, the card-linked offer business became a key underpinning. Partnering with larger companies enabled Affina to amass roughly 80,000 card-linked offers, a huge offer pool for sports clients mostly clueless about creating such a library from scratch. Those offers effectively fund a team’s loyalty program.

“We were really the first company that white-labeled CLO to drive loyalty for teams and brands,” said Goldstein, Affina co-founder and chief innovation officer.

The card-linked offer business subsequently becomes a major data source for the sports property that can inform sponsorship and sales teams about their fans’ buying behaviors and habits. The Affina platform collects the data from fans’ card-linked shopping and makes it accessible to the team, which can use the information to source new sponsorship and sales leads (“Did you know 35% of our fans shop with you twice a month?”). Financial services company Plaid provides Affina clients with 24 months of historical spending data and all future spending data (regardless of where a fan’s card is used).

“Card-link offers can really drive a lot of insights around a fan persona,” said Shah. “From my experience, having a direct card link, because you can see real transactions, you can do better marketing.”

Fanatics initially wanted to become a merchant in Rethink Loyalty’s card-linked offers program. The sports merchandise juggernaut happened to have a significant pain point at that time: The average Fanatics customer was shopping with them only a few times per year. How often does a fan need a jersey?

That led Fanatics to become a Rethink customer. By folding in Rethink’s card-linking tech, Fanatics’ FanCash became more valuable to customers. That sparked a 2.8 times increase in spending frequency for Fanatics’ FanCash+ members compared to average customers, a 29% increase in average basket size and a 4.3 times increase in spending on Fanatics’ website.

“This was an opportunity to reward their customers everywhere else they shopped,” Goldstein said.

“You can be as involved or as little involved as is comfortable for you, as you want to. If you need a lot of hand holding, they’ll hold your hand.”

— Matt Griffin, Celtics senior vice president of strategy and business operations

When Rethink merged with CrowdPlay, the Fanatics relationship came along, too. That relationship appeals to clients such as the Celtics, whose Celtics Rewards points can be converted into FanCash and used on Fanatics’ platform. Affina and Fanatics handle fulfillment for team clients, sending gear directly to fans.

The New Jersey Devils’ three-year deal with Affina expired last summer, and the team went to the open market to study at least five other options. Affina’s managed services model set it apart and led to a new deal.

“There is a high level of trust,” said Zack Robinson, Devils vice president of ticket sales and service. “It’s huge because we don’t have a ton of bandwidth.”

Ditto for the Celtics, who couldn’t dedicate a full-time employee to their program, which launched last November with Affina. The Celtics, with huge ticket demand, limited the program to season-ticket holders. Membership sits in the low thousands. Their loyalty program choices are colored by not owning or operating TD Garden. The team is involved in Celtics Rewards, of course, but Affina handles the operations nitty-gritty, such as customer service.

“You can be as involved or as little involved as is comfortable for you, as you want to,” said Griffin. “If you need a lot of hand holding, they’ll hold your hand.”

Robinson first joined the Devils in 2017 and immediately scrapped the existing loyalty program he found. The challenge with the old program was “it was all on us,” he said. “I felt like I was hacking into an original Apple computer trying to set up the back end. We were kind of scarred.”

Robinson later launched the Devils’ Black and Red Rewards, partly to reinforce game attendance by offering rewards to season-ticket members who sell unused tickets back to the team. After its first season, the program was offered as a perk to season-ticket members who auto-renewed. Two-hundred ticket accounts chose it as an incentive. Several years later, 75% of the Devils’ season-ticket members are enrolled in Black and Red Rewards, with 70% using it daily. Eighty-five percent use it weekly, and 90% monthly. Trivia is one of the most popular engagement games, with 1.5 million questions answered this past season.

The Devils nominated Affina for an NHL Stanley Award in the Best Ticketing Initiative category. Based on the success, the Philadelphia 76ers, another Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment-owned team, rolled out a similar program with Affina last season. The next decision for the Devils is whether to expand Black and Red Rewards fan base-wide, and when.

“Are rewards a fad or does it have staying power? I get asked that all the time,” Robinson said. “Right now, the feedback is I think if you do it right, it does.”

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Technology

Catapult Sports Announces Change in Substantial Shareholder

Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Catapult Group International ( (AU:CAT) ) has provided an update. Catapult Sports Ltd announced that Disruptive Capital Pty Ltd, acting as trustee for certain trusts, has ceased […]

Published

3 minutes ago

August 22, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Elevate Your Investing Strategy:

Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence.

