App developer theScore lands $15 million venture deal

thescore

A few years back there was a steady stream of sports apps from small, independent developers all seeking to establish themselves in a niche and grow (or be acquired) to become one of the go-to programs for sports fans.

Fast forward a few years and the first wave has sadly mostly died off, victims of a variety of issues from over completion in their selected market, underfunding, well funded rivals, delivering an overall poor app and a host of other issues, so it is always nice when somebody breaks through to a new level.

One that has done that is theScore which has not only has stayed in the game but is now in a position to increase its exposure and enhance its platform with the influx of $15 million in venture funding that is expected to close in mid-May.

The private round already has a number of investors announcing their intention to participate including Levfam Holdings Ltd., Relay Ventures Fund II L.P. and Relay Ventures Parallel Fund II L.P. The publicly traded company is based in Toronto.

For those not familiar with theScore’s app, which is available on Android and Apple iOS devices, it is a customizable sports app that provides not only news and scores in real time but also information for fantasy teams and leagues. It tracks a huge number of sports leagues both domestic and international, along with their individual teams.

Hopefully the influx of cash will help enable the company to further establish itself as a mainstream app with broad based acceptance.

Fan engagement app CheckinLine gains traction

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One of the major challenges that any new app faces is how does it separate itself from the pack. Simply having solid features and an easy to use interface is no longer enough in these days when a user has millions of apps to choose from.
CheckinLine is one of the new types of apps that are designed to engage fans, an area that others have tried to gain traction in and then fallen by the wayside. Yet CheckinLine might be able to break that mold as it has not just had a successful beta test but also gained support and recommendations from some major sports teams. It also helps that the app is taking a slightly different approach to addressing fan engagement, with solid metrics for teams to use on the back end.

In reality the app is half about fan engagement and half about access to tickets to sporting events, and how one can naturally lead to the other. The app enables fans to “check in” to get in line for tickets to select events. Then they can demonstrate to others who are also checked in how big a fan they are in conversation and other ways. The focus of the latter part is determined by the sports agency or school that is using the mobile program. There can be games such as quizzes and trivia contests to gain access to tickets, either as rewards or permission to purchase or simply moving up in the queue.

While the app has been adopted already in Australia by teams and stadiums in the Australian rules football league such as Hawthorn FC, Stadium Australia (ANZ Stadium), Etihad Stadium, Octagon and St Kilda FC it is still in the testing level in the U.S. but is making progress toward widespread adoption.

CheckinLine said it has just completed a beta test with Arizona State University and it said that it has received commitments from several schools such as The University of California at Berkeley, Boise State University and Illinois State University and claims that a host of additional schools are looking to come on board later this year. It has also gained support from The Aspire Group, a fan relations management group that has 25 colleges as clients and has recommended the app to them.

While the app can provide advantages to fans in that it might enable them to get tickets to sporting events that they otherwise might not have access to, it also brings advantages to the schools in that it enables them to harvest a huge amount of data about its fans and so tailor programs to continue engaging them. The app can also be used to sell advertising to companies seeking to reach the demographics that the app has revealed.

It will be interesting to see how the app fares in the U.S. when it gets a real world test. Even devout fans can be forgetful to check into mobile apps, since it’s not quite the same as going to the team fan page but it looks like CheckinLine has a boost in the right direction to keep its users.

Sportsmanias.com updates website, enhances Twitter feed

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Real time sports news aggregator Sportsmanias.com has extended its feature set with a redesign that has several additional features including one that will enable a fan to follow the Twitter feed from beat reporters on both sides of a rivalry.

While currently a fan can have a Twitter stream that includes two or more beat reporters Sportsmanias has gone a step further and enables a fan to have them run side by side, enabling them to run as dual streams so that there is no need to sort the wheat from the chaff.

This is just one of the improvements from the startup that was founded just last year and so far has raised $1 million in venture funding. It has both website and app that serves as a news aggregator for all major U.S. sports including NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and the NCAA. In addition it covers a wide variety of domestic and international soccer news, teams and leagues. The news feed that a user gets can be customized to meet their sporting preferences down to individual teams, along with players’ twitter and social media feeds.

