LA Rams x Uber Eats in-stadium AR activation, Building and launching the AFL Fixture
The recent Los Angeles Rams x Uber Eats in-stadium AR activation is a sign of things to come
Today’s lineup:
The recent Los Angeles Rams x Uber Eats in-stadium AR activation is a sign of things to come
The AFL’s process to build and launch the season fixture is worth noticing
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Marriott Bonvoy extended their partnership with Tennis Australia with a mutli-year deal, securing the title of Official Hotel Partner of the Australian Open - The AO has secured 50+ sponsors this year, up from 37 in 2024
Qantas and Surf Life Saving Australia entered into a 4-year partnership and will launch a new online training tool called “Beach Passport” that will provide the public with basic water safety knowledge
Cricket Victoria and Melbourne Renegades announced a 2-year partnership with Mirvac’s “Olivine - By Mirvac” which will see community cricket initiatives take place at the development project located in Donnybrook, Victoria
Gold Industry Group committed to a 3-year, $6M Principal Partnership with Netball WA, its highest ever commitment to female sport which also secures them as the joint Principal Partner of West Coast Fever
Online men’s health company Pilot extended its major partnership with the Cronulla Sharks for 2 more seasons and its logo will feature on the sternum of the NRL team’s jersey from 2025
Two other NRL clubs announced new sponsors to the sternum of their jersey’s - Wests Tigers revealed local development and construction company PAMA, and St George Illawarra Dragons welcomed investment firm Remara (both were 3-year deals)
Sydney FC announced Sony Australia as the Membership Partner and exclusive Audio Partner for the club as part of a 2-year deal
Yakult agreed to continue its tenure as Essendon FC’s longest standing commercial partner by inking a new deal
Hockey Australia extended its partnership with SportsLink Travel
The MCG is undergoing an LED infrastructure upgrade in partnership with Lumen8 Media, which will enhance the stadium’s fan experience and commercial offering
The NRLW Magic Round will be played in regional locations over the next 3 years, kicking-off in 2025 at Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium as part of a new 3-year deal with the NSW Government
XXXX launched a new limited edition can to commemorate the Brisbane Lions’ AFL Premiership win
Melbourne Storm announced a partnership with global digital sports platform Fanatics, which will exclusively operate the club’s official online store and gameday retail outlets at AAMI Park
Kayo Sports activated a pop up event at Federation Square and announced that it’s set to unleash a suite of new tech innovations for the upcoming Australia-India Test series broadcast
St Kilda became the third AFL club in the past fortnight to complete a rebrand after Gold Coast and Adelaide, unveiling a new crest for the first time in almost 30 years and launching an OOH ad campaign to showcase it
Wollemi Capital and the NBL finalised an agreement to acquire a majority interest in the WNBL - Basketball Australia will retain a minority shareholding
It was reported that Elon Musk’s X is launching a new NFL portal on its platform that includes a feed that aggregates tweets from NFL teams, rights partner accounts, and reporters from outlets like NFL Media and ESPN
The Jake Paul–Mike Tyson fight generated a streaming record for a live sporting event with 108M live global viewers - the news appeared to help Netflix’s share price which is on a tear
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The recent Los Angeles Rams x Uber Eats in-stadium AR activation is a sign of things to come
The LA Rams and Uber Eats recently partnered to deliver a unique AR activation at SoFi Stadium, giving 70,000+ fans the opportunity to participate in a shared experience via their smartphones, which was broadcast on the stadium’s giant “Infinity screen”.
The activation enabled 2,500 fans to unlock food and beverage deals which were instantly redeemable at the stadium.
Click to view the video
It was delivered in partnership with ARound (part of Stagwell), a leader in large-scale AR experiences, which has been expanding the roll-out of this activation across sports.
The technology that underpins it uses 3D spatial computing to localise content, allowing fans to point their smartphone at the field to open up a universe of AR effects they can interact with alongside fellow fans in real-time.
ARound’s technology was first piloted in August 2022 with the Minnesota Twins at Target Field
Since then, it’s expanded its deployment across multiple sports:
MLS - Minnesota United FC
MLB - Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals
NBA - Cleveland Cavaliers
NFL - Los Angeles Rams
This innovation is not only great for fans, it creates a new platform for brands to activate their sponsorship, and a new revenue-generating asset for rights-holders
Other recent case studies:
The LA Rams also recently partnered with Princess Cruises to create a “Touchdown Treasure” activation, transforming the stadium into cruise line destinations like Mexico and Alaska
Target partnered with Minnesota United FC which became the first MLS team to use the technology
Over time, the technology has been developed to provide a seamless fan experience that encourages mass-fan participation
It was once delivered via an app (downloading it was a barrier), but ARound recently entered into a partnership with Immersal to introduce technology that makes it easier for fans to get involved via automatic camera integration.
The LA Rams and ARound have set a new benchmark, and others will likely follow
“This is the future of sports entertainment – AR integrated with live broadcasts to create a multi-layered, immersive experience for fans and brands in the stadium”
Kathryn Kai-ling Frederick, Chief Marketing Officer, Los Angeles Rams.
To deliver this experience smartphones are currently key, but brands such as Meta and Apple have been vying for leadership in this space, developing new devices (e.g. glasses and headsets) that cater for these types of AR experience.
Whatever device reigns supreme, this type of activation appears set to expand as ARound scales-up, competitors emerge, and expectations for innovative and immersive fan experiences continues to evolve globally.
Will we see this in Australia soon? If so, which sport will introduce it first?
The AFL’s process to build and launch the season fixture is worth noticing
Ever wondered how the AFL creates its annual fixture?
They don’t sit around a table and do it manually, or use an Excel spreadsheet.