Catapult Group International ( (AU:CAT) ) has provided an update.

Catapult Sports Ltd announced that Disruptive Capital Pty Ltd, acting as trustee for certain trusts, has ceased to be a substantial holder in the company as of June 30, 2021. This change is due to a dilution of shareholding resulting from a capital raising, affecting over 11 million fully paid ordinary shares. The announcement highlights a significant shift in the company’s shareholder structure, which could impact its market positioning and stakeholder relationships.

The most recent analyst rating on (AU:CAT) stock is a Buy with a A$7.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Catapult Group International stock, see the AU:CAT Stock Forecast page.

More about Catapult Group International

Catapult Group International operates in the sports technology industry, providing performance analytics and wearable technology solutions for athletes and sports teams. The company focuses on enhancing athletic performance and optimizing team management through its innovative products.

Average Trading Volume: 1,364,648

Technical Sentiment Signal: Buy

Current Market Cap: A$1.7B

Learn more about CAT stock on TipRanks’ Stock Analysis page.

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Technology

AmEx Expands Its Sports Play: Can Miami Be the Game-Changer?

American Express Company AXP, also known as AmEx, is strengthening its global portfolio in sports and entertainment by entering new partnerships. It recently collaborated with Hard Rock Stadium, the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix, and the Miami Dolphins as their official payments partner. As part of this deal, AmEx’s eligible cardholders will be able […]

Published

3 hours ago

August 22, 2025

Your Sports Nation

American Express Company AXP, also known as AmEx, is strengthening its global portfolio in sports and entertainment by entering new partnerships. It recently collaborated with Hard Rock Stadium, the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix, and the Miami Dolphins as their official payments partner.

As part of this deal, AmEx’s eligible cardholders will be able to enjoy some exclusive benefits like Amex Presale Tickets, access to VIP lounges and a special entrance. With these agreements, the company aims to carve out a unique space where sports, culture and premium experiences all come together.

Sponsorship of the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix also accelerates AXP’s 2025 expansion into more than 20 global races. The company aims to design an immersive fan experience and offer benefits for card members, such as the popular AmEx Race Radios, to enjoy all the action on the track and more at the 2026 Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix.

This move further enhances AXP’s impressive sports portfolio, which features significant sponsorship in tennis, basketball and many more. Miami serves as a key location for the brand as Hard Rock Stadium is the home of the Dolphins and hosts major concerts and many entertainment events.

If this strategy goes well, it will help AmEx to retain its loyal customers and attract younger ones, especially those who are experience seekers. In 2023, the company’s network volume was around $1.7 billion, which rose 5% year over year in 2024. It further rose 6% year over year in the first half of 2025 as travel and entertainment spending showed resilience.

How Are Competitors Faring?

Some of AXP’s competitors in the payments space include Mastercard Incorporated MA and Visa Inc. V.

Mastercard actively participates in the entertainment world with a bunch of exciting initiatives. Its Priceless platform offers its eligible cardholders exclusive access to events, VIP experiences and top-notch seats. Mastercard’s purchase transactions rose 9.6% year over year in the first half of 2025.

Visa is deeply engaged in the space of entertainment and sports through various sponsorships and partnerships. It serves as a global payment partner for major events like the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the FIFA World Cup and many other events. Visa’s payments volume increased 8% year over year on a constant-dollar basis in the third quarter of fiscal 2025.

AmEx’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of AXP have risen 3.9% in the year-to-date period compared with the industry’s growth of 1.8%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, AmEx trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56X, down from the industry average of 20.17. AXP carries a Value Score of B.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AmEx’s 2025 earnings is pegged at $15.26 per share, implying a 14.3% jump from the year-ago period.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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Technology

Google didn’t show its AI health coach in action – here are 5 features I hope we’ll see when it drops

Published

4 hours ago

August 22, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The reveal of the Google Pixel Watch 4 was the main bone thrown to Google’s health and fitness ecosystem at this year’s Made by Google 2025 live event and the Pixel 10 launch. The watch was undeniably impressive – starting at $399 / £349 / AU$579, it includes all-new features like on-wrist Google Gemini AI, all-new workouts, replaceable parts, and a satellite SOS service. We can’t wait to review the watch in full, but you can read our early Google Pixel Watch 4 review for our first impressions.

However, another fitness feature was briefly mentioned alongside the new hardware: a personal AI health coach. During a segment with celebrity Peloton trainer Cody Rigsby, it was announced via a stock-footage sizzle reel that the health coach, powered by Google Gemini, was “always available, always adapting, backed by science, and uniquely tailored to you”. It’ll begin previews in the US in October, presumably rolling out to other regions shortly after, as part of a redesigned Fitbit app.