The company allows fans to follow sports events in different fashions. If they are in attendance at the sporting event they can use the Sportsmanias News Feed App to follow along to the action both in front of them as well as elsewhere while at home they can use the dual tweet feature to explain what might be obvious to fans at the events but not ones that are limited to what the broadcaster is showing.

The overall look and feel of the web site has been simplified in the latest redesign; along with faster load times so that there is as little lag between events and updates as possible. The site now has simplified graphics and easier, more intuitive navigation capabilities. It has also enhanced its rumor section.

Bluefields app helps organize amateur sports leagues

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Running a team sport can be a nightmare even in this age of instant communications as parents and players often call at the last second because they are at the wrong venue, have the incorrect day in their calendar or a host of other reasons that might cause issues.

Anybody that has run a youth soccer team or league, or a little league event understands the issues all too clearly-it is like trying to heard cats and even the parents appear to lose the ability to think and plan clearly.

However just as a number of apps have emerged to help with almost any aspect of your life from upgrading your seat at a sporting event to selecting the correct wine while out to dinner there are now emerging a number of apps for sports leagues.

One that just came to our attention is Bluefields, a simple app that is designed to serve as a team management platform, a one stop shop for players, parents and coaches. It provides a single place for all of the pertinent information that a team, league or player needs to know.

It allows a user to send emails and texts to an entire team to set up practices, has a shared calendar to check on future dates and when a game is added or deleted all players can be informed at once. Also the app can be used as a tool for an entire league.

It comes with a database to store all players contact information and can be used to follow team results. A key feature for the memory challenged is that it has automatic reminders for parents and players of events and any event that is updated or changed that information is automatically sent as well.

So if you are just now starting on planning for next season it might be very well worth your while, to say nothing of your peace of mind, to take a look at the app and see if it fits your needs. Then all you have to do is remind people to install it.

New MLB app lets fans develop GM skills

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Major League Baseball’s Advanced Media Group has taken the wraps off of its latest mobile game as the league is now looking to maintain fan interest and mindshare into in the off season with the release of MLB.com Franchise MVP.

Baseball fans are often known for their following of not just the major league team but all of its affiliates in the minors from short season A teams to AAA as well as Winter League and other off season contests, and this game will appeal to them.

MLB.com Franchise MVP covers not only the pro level but actually starts at the Class A level and includes 120 teams that are in both MLB and MiLB and enables the user to be both a player working his way up to the bigs but also as a manager.

Starting out the user decides on a wide variety of topics and how to apply them such as training and what type, as well as in game decisions for the mini-game simulations. As skills and ability improve the players moves up levels and helps teams win. As the player progresses he earns currency that can be used to buy addition gear, skills and training equipment

In its press release MLB’s vice president of gaming Jamie Leece said “We built this game to be a fun graft of simulation baseball and player development strategies,” Anyone who has sat around with more than two baseball fans knows that these are topics that are very popular.

The app, which is available for free for Apple iPad and iPhones joins a number of other programs that have been developed by MLBAM including MLB Ballpark Empire and MLB.com Home Run Derby. It would be fun if the league made some that included some of the historical but now gone leagues like the Arizona-Mexican League or just any of the Class B, C or D leagues.

MLB’s At Bat app rakes in the viewers and sales

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Major League Baseball has been very aggressive in developing and delivering a variety of apps that can enhance a fan’s appreciation of the game and the flagship product in that effort is clearly At Bat, a program that enables fans to watch and/or listen to games.

The program has seen strong demand, with 10 million downloads in a single season, and very high usage with 1 billion launches. MLB said that 60% of fans open it every day. Last year it had 6.7 million downloads.

Apple recently announced that the program is one of the 10 top grossing iOS apps of all time, and that is no surprise in view of how long the two have partnered. When Apple opened its App store in 2008, At Bat was one of the original apps available.

Of course the app is not just for Apple’s platform, although they are often the first to get the latest releases and have the most features, but it also has an Android version as well as BlackBerry and Kindle Fire.

It would be interesting to see if the growing popularity of the app, which helps fans view games that might not be broadcast in their area, or hear favorite broadcasters has had any impact on other areas of the game such as television viewership. The recently concluded series between Boston and St. Louis saw TV ratings jump 17% this year.

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