Facebook Live, Instagram Live, Twitter's Periscope, Twitch . . . there is no shortage of live streaming services in 2018. Yet, the NFL Players Association, through its OneTeam Collective early stage investment vehicle, is interested in a different live streaming service and is making it the eighth active NFLPA partner with the ability to use group player rights in exchange for equity.
The service is SportsCastr, which already boasts notable advisors in NBA Commissioner Emeritus David Stern, NFL tight end Vernon Davis and NCAA Men's Basketball coach Jim Boeheim. It should get a meaningful boost by way of partnership with the NFLPA if a considerable number of players not only lend their rights to the streaming service, but also use it to provide live commentary as well as share personal insights.
Nothing precludes athletes from using Facebook, Instagram and the like after the ink dries from SportsCastr's deal with the NFLPA. However, the NFLPA will soon be collaborating with SportsCastr to produce NFL player and other athlete-driven content featured on the platform as part of the deal.
SportsCastr CEO Kevin April also believes that athletes will be interested in using his service whether or not required to do so after they give it a try.
"Other platforms like Facebook Live are not really live," says April. "Facebook Live, for example, has latency of 13+ seconds. This means if that if fans or athletes share commentary on Facebook Live while a game is on — and if someone is viewing that commentary stream on a second-screen while watching the game — the commentary will be delayed and the viewer will hear the fan or athlete yell “GOOOAAAAALLLL” over 10 seconds after they watched the goal happen on TV. On SportsCastr, we’ve designed the platform for sub-second latency that is scalable to millions of viewers."
The platform is also working on a synchronization engine that will allow a viewer who is watching a game on TV, one who is watching on an over-the-top platform and one watching at an arena to each have their experience synchronized with the way they are consuming the content. Additionally, it is in talks with right-holders and forming partnerships that will bring a selection of live sporting events to SportsCastr so that viewers can basically choose who they want their commentators to be while they are watching in a first-screen experience.
Furthermore, SportsCastr is trying its hand at becoming a company that uses cryptocurrency to motivate use of its service. In June, it launched its own token called FanChain, which is awarded in exchange for participation and can be used to unlock premium content, purchase sports tickets and merchandise, as well as send virtual gifts to NFL players. The company is seeking to create partnerships with sports leagues, teams and media publishers to increase the utility of those tokens in the future.