Aside from touching on performance, health and wellness, and sleep (and featuring NBA all-star Stephen Curry as Google’s ‘performance advisor’ whatever that means), very little was said about what the Coach would actually do or look like. In fact, we got more information from a YouTube video which was shared by Google, but not publicized or shown during the presentation itself. I’ve embedded it below.

A New, Personalized Health Coach is Coming to Fitbit – YouTube

Watch On

Clearly, it shows that the user can ask questions about their health and fitness, and the AI coach will pull data from their Fitbit and contextual information (such as the user tweaking their back) to provide contextual fitness advice, such as altering their sleep schedule or replacing a high-impact cardio session with a gentler yoga flow.

However, considering how much was shown about other Google Pixel devices and features during the live event, the health coach was barely touched on. I’d love to know more; how is the AI health coach “backed by science”? What features will it have? Will it interface with the Pixel Watch 4? What does ‘Stephen Curry, Performance Advisor’ actually look like? What will its name be?

Below are some of the features I think the AI health coach needs to adopt (read that as ‘steal from other apps’) to be a truly revolutionary tool and an industry leader. Forget celebrity endorsements and flashy sizzle-reels

1. Interfacing with non-AI devices

The Google Pixel Watch 4 may have Gemini on-wrist, but the vast majority of users of even the best Fitbits will be sporting devices with no AI capacity. While the AI assistant is likely to process and answer questions on your phone, it would be cool if certain features, such as any workouts or running routes the AI comes up with, could be pushed to your Fitbit watch to follow along on-wrist.

This would require the AI to first devise the plan, then export the plan into a format the watch can use, then push the plan to your watch. We imagine it would then remind you to sync your watch again to ensure the plan loads, but this would allow Fitbit or older Pixel Watch users to still use the AI service to its fullest extent just by subscribing to Fitbit Premium – which, of course, is where the money is.

2. Adaptive training plans

While the AI health coach video above shows the AI suggesting tweaks to its training plan, such as replacing a high-impact cardio session with a low-intensity yoga class to support the user’s bad back, it stopped short of suggesting adaptive training plans of the kind used by AI-powered training apps such as Runna.

Truly adaptive training plans take into account your performance as well as your preferences: if you’re doing better than expected and hitting goals beyond what your training plan had prescribed for you, it can intelligently recognize this and up the intensity.

For example, Samsung has 140 different running coach plans for all sorts of distances and fitness levels, automatically shifting you to easier or more challenging plans based on your performance during workouts. If you’re struggling with the speed and distance Samsung recommends, it’ll make things easier next time.

Push workout app tracker

(Image credit: Future)

3. Plateau-breakers in strength training

Cardiovascular training is easy for fitness watches to record because it uses metrics the watch can record on its own, such as heart rate, distance, time, and speed. Making a fitness watch or app relevant for strength training has always been a challenge: a watch can make a good guess at the number of reps in a set, but there’s no way for it to automatically record what kind of weight the user is picking up.

Most weightlifting apps take the form of a combination journal and workout planner. PUSH, which we rated the best app for strength training, offers AI-generated workout plans, a built-in rest timer, journal functionalities, and even recommends ‘plateau-breaker’ exercises. If you find yourself recording the same amount of weight on a particular exercise, PUSH will recommend a move that will help you build the strength to clear the bar next time.

We’d love it if the AI fitness coach could recommend similar exercises, do so intelligently, and prompt users to try them. Very few people would think to ask Gemini “what’s a plateau-breaker exercise for a 70kgs bench press?” but might give an exercise a go if prompted to do so.

4. Scanning your plates

When it comes to health, exercise is only one-third of the battle, with the other two-thirds being sleep and nutrition. Each affects the other. Nutrition suffers the same problem as weightlifting: the need to manually record a number, be it calories, grams of protein, or something else.

The success of apps like MyFitnessPal was down to attempting to automate the process by having an automatic calorie estimation for the most common foods, or the ability to scan barcodes to provide nutritional information. There are quite a few third-party apps now that offer, or promise, calorie estimation of a meal via a quick photograph of a plate.

This is not a perfect process, and many of these apps seem more than a little suspect and data-hungry to me. But with Google Gemini and all the image-recognition photograph tools it enables, there’s an opportunity for Google to incorporate something really interesting here: an easy way for people to monitor their nutrition, and add their macros and calorie counts to the vast amounts of information the AI health coach draws from. Simply take a photograph of your meal, tell the AI what it is, and it could automatically estimate nutritional stats.