Why? Because with 18 clubs, playing 23 games each across 24 rounds, it’s a complex mathematical problem that has TRILLIONS of possible solutions.
A quick overview…
There are three key stakeholders that need to be considered:
Fans – make it convenient to watch and attend, maximise interest
Players & teams – ensure a fair competition and a minimum 5-day break
Broadcast – maximise viewership to ensure value is delivered to Seven and Foxtel as part of their $4.5 billion deal
In addition, there are so many other things that need to be considered:
Venue availability
Marquee games
Prime time TV slots
Numerous club requests
An even spread of home & away games
… the list goes on.
AI to the rescue
Like many of the other major sports leagues across the globe, the AFL uses AI to build its fixture.
The process is led by the AFL’s Head of Broadcast Operations and Scheduling, Josh Bowler, and Rick Stone, who founded Optimal Planning Solutions which provided game-scheduling software and consulting to some of the world’s biggest leagues such as the NFL, MLB and MLS.
Optimal Planning Solutions was recently acquired by sports technology company, Fastbreak.ai, where he’s now the Chief Scheduling Officer.
Fastbreak.ai works with the world’s biggest sports
In January, Fastbreak.ai announced a multi-year agreement with the NBA which comprised of two key elements:
Incorporating Fastbreak.ai’s cutting-edge SaaS solution into the NBA’s scheduling process
The NBA investing in Fastbreak.ai via its investment arm (NBA Investments), joining a $5.2M seed financing round
The software has been around for ~25 years and it’s evolved substantially over time.
As part of the AFL scheduling process, it uses 400+ rules and constraints to help guide the league to the best possible outcome.
What implications does the AFL Fixture 2025 have for teams and sponsors? Check out the analysis from Scout here.
Once the fixture is finalised, it's time for the reveal
Increasingly, sports are developing new strategies to stay relevant during their off-seasons, scaled-up draft events have sat at the core, but fixture-reveal announcements have increasingly become a tent-pole moment.
AFL Media & Marketing teams recently got creative with their fixture reveals, and below are links to each club's reveal announcements, and how they were rated.
St Kilda’s FC’s fixture reveal was rated best by the above media, but fans voted for Carlton FC’s reveal on News.com.au’s poll.
Notice's pick? Port Adelaide FC's Tony Hawk-themed reveal 👏
Which reveal was your favourite?
A-Leagues - Partnerships Campaign Manager
AFL - Business Analyst
AFL - Marketing Cloud Engineer
AFL - Salesforce Engineer
Amazon Web Services - Account Manager, Media, Entertainment, Gaming and Sports
ASICS - Retail Marketing Executive
Bet365 - Brand Manager
Boardriders - Social & Content Specialist - Quiksilver & Roxy
Brisbane Lions - Corporate Sales Executive
Brisbane Lions - Event & Match Day Coordinator
Cronulla Sharks - Digital Content Producer
Delaware North - Manager Marketing, MCG (MCG Events)
Easygo - Sponsorship Esports Lead
Foot Locker - Digital Insights Analyst
Foot Locker - Digital Marketing Coordinator
Foot Locker - Director, Digital Marketing
Foxtel Group - Engagement Campaign Specialist – Kayo Sports BINGE
Fremantle Dockers - Executive General Manager of Commercial
Gold Coast SUNS - Social Media Coordinator
Gold Coast Titans - Events and Experiences Manager
GWS Giants - Commercial Content Lead
GWS Giants - Media & Public Relations Coordinator
IMG - Sales Manager, Media
JD Sports - Business Analyst
JD Sports - Digital Support Lead
Macarthur Bulls FC - Head of Community
Manchester City FC - Senior Program Manager - Partner Schools, Australia
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles - Events and Fan Experience Manager
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles - Partnerships Executive
Melbourne FC - Senior Events Executive
Melbourne Storm - Media and Communications Manager
Melbourne Victory FC - Head of Media & Communications
National Basketball League - Broadcast Manager
National Basketball League - Licensing Coordinator
Nike - Senior Manager, Digital Platforms & Growth - NDDC Pacific
Netball NSW - Marketing Coordinator
Netball Victoria - Events & Engagement Specialist
North Queensland Toyota Cowboys - Creative Operations Manager
Northern Territory Cricket - Head of Events, Communications and Marketing
Optus Stadium - Senior Events Manager
Parramatta Eels - Senior Content Manager
Parramatta Eels - Senior Videographer
Penrith Panthers - Digital Content Coordinator
Port Adelaide FC - Events Executive
PUMA - Key Account Manager
Racing Queensland - Partnerships and Development Advisor
RACV - Head of Leisure Marketing
Ross Video - Project Manager - Solutions, Sports & Live Events, APAC
Seven - Sports Sales Executive
Southern Cross Austereo - Producer Sport - LiSTNR Original Podcasts
Sport NSW - Advocacy and Communications Manager
Sports Entertainment Network - Group Partnership Manager
Sports Entertainment Network - Partnership Manager (Melbourne)
Sports Entertainment Network - Partnerships Coordinator
Stan. - PR Lead - Sport
St Kilda FC - Executive General Manager, Strategy
Surfing NSW - Marketing and Communications Manager
The Iconic - Planner - Sports
Tennis Australia - CRM Coordinator
Tennis Australia - Junior Commercial Analyst
Tennis Australia - Marketing Partnerships Coordinator
TGI Sport - Expression of Interest
Trek Bicycle - APAC Retail Commercial Manager
Two Circles - Sponsorship Sales Executive
Under Armour - Senior Professional, Visual Merchandising
Water Polo Victoria - Chief Executive Officer
West Coast Eagles - Events Coordinator
West Coast Eagles - General Manager Brand, Marketing and Digital Growth
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