NIL

SBJ Power Up

“We’ve never had anything like this that we can offer to our players, to have a product where it does all that AI performance [analysis],” Hula Bowl owner Jennifer Logan said. “That’s our biggest thing, to be able to give that knowledge to our players, because this is a very important week for them, where […]

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4 months ago

January 9, 2025

Your Sports Nation

NFL, Sony debut new coaches’ comms
BeOne providing data at Hula Bowl
TGL adds FanDuel, KPMG as corporate sponsors

BeOne needs only a smartphone camera to collect data on athlete movements and joint angles. Where it differs from other products is its generalized approach that can be applied across a dozen sports, an NIL-centric model for training its algorithms and spreading its brand, and a stated willingness to collaborate with other tech companies.

Sony and the NFL introduced a prototype of the league’s new official coach-to-coach communication headset on stage at CES on Monday night. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell joined Sony Group Corporation President Hiroki Totoki and Sony Electronics President Neal Manowitz on stage for the unveiling of the device, which will include Sony’s noise-cancelling and sound quality technologies and be powered by Verizon’s 5G network. Sony became an official NFL technology partner in July, and the new headset will debut on the sidelines during the 2025 season. Goodell referred to coach-to-coach communication as “one of the most critical parts of our game.” The headset branding is perhaps the most camera-visible sponsorship inventory in the league. In 2023, Navigate research estimated coaches’ headset TV exposure at more than eight minutes per game, which equates to a media value of $72M. The sponsorship category had remained vacant since Bose left in 2022.

Players’ personalities will be on display as they will be wearing mics, but it will be on those players to deliver. The “Showdown” and past iterations of “The Match” series have fallen flat due to a lack of trash talk, or players just not giving much emotion period.

Mobile motion capture provider BeOne Sports is the official technology partner of this week’s Hula Bowl, where it will track the college football All-Star Game’s athletes through practice and combine drills.TGL made its debut last night, and SBJ’s Josh Carpenter was on location at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. to offer his analysis of the new league’s rollout. Perhaps the biggest victory of the league? A blazing pace of play. – Ethan Joyce“With the advent of NIL and the NCAA and everything else that student athletes are actually earning money passively,” he added, “but also engaged in this global goal to train kids around the world.”Deans said too much emphasis in sports continues to be placed on the output — ball trajectory, exit velocity, spin rate, etc. — and not enough on the human input creating that outcome. One of BeOne’s key executives, Chief Data Scientist James McNaney, is also a user. He is a two-time All-American javelin thrower who finished 17th at the 2024 US Olympic trials.A number of questions remain for TGL to answer. Non-major golf struggled mightily last year on TV, with PGA Tour Sundays down 19% and LIV Golf failing to gain much traction on The CW. The recent “Showdown,” featuring four of the most popular players in the game, barely cracked 600,000 viewers. How will TGL fare on Monday and Tuesday nights during the winter months? Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, the league’s founders alongside Mike McCarley, won’t compete until later in the season (Woods next week), a strategic move by the league to attract more viewers past Week 1.The opening match tees off at 9pm ET.Founded by a self-described “former almost professional athlete” — Scott Deans, a kicker/punter at Portland State in the late 1990s, had a tryout with the 49ers but didn’t make the team — BeOne has partnered with 165 pro and college athletes to be brand ambassadors. Among them is Inter Miami FC goalkeeper Drake Callender, University of Texas kicker Bert Auburn and Kansas basketball All-American Hunter Dickinson.
BeOne is now seeking primarily B2B clients, such as schools, clubs and academies. Rice University is the first NCAA athletic department to sign on, with the school’s office of innovation also joining as a strategic partner. At the Hula Bowl, BeOne will be used during practice sessions and individual work — such as 40-yard dash running mechanics, vertical jump and more — to compile a player performance package on each of the 100-plus participants that will be shared with athletes, coaches and scouts.After pro football didn’t work out, Deans became an architect and then a manager overseeing data analysis for oil company BP. While enrolled in Rice’s executive MBA program, the idea for BeOne began as a class project and evolved into a business upon graduation, with the startup raising 0,000 to date and in the process of a subsequent .4 million investment round.The potential of biomechanics is important — 3MotionAI, Sportsbox, Mustard and Uplift Labs are among the competitors to operate within the smartphone sector of the category — Deans is quick to acknowledge that such a solution won’t answer every question. That’s why he has put out an open call to complementary technologies to collaborate, and he’s noted a few early-development projects seeking to do exactly that.BeONE SportsGetty ImagesDespite the questions, TGL has reason for optimism. It’s on ESPN and features a strong lead-in tonight with No. 4 Duke taking on Pitt. In addition to KPMG and FanDuel, it has 11 other official corporate partners and has well-heeled stick-and-ball sports owners as financial backers. And it offers something different, with matches expected to take only two hours.