Fitbit Premium

(Image credit: Fitbit)

5. An inclusive approach

We saw the AI chatbot give encouraging advice to someone who had hurt their back, which has given us some indication that context is key for the Fitbit AI health coach. But every suggestion we’ve seen so far is for people who fall into some degree of normalcy: those who would benefit from, or are able to take part in, regular exercise such as walking and running workouts.

But what about the outlying points on the graph? People who are very underweight, or very overweight, the elderly, or perhaps those confined to a wheelchair. Will the health coach be sufficiently science-backed to cater to the marginalized as well as the majority? We hope so.

You might also like…

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Technology

Awful Announcing’s 2025 streaming service rankings for sports fans

Streaming platforms have never been more critical in the life of a sports fan. The past several years have seen more sports go to streamers than ever before. Big tech companies have become entrenched in sports rights deals, picking up packages alongside traditional linear networks. Sports are just as likely to link up with Amazon […]

Published

6 hours ago

August 22, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Streaming platforms have never been more critical in the life of a sports fan.

The past several years have seen more sports go to streamers than ever before. Big tech companies have become entrenched in sports rights deals, picking up packages alongside traditional linear networks. Sports are just as likely to link up with Amazon or Netflix as they are with ESPN or Fox.

Not to be outdone or left behind, all the major linear networks now have their own streaming services, or will be launching them shortly. August 21, 2025, is a seminal day in the history of ESPN as the Worldwide Leader in Sports finally launches their streaming platform for cord-cutters. And even Fox, long the a holdout alongside ESPN in the digital race, will be launching their Fox One streaming service the same day.

Much of the exponential rise in streaming has been built on the supply and demand of sports fans. Each streaming platform has counted on live sports to draw subscriptions and raise revenue by airing exclusive sporting events. Sports is by far the most effective carrot a media company can hang to get sign-ups and, even more importantly, keep them on board.

But that reliance has also led sports fans to a number of subscriptions and paywalls that feel like taking on the most difficult American Ninja Warrior course. It’s almost impossible to keep track of what sport is going on where, what the best value propositions are, and the true cost of being a sports fan.

So if you’re looking for a way to navigate through the maze of streaming platforms as a sports fan, this list is for you. It is a list of every major streaming platform ranked by the best value provided to fans. Like any internet list, it’s subjective. So you won’t see any FAST channels or free services here. And the sports you desire may be higher or lower than our list. For instance, if you’re a UFC megafan, Paramount+ will soon be your go-to streaming service. But we’ve tried to rank these by the best overall popularity of the sports provided, matched up with their monthly subscription costs.

9) DAZN

Cost: $29.99 per month, or $19.99 per month for an annual contract.
Live Sports: Soccer, boxing, combat sports

DAZN is a much bigger platform internationally than in America, where it hardly registers in the greater sports ecosystem. Perhaps its biggest deal was found in televising the recent Club World Cup, but that entire tournament was hardly a must-see, even from hardcore soccer fans. Their flagship sports are found in boxing and MMA, but the vast majority of those events are far from headliners. The rest of the DAZN schedule reads like what ESPN would show during their Ocho marathons at a cost that anyone outside of the most diehard combat sports fans would find insane to consider.

8) Apple

Cost: $9.99 for Apple TV+ per month, $99 for MLS Season Pass, $79 with Apple TV+ subscription
Live Sports: MLS, MLB Friday Night Baseball, potentially F1

While other tech giants have dived head-first into the deep waters of competing with major media companies for live sports rights, Apple has taken a far different approach. Apple’s portfolio revolves around the landmark MLS Season Pass deal. We finally gained some insight into just how well MLS Season Pass is doing on Apple this year after a total lack of transparency. MLS is getting a good amount of money from Apple and benefiting from global exposure (especially with Lionel Messi), but it’s sacrificing accessibility on the home front. Overall, Season Pass is a very good and dedicated product for MLS fans.

Son Heung-Min has made in immediate impact for @LAFC @kev_egan, @BWPNINENINE and @kev_egan break it down. pic.twitter.com/upVAnuYjN3

— MLS on Air (@MLSonAir) August 18, 2025

Beyond the MLS deal, Apple is a non-factor in live sports. Its Friday Night Baseball package may go by the wayside soon. And while they are thought to be the future home for American F1 rights after the success of their movie starring Brad Pitt in theaters, it runs completely counter to their MLS strategy. Instead of owning global rights for an American league, Apple would take a worldwide series and air it only for an American audience. Even with F1’s growing fanbase stateside, it’s hard to see fans rejoicing that the series would go behind a streaming paywall after airing successfully for years on ESPN, especially with no other live sports to offer.

