Ryerson Alumni - Summer 2019 - 22

FEATURES

THIS YEAR, FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE NBA GAVE
F A N S T H E O P P O R T U N I T Y T O B E I N THE LOCKER
ROOM WITH THEIR FAVOURITE TEAMS DURING THE
PLAYOFFS. HOW? VIA ITS AUGMENTED REALITY APP.
This is just the beginning, says Leah
MacNab, senior director, marketing partnerships, NBA in Canada. "There is no end
to the applications that are possible."
Technology is touching all aspects of
the business of sport and helping companies operate smarter, perform better and
get closer to their customers and fans. Big
Data, analytics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, machine
learning, quantum computing, Internet
of Things, and mobile technology are creating more opportunity than ever before.
Recognizing that opportunity, Canada's
Maple L ea f Spor ts & Enter ta i n ment
(MLSE), partnered with Ryerson University
to launch the Future of Sport Lab (FSL), an
incubator that will empower seed-stage
startups to pilot their technologies through
MLSE's recently launched innovation division: MLSE Digital Labs.
"We are working with MLSE to build a
smart space to help innovative sport startups accelerate," says Cheri L. Bradish,
Loretta Rogers Research Chair in Sport
Marketing at Ryerson's Ted Rogers School
of Management, and director of the FSL.
"This is a paradigm shift in the way we can
deliver sports-business education. The FSL
will allow innovators to have direct access
to Canada's top sport and industry leaders,
and will help elevate Toronto into one of the
world's leading sport ecosystems."
The first cohort features six startups
including Performance Phenomics, which
delivers brain imaging assessments that
offer scientific insight into the athlete's performance and recovery; Rival.ai, an eSports
22

Ryerson University Magazine / Summer 2019

company that uses AI to provide scouting
reports; and Skill Sharks, an integrated
coaching platform.
"We will leverage the ideas from FSL,
implement them and see how successful
they are in a real-life environment," says
Humza Teherany, chief technology and digital officer at MLSE. "Our objective is to find
some of the best innovations in sports and
entertainment."
Teherany cites three mega trends involving sport:
1 - The fan exp erien ce as a journey an d a
product "Tech companies talk about user-

centric design and getting the user experience right. For us, it's fan-centric design
or team performance-centric design where
everything is driven by making the experience better for our fans and for our teams
versus focusing on the technology itself." To
that end, MLSE now has product managers
looking at every touch point a fan might
have with its Raptors mobile app.

2- Startups and entrepreneurship driving
innovation "This is about the use of the col-

lective talent in the market and the power of
exponential thinking. In a lot of ways we're
crowdsourcing some of our innovation."

3- The growing power of data and analytics

"Sports organizations have been using data
and analytics for years to drive decision
making. The speed of intelligent data with
AI, machine learning and computing power
allows you to run models that answer questions in real time, making data way more
powerful than it was even two years ago.
The next generation of companies that get
it right with technology are the ones who

STARTUPS
AT THE FUTURE
OF SPORT LAB
› Performance Phenomics
delivers brain imaging
assessments that offer
scientific insight into the
athlete's performance
and guides recovery
› Rival.ai, an eSports
company that uses AI
for scouting reports
› Spalk, a virtual
sportscasting studio
with hundreds of
different commentators
on live broadcasts
› Skill Sharks, an
integrated platform for
coaches
› The Gist provides sport
news and experiences
that are created by
women for women
› Stakes, which allows
real-time sports
wagering between
friends
http://www.Rival.ai http://www.Rival.ai
Ryerson Alumni - Summer 2019

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