TGL

TGL has added a pair of new partners ahead of its launch on Tuesday night, with both FanDuel and KPMG joining the league’s growing portfolio of sponsors. FanDuel joins TGL as an official sports betting partner and will have social and digital integrations and sponsor an intermission between two sessions on match nights. KPMG is signing with TGL as its official performance insights and analytics provider, and its “Performance Insights” program will be used for TGL matches. KPMG will have both broadcast and digital integration.“I believe there’s an irony occurring in sports tech, which is there’s very little teamwork,” Deans said. “It’s understandable — sports founders and competitors, we want to win. We’re out to build value for our customers and our stakeholders and everything. But I’m sitting here going, ‘Well, there’s nobody, no company, who has the full performance picture. We’re all building really cool things, but if we just got together and actually built stuff together, we’d make a major impact.’”“Motion capture allows us to focus on the human,” he said, noting the use of AI to understand patterns in movement and producing “rapid feedback on the field, not later, while you’re assessing all your data and looking at film. It’s on-field AI in order to make the very next rep better with this new information, so flattening the learning curve, if you will.”The league makes its long-awaited debut tonight in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., featuring a matchup of New York Golf Club and The Bay Golf Club at the SoFi Center. Officials said tickets have sold out for the opening two weeks at the venue, which has a capacity of around 1,500.“They have become the proxy for learning in our database,” Deans said. “The whole BeOne concept is that we can use technology to unlock the talents that currently live in all the amazing athletes of today, and those movements, those skill sets, are digitized into our platform.”“The convergence of my careers — from architecture and systems design, with performance and understanding data, with the latest now becoming an expert in AI/ML applications in business — I said, ‘Well, I need to go converge all this into my sports passion, which is really about using technology to help people learn,’” Deans said. “So BeOne is really focused on democratizing access to the cutting edge for people who you likely don’t know it’s for them. So we’re building it simpler, faster and more versatile than really anything on the market.”On Tuesday’s edition of Buzzcast, SBJ’s Abe Madkour touches on the launch of TGL Tuesday night and the start of a new era for the sport.

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NIL

Greatest experience of my basketball coaching career.

The 2024-25 Southeastern Conference was arguably the deepest, most talented league in the history of men’s college basketball. 14 of the SEC’s 16 teams ended up making the 2025 NCAA Tournament, the most ever by a single conference. Seven of them reached the Sweet 16, four went to the Elite 8, two made the Final […]

Published

39 minutes ago

May 4, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Eight SEC teams finished among the AP Poll’s Top 25, including Kentucky at No. 12.

The fact that the Wildcats finished 10-8 in the SEC in what was Mark Pope‘s first season as head coach was nothing short of an all-around success. According to KenPom, the SEC’s combined Net Rating of 22.09 in 2025-26 was the highest in the site’s history, which tracks data back to the 1996-97 season. It marked just the third time ever a single conference broke the 20-point Net Rating mark (1997 ACC and 2004 ACC) in KenPom’s system.

It was certainly a challenging stretch for Pope and his Wildcats, only made more difficult by non-stop injuries, but it was an experience he fully embraced — and one he’s excited to learn from moving forward.

“It was the greatest experience of my basketball coaching career, by far,” Pope told Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports in an interview from earlier this week about his first year coaching in the SEC. “You know, last year, I was really blessed to coach in the Big 12, BYU’s first year in the Big 12, and that was an incredible experience. And it was a great league. I don’t think college basketball has ever seen a league like we saw last year in the SEC. Not just 14 teams in, but seven teams in the Sweet 16.

“I used to brag about my ’96 (Kentucky) team. The league was so good. We had four teams in the Sweet 16 and two teams in the Final Four. We had double that (in 2024-25), almost. Unfortunately for us, we got run out of the NCAA tournament by another SEC team. It’s what you live for as a competitor, is to be in a league like that. Hopefully we’ll run it back bigger and better next year as a league. The venues are incredible, the fan bases are incredible, the coaches are really humbling to go against these guys. I’ll treasure that experience last year forever.”

The SEC isn’t expected to be as deep in 2025-26, but there will still be plenty of talent from top to bottom and plenty of nationally ranked teams. After sticking in the middle of the pack last season, Kentucky will be among the favorites to win the league thanks to an upgraded roster and a better understanding from Pope of what it takes to succeed at this level of ball.

Join KSR Plus! With a KSR Plus membership, you get access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.