7) Netflix

Cost: $7.99 per month with ads, $17.99 per month standard
Live Sports: Christmas Day NFL, WWE Monday Night Raw, boxing, potentially Home Run Derby

Let’s be honest, if you’re subscribing to Netflix, you better not be doing it just for live sports. The truth is the portfolio here is only slightly above Apple in terms of content offered, but at least it’s of a premium quality. Netflix entered into a relationship with the NFL to air its Christmas Day games, which was a monumental milestone for both sides. Additionally, the global deal to televise WWE Raw was a watershed moment for the streamer, entering into live weekly sports entertainment for the first time.

Real. Rebellious. Raw.

Welcome to WWE Raw on @Netflix. pic.twitter.com/WqfnX733oJ

— Triple H (@TripleH) December 16, 2024

Otherwise, Netflix is committed to their event-focused model by being very selective with their rights and making a move for one-time events that have wide appeal, like Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson or their reported interest in the Home Run Derby. That reputation will only be enhanced in the upcoming years with rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups.

6) Fox One

Cost: $19.99 per month, $199.99 annually
Live Sports: MLB, NASCAR, college sports

At first glance, Fox’s entry into the market with a streaming platform featuring all of their channels seems like a big development for sports fans. But in actuality, almost all of the major Fox Sports events air on network television, which could already be accessed for free with an antenna.

For years, Fox has favored the reach of its broadcast network over placing its most valuable inventory on cable. In an era of increasing cost, that is certainly a welcome development for fans who have seen prices rising all over the place. But the flip side of that equation is it leaves little appetite for what is to come through Fox One on the sports side.

What you would really be paying for here is FS1, FS2, and the Big Ten Network. And once you look only at the cable options, suddenly your viewing options become a lot thinner, unless you are a dedicated viewer of Colin Cowherd or Nick Wright.

The FS1 live sports schedule is not the strongest, especially once you go beyond MLB playoff games and some NASCAR races. You would miss the odd college football or basketball game and soccer tournament here and there, but those all seem like things you could live without, especially given the high cost. FS2 has been a complete non-factor unless you like horse racing and Australian Rules Football.

5) Paramount+

Cost: $7.99 per month with ads, $12.99 per month ad-free
Live Sports: International soccer, future UFC

Come back in a year, and it’s likely that Paramount+ will move up this list once it gains UFC rights in 2026 after their $7.7 billion megadeal. Featuring every UFC card without being upcharged for PPV events (we think) would be a massive win for fight fans. But for now, Paramount+ is almost exclusively a soccer platform.

That said, the CBS streamer does have some heavy hitters with all the major UEFA club competitions, including the Champions League, Italy’s Serie A, and England’s Championship and League Cup. But this is where the draw for Paramount+ ends because NFL and college football games on the platform could be accessed for free with an antenna in your local market. And if you were a soccer fan, you could just sign up for games in-season and then sign off for the summer time without losing anything.

4) HBO Max

Cost: $9.99 per month/$99.99 per year with ads, $16.99 per month/$169.99 standard
Live Sports: March Madness, MLB, NASCAR driver cams, NHL, U.S. Soccer, French Open

The newly rechristened HBO Max suffers from the loss of TNT’s most valuable sports property in the NBA on TNT. But beyond that, there is still a solid list of live sports on offer under the Warner Bros. Discovery umbrella… for now. It includes NHL and MLB rights, U.S. Soccer matches, and, of course, the NCAA Tournament. TNT has also been active in adding more content since losing the NBA, whether it be Unrivaled, the French Open (sorry, Roland-Garros), and various college sports rights.

Like Netflix, the true value in HBO Max probably lies in its entertainment properties versus what it offers in live sports. But the tonnage, depth, and variety at least make it a legitimate option for sports fans. And as far as something unique goes, the best sports offering on HBO Max may just be the NASCAR driver cams available for every car, complete with spotter radio, that has transformed how you can watch races each week.

And here’s Chase Elliott’s onboard as he gets hooked head on in the fence.

This crash ended up ending Elliott’s chances of winning the regular season championship. https://t.co/Qq1PMslDSs pic.twitter.com/9KenD1XWnU

— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) August 17, 2025

All of these properties will soon move off the HBO Max platform when Discovery Global, the spinoff which will include TNT Sports, launches its own streamer. But for now, HBO Max has a wide range of sports properties that aren’t available on broadcast, which puts them at a solid fourth place on the list.

3) Amazon Prime Video

Cost: $8.99 per month, $14.99 per month/$139 annual for overall Amazon Prime subscription
Live Sports: NFL Thursday Night Football, NBA, WNBA, NASCAR

When it comes to tech companies, Amazon has quickly leapt up to the top of the ladder in the live sports scene and now occupies the same space as the likes of ESPN, NBC, and other traditional network powers. That began with the historic deal to stream a full season of NFL games through Thursday Night Football, and the company’s sports library has only continued to grow ever since then.

Of course, Amazon wants you to get the overall Prime subscription so you can shop through their site as well. But as a standalone service, the $8.99 monthly rate is still a great value compared to the other options on the list. When you also add in the massive amount of NBA and WNBA content that will be on the Prime Video platform this fall, with the launch of the league’s new media deals, it looks even better.

2025-26 NBA Season Watch Guide 📺✍️

Through the NBA’s partnership renewal with Disney and new agreements with NBCUniversal and Amazon, the 2025-26 schedule of national games will generally feature Mondays on Peacock, Tuesdays on NBC/Peacock, Wednesdays on ESPN/ESPN App,… pic.twitter.com/4KVpP76Vtq

— NBA (@NBA) August 14, 2025

Amazon will have loads of regular season NBA action, NBA Cup action, and serious postseason rights, including six Conference Finals over 11 years. Its WNBA rights have expanded to include select years broadcasting the Finals series. Additionally, a new NASCAR midseason package has only gone to bolster Amazon’s live sports collection further.

2) Peacock

Cost: $10.99 per month/$109.99 per year, $16.99 per month/$169.99 per year Premium
Live Sports: NFL, college sports, Olympics, NBA, EPL, WWE

From the outset, NBC was the most aggressive network by far when it came to using live sports to boost Peacock subscriptions. It’s almost hard to imagine now, but there were nearly riots in the streets when the NFL announced that the streamer would have its own exclusive playoff game that fans would have to fork over extra dollars for back in January 2024.

Since that time, NBC has been even more forceful in putting live sports exclusively on Peacock. And while it has undoubtedly been off-putting for some, there’s no question that the strategy has made it one of the most valuable streaming platforms for sports fans. While other companies have been caught in a tug of war between linear and streaming, or just dipping their toes into the live sports world, Peacock has been living and breathing live sports.

An exclusive NFL game, a substantial new NBA package, every Premier League game, the WWE library, college sports, and maybe the best recent sports broadcasting innovation in the Olympic Gold Zone all live on Peacock. That’s a fantastic lineup. Not to mention, Peacock is a likely landing spot for the soon-to-be spunoff Versant properties, which includes a ton of live golf rights.

The concerning thing for Peacock is that the sports-centric strategy may not be working in the long run. If Peacock were still priced at $7.99, it would be at the top of this list. But the 40% price hike for consumers to help pay for all of these deals has to be taken into account. The streamer could also drop in importance should NBC opt to launch a linear channel that simulcasts Peacock-exclusive games.

1) ESPN

Cost: $29.99 per month/$299.99 per year
Live Sports: Everything?

This is where your definition of value is probably going to vary, as it’s an incredibly tough call between the top two places. The new ESPN DTC service is as close to a must-have for sports fans as you can ever imagine. If there is one thing ESPN has done incredibly well since the turn of the century, it is building out a roster of live sports that makes its presence in the lives of sports fans an absolute necessity.

ESPN televises everything from Monday Night Football to the NBA and NHL playoffs to the College Football Playoff, Women’s NCAA Tournament, tennis and golf majors, and much much more.

Check out 5 things fans should know about ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer offering

Read: https://t.co/vWDrNqjW1m pic.twitter.com/Pxh1TPjxjd

— ESPN Front Row (@ESPNFrontRow) May 13, 2025

But the question here is value. At $29.99 per month, the ESPN DTC service is by far the most expensive offering on this list. ESPN knows it has a premium product and is asking you to pay a premium price. The good news for most sports fans is that you can access them through a cable subscription. But this list is for cord-cutters. Many of these streaming services aren’t all that relevant if you’re already paying for cable.

If you’ve survived for this long without ESPN, are you going to be willing to take the plunge now? The network is working hard to add exclusive content, like their surprising new deal with WWE for their premium live events. And it looks like more is coming in the future.