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Nick Saban meets with President Trump to change NIL for College Football

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3 hours ago

May 4, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Nick Saban meets with President Trump to change NIL for College Football Nick Saban had a private meeting with President Trump on the current state of the NIL inside of College Football right now, and President Trump is now considering of creating an executive order to put new NIL policies & procedures in place. – Join The Bama Standard Membership Community: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxamLUbaBb7t7Jod7bbXXFA/join – 🆂🅲🅸🅻 🅼🅴🅳🅸 Twitter: https://bit.ly/3yhJFwU Instagram: https://bit.ly/3Ic8XAW Facebook: https://bit.ly/3R9znY3 – Subscribe Now: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxamLUbaBb7t7Jod7bbXXFA?sub_confirmation=1 – Bama Standard Network Shows The Bama Standard: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVZZ12gkh961jA7apAXd5tGDu8KrRceXz&si=tiXXNjrVEM7K_GC7 The Final Whistle: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVZZ12gkh963di18J8Pb0_Tpg4m21pKcF&si=FRXlPfkaF45STth- Crimson Dynasty: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVZZ12gkh961shaBXZXp71MpRdfbL_jFY&si=AIivhtBWtdoE486J Teagues Take:…

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Bridgewater St.

BRIDGEWATER STATE UNIVERSITY Skip to navigation Skip to content Skip to footer This event doesn’t have a set start time, but PrimeTime will be available once the event begins. Live statistics will be available at the start of the event in: Game Information Tue, May. 6, 20253:00 PM EDT Date & Time […]

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3 hours ago

May 4, 2025

Your Sports Nation

BRIDGEWATER STATE UNIVERSITY

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This event doesn’t have a set start time, but PrimeTime will be available once the event begins.

Live statistics will be available at the start of the event in:

Game Information

Tue, May. 6, 2025
3:00 PM EDT

Date & Time

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Mocs Bring the Rain with Four Home Runs at ETSU

Next Game: at East Tennessee State 5/4/2025 | 1:00 p.m. May. 04 (Sun) / 1:00 p.m. at East Tennessee State History JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — The rain held off long enough Saturday in Johnson City to play the game, but the Chattanooga softball team brought a little of its own, […]

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3 hours ago

May 4, 2025

Your Sports Nation

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — The rain held off long enough Saturday in Johnson City to play the game, but the Chattanooga softball team brought a little of its own, raining down four home runs to beat ETSU 7-2 in Southern Conference action.

With the Mocs trailing 1-0 in the fourth, Baileigh Pitts put a first-pitch shot over the fence in left field to give UTC a 2-0 lead. Acelynn Sellers led off the inning with a double and pinch runner Abi Pikas scored on the homer.

In the fifth, Chattanooga added a third run. Kailey Snell reached on a double and advanced to third on a single by pinch hitter Presley Williamson. Camryn Cernuto reentered to run the bases and was caught stealing. However, that opened up the chance for Snell to score from third and UTC was up 3-1. It was the first time Cernuto was caught this season.

Pitts led off the sixth with a single through the left side. With two outs, freshman Mia Leone stepped up to the plate to pinch hit. She didn’t wait long to get her first collegiate home run. Leone took the first pitch well out of the park clearing the fence in left field and down the hill adding two more runs for Chattanooga.

In the seventh, the Mocs decided to shake it up. Olivia Lipari led off with a home run to left and Acelynn Sellers took a cue from her and the duo went back-to-back to make it a 7-2 advantage.

The Bucs picked up their first run, scoring on a double into the gap in left center. The second was a solo home run in the sixth.

Peja Goold struck out seven and improved to 23-5 on the year. She takes sole possession of seventh on the single-season wins list.

Pitts was 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Leone was 1-for-1 with a homer and a pair of runs batted in. Sellers was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and an RBI.

The Mocs improved to 38-12 overall and 14-4 in SoCon play. ETSU dropped to 16-34 on the season and 5-14 against the league.

• The last time UTC had four home runs in a single game was earlier this season against IU Indy in the Frost Classic. The Mocs won 9-8.
• The last time the Mocs had back-to-back home runs was in the 2024 SoCon Championship game by Kaili Phillips and Addy Keylon.

FOLLOW CHATTANOOGA SOFTBALL
For the most up-to-date information and news regarding Chattanooga Softball, please follow @GoMocsSB on Twitter & Instagram and ChattanoogaSB on Facebook.

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Bill Haisten

More than two years have passed since Oklahoma became an NIL state at the high school level. In 40 states, prep athletes are allowed to monetize their name, image and/or likeness. On the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association website, there is a page on which NIL guidelines are posted. The most interesting of those guidelines: […]

Published

3 hours ago

May 4, 2025

Your Sports Nation

More than two years have passed since Oklahoma became an NIL state at the high school level. In 40 states, prep athletes are allowed to monetize their name, image and/or likeness.