But at that price point, are you better off just going with a cable or satellite subscription that has ESPN DTC included? Or are you better off getting the ESPN DTC product and then piecing together other sports streaming subscriptions elsewhere? The answer to that question likely depends on what you value as a sports fan. If you’re able to mix-and-match for a price cheaper than cable, this could be a good option for you. If not, ESPN is more than happy to take your money from a cable subscription as well.

A world without ESPN, however, seems untenable as a sports fan. And that’s why they rank first on this list.

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Technology

Best Fitness Trackers for Outdoor Athletes in 2025

Published

7 hours ago

August 22, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Garmin Forerunner 165 Everyday running AMOLED iOS, Android 43mm, circle HRV, heart rate, respiratory rate, body battery, stress, activity level, menstrual cycle, calories burned, steps, naps, restless movements, sleep performance Running, cycling, swimming, hiking, racket sports Up to 11 days $250 Garmin Forerunner 965 Long-distance running AMOLED iOS, Android 47.2mm, circle HRV, heart rate, respiratory rate, body battery, stress, calories burned, steps, activity level, menstrual cycle, naps, restless movements, sleep performance Running, cycling, swimming, hiking, mountaineering, golfing, racket sports, rowing, kayaking, snow and winter sports Up to 23 days $600 Form Smart 2 Goggles Swimming N/A (No screen) iOS, Android No screen Heart rate, calories burned Swimming (includes open water with in-goggle compass) Up to 14 hours $279 (plus $10/month subscription) Garmin Fenix 5 Hiking Color pixel iOS, Android 42, 47, or 51mm, circle Heart rate, resting heart rate, heart rate zones, recovery time, training load, fitness age, steps, stress, relaxation reminders, breathing timer, sleep, women’s health Cycling, swimming, hiking, climbing, mountaineering, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, stand-up paddle boarding, rowing, triathlon Up to 8 days $300 Apple Watch Ultra 2 Serious outdoor athletes and seamless iOS integration OLED iOS 49mm titanium case, rectangle Vitals, sleep tracking, heart rate, cycle tracking, noise, sleep apnea detection, ECG, fall detection, crash detection, blood oxygen monitoring, mindfulness Swimming, diving, running, cycling, hiking Up to 36 hours (normal), up to 72 hours (Low Power Mode) $800 Suunto Race S Training and racing AMOLED iOS, Android 45mm, circle HRV, heart rate, respiratory rate, stress and recovery status, activity level, VO2 max, heart rate zones, calories burned, sleep Running, cycling, hiking, trail running, swimming, mountain biking, mountaineering, climbing, rowing, triathlon, free diving (up to 10 meters), snorkeling, surfing, snow and winter sports Up to 13 days $349 Polar H10 Heart Rate Monitor Heart rate monitoring N/A (No screen) iOS, Android No screen Heart rate minimum, maximum and average, calories burned Used with any outdoor activity Up to 400 battery-powered hours $105 Whoop 5.0 Tracking sleep and recovery N/A (Screenless) iOS, Android No screen HRV, resting heart rate, recovery, respiratory rate, blood oxygen, body temperature, exercise and sleep performance Running, cycling, swimming, hiking, climbing, mountaineering, golfing, freediving, kayaking, racket sports, rowing, triathlon, snow and winter sports Up to 14 days $199 (plus membership) Google Pixel Watch 3 Outdoor movement AMOLED LTPO Android 41 or 45mm, circle HRV, heart rate, resting heart rate, respiratory rate, skin temperature, loss of pulse detection, sleep, daily readiness, activity tracking, calories burned, steps, cardio load, workout recommendations Walking, running, cycling, swimming, gym, rowing, tennis Up to 36 hours $350 Samsung Galaxy Ultra Android users who want multi-day battery life, rugged design, and advanced health/fitness tracking Super AMOLED Android 47mm Physical readiness, heart rate, step, antioxidant index, vascular stress, body composition analysis Multisports, swim, hiking, biking, running, walking 100 hours (Power Saving mode), up to 48 hours (Exercise Power Saving mode) ~$650

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Technology

As India bans real-money games, Dream Sports, MPL start pulling the plug

Top Indian startups in the real-money gaming space have begun shutting down operations after New Delhi effectively banned the sector through new legislation that’s now on the verge of becoming law. On Thursday, the upper house of the Indian Parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025 — proposing to completely ban […]

Published

7 hours ago

August 22, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Top Indian startups in the real-money gaming space have begun shutting down operations after New Delhi effectively banned the sector through new legislation that’s now on the verge of becoming law.

On Thursday, the upper house of the Indian Parliament passed the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025 — proposing to completely ban real-money gaming while aiming to promote casual online games and esports. The vote came just a day after the bill cleared the lower house, leaving only presidential assent before it becomes law — a formality expected to happen soon.

Shortly after the bill passed in Parliament, Indian unicorns Dream Sports and Mobile Premier League (MPL) — along with other startups like Gameskraft, Probo, and Zupee — began shutting down their real-money gaming operations. Some of these companies informed employees of their decision following the bill’s passage in the lower house on Wednesday, while others began notifying users directly through their apps.

Dream Sports, which counts investors including Tiger Global, Multiples, Alpha Wave Global, and TCV, has shut down its recently launched quick-play fantasy gaming app, Dream Picks. Its other apps involving real-money transactions, including the widely-popular Dream11 and Dream Play, were still operational at the time of filing. However, TechCrunch has learned that the Mumbai-based startup plans to shut down its real-money gaming business entirely once the legislation comes into effect.

At its town hall meeting on Wednesday, the startup informed its employees about the implications of the law, a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch, requesting anonymity as the meeting was internal. Indian site Entrackr reported some details about the meeting earlier.

Dream Sports was planning to expand outside India, two people privy to the information informed TechCrunch, on condition of sharing it anonymously, as the plan was not public.

The startup also had some partnership talks for its Indian real-money business earlier this week that were about to be finalized, an investor source told TechCrunch.

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A Dream Sports spokesperson declined to comment.

Similar to Dream Sports, MPL, backed by investors including Peak XV, Times Internet, MSA Novo, and Crown Capital, has suspended all real-money games and is no longer taking deposits.

“Deposit cash (minus GST) will be available for withdrawal from 22 Aug. 2025,” a notification on the MPL app reads.

MPL app showing a notice saying “Deposits are no longer available”**Image Credits:**MPL (Screenshot)

Zupee, backed by investors including WestCap Group, Tomales Bay Capital, Nepean Capital, AJ Capital, and Z47 (formerly Matrix Partners India), has also shut down real-money games with immediate effect.

“In line with the new Online Gaming Bill 2025, we are discontinuing paid games, but our hugely popular free titles like Ludo Supreme, Ludo Turbo, Snakes & Ladders, and Trump Card Mania will continue to be available for all users for free,” a Zupee spokesperson said in a statement.

Probo, another Peak XV-backed startup, which also counts Elevation Capital and The Fundamentum Partnership among its key investors, stopped its real-money gaming operations after Parliament greenlit the legislation.

“As unfortunate as it is, we respect the government of India’s latest Online Gaming bill. In light of this development, Probo has decided to discontinue its real-money gaming (RMG) operations with immediate effect until further notice,” the Gurugram-based startup said.

Bootstrapped startup Gameskraft has also stopped accepting money on its rummy apps as a result of the legislation. Similarly, Times Internet-owned fantasy cricket game Cricbuzz11 has discontinued its operations.

“Deposits (net of GST) will be refunded to bank account within 30 days,” the app says on a notice to users.

In addition to the shutdown of real-money gaming operations, many employees at these startups have begun searching for new jobs, with hundreds posting about their job hunt on social media.

“We no longer have a secure job, as these companies are expected to cut some roles in the coming days to sustain their business and satisfy investors,” one employee, who requested anonymity for fear of jeopardizing future opportunities, told TechCrunch.

Even though these startups could challenge the law in the Indian Supreme Court once it comes into effect, most have chosen not to pursue that route.

“This assessment is accurate — they will have a tough fight in the Supreme Court,” a public policy expert working with some of these real-money gaming startups told TechCrunch, requesting anonymity for fear of losing clients.

Real-money gaming startups in India have a combined enterprise valuation of ₹2 trillion (approximately $23 billion), generate cumulative revenues of ₹310 billion (around $3.6 billion), and contribute ₹200 billion (roughly $2.29 billion) annually in direct and indirect taxes, per estimates cited by industry bodies in their letters to the Indian Prime Minister and Home Minister earlier this week. They also project a 28% compound annual growth rate that would double the industry’s size by 2028.

This Bill, passed by both Houses of Parliament, highlights our commitment towards making India a hub for gaming, innovation and creativity. It will encourage e-sports and online social games. At the same time, it will save our society from the harmful effects of online money… https://t.co/t1iUuH9JP1

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 21, 2025

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