On the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association website, there is a page on which NIL guidelines are posted.

The most interesting of those guidelines: Promises of NIL money or cars or clothes or anything else may not be presented to any student-athlete in an attempt to entice that athlete to change schools.

Has that happened?

Or will that happen?

BROKEN ARROW FOOTBALL — “At this time,” Broken Arrow coach Travis Hill says, there is no fund-raising collective for the Tiger football program. However, he added, “Coach Hill is no dummy. I’m going to work on that.”

Mike Simons, Tulsa World

More than likely, yes and yes. But it’s not supposed to. On paper, it’s illegal.

I didn’t write about Oklahoma prep-level NIL in May 2023 or May 2024 because I rarely heard it mentioned, and it just didn’t seem to be much of a thing.

I’m writing about it in May 2025 because it has become a frequently talked-about possibility in Tulsa-area high school sports. Apparently, the practice of compensating high school athletes soon will be common.

When Owasso football coach Bill Blankenship was asked whether he is aware of any Tulsa-area fund-raising collectives for high school NIL, he replied, “I’m not going to be naïve and say that it won’t happen, because it already (is happening) – clearly.”

Broken Arrow coach Travis Hill was asked whether there is a collective that funnels NIL resources to the Tiger program.

“At this time,” Hill replied, there is no fund-raising collective in Broken Arrow.

However, Hill added, “Coach Hill is no dummy. I’m going to work on that. If you’re not ready for (NIL), you’ll get left behind. I don’t know when this will be put in place. I know the rules and regulations. It’s legal.

“We’ve got to start preparing. NIL is here. We haven’t put it in place yet (at BA), but it’s coming.”

While there are no known collectives or fund-raising organizations connected to any Tulsa-area high school, Hill predicts that their development is inevitable.

“If you’re not thinking it’s coming,” Hill said, “you’re lying to yourself.”

It should be emphasized that not one dime of NIL money would be provided by a school district.

The source of money paid to a student-athlete would be a third-party collective or perhaps a company that, for example, might want to pay a kid for endorsing something on his or her social-media platforms.

There are known examples of area football stars being paid some NIL money for making an appearance at a child’s birthday party or for providing on-field or on-court skills instruction for grade-school athletes.

It also should be emphasized that there aren’t limits or strict specifications on high school NIL – just like there is an almost-anything-goes lawlessness in college sports’ NIL.

OWASSO FOOTBALL — Owasso’s Bill Blankenship on the possibility of the creation of an NIL fund-raising collective for his program: “We don’t have anything formal or even started at all at Owasso, but, obviously, those discussions have to be taking place.”

Mike Simons, Tulsa World

“I think (unregulated NIL) has ruined college football,” Blankenship said, “and it can do the same to high school (athletics). That’s the bottom line.”

For some families, Bixby athletic director Kate Creekmore said, NIL compensation “could change their lives and (enhance) the outcome of some kids in recruiting.”

“But, yeah,” she added, “it’s a crazy time. I’m not surprised that we’re having this conversation. It was a matter of time, with the way college athletics are going.

“The spirit of high school sports – developing student-athletes and seeing them grow – it’s all certainly changing. I would hate for us to lose the spirit of what made high school sports so great in the first place. But I do like that kids now are able to make money.”

Before NIL was legalized, a Tulsa-area prep wrestler – a state champion – wanted to provide instruction for grade-school athletes. He inquired about renting his school’s wrestling space for two hours, sharing his knowledge and making a little pocket money.

Because that wrestler still was a student-athlete at that school, his request to rent the facility was denied. Today, there would be no problem with such a request.

BIXBY FOOTBALL — In December 2021, Bixby athletic director Kate Creekmore presented the Class 6AII championship trophy to then-Spartan senior running back Braylin Presley.

Tulsa World

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On the subject of the development of fund-raising collectives, Blankenship said, “We don’t have anything formal or even started at all at Owasso, but, obviously, those discussions have to be taking place.”

Blankenship says he is repulsed by the thought of any school offering money to a possible incoming transfer.

“If I had to start buying players, I’m out,” he said. “I have no interest in that world.”

However, in a concession to the apparent inevitability of legally providing NIL opportunities, Blankenship added this: “I’m not referring to paying the players we already have.”

bill.haisten@tulsaworld.com

NIL

Shedeur Sanders’ Wants To Build Colorado Buffaloes Into ‘Super Team’ With NIL

During the 2024 season, after a dominant 52–0 win over Oklahoma State, former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders casually dropped a headline-making comment while addressing the media: “Imma donate to the collective for sure,” Sanders said with a grin. “I’ll make sure we have a super team next year!” While the line initially came off […]

Published

4 hours ago

May 4, 2025

Your Sports Nation