Stadium- and team-app builder Hopscotch adds $5 M in Series B funding

November 29, 2017 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Screen shot of new Notre Dame app built by Hopscotch.

Hopscotch, one of the newer entrants in the team- and stadium-app development space, announced a $5 million Series B round of funding earlier this month, which the company said would be used to help support the rapid growth Hopscotch has seen over the past year.

Founded in 2014 after a project with Madison Square Garden led CEO Laurence Sotsky to build a business around team and stadium apps, Hopscotch had previously raised $12.5 million in Series A funding, according to the company. According to Sotsky, a beta customer relationship with the University of Mississippi in 2016 gave Hopscotch an entree to the large-college market, and since then the company has signed app deals with a who’s-who list of top universities with prominent athletic programs, including Notre Dame, Oregon, Ohio State, Auburn, UCLA, Washington, Baylor, Penn State, Michigan State and Arizona, among others. Hopscotch also signed a deal with T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

While the list of customers is impressive, there is a bit of a caveat to Hopscotch’s sudden rise. According to Sotsky, Hopscotch gained many of its new customers this summer by taking over app development deals previously held by CBS Interactive and IMG College. As the rights holder for many universities, CBS Interactive’s apps have historically been centered around media, including streaming video and other team content. According to Sotsky, Hopscotch is replacing code in those previous apps from the inside out, bringing the company’s “Fan Engagement Platform” to add services like ticket purchasing and advertising services. However, in many cases the apps are still identified by previous developers in places like the Apple App Store, a tactic Sotsky said was done deliberately so that previous users of the apps could just update to get the new app instead of having to install a new app.

Hopscotch CEO and founder Laurence Sotsky

Duplicate deals at schools?

But what Hopscotch doesn’t tell you is that some of these deals may not be exclusive, as in the case of Baylor University, which is listed under “customers” on both the Hopscotch website as well as the YinzCam website. YinzCam, which developed a game-day app for Baylor when the school built its new football stadium in 2014, remains the “official” app, according to Becky King, associate vice president for information technology services and interim CIO at the Waco, Texas, school.

However complete or incomplete they may be, Hopscotch’s college deals will at least give the company another fighting place to take on other providers in the team/stadium app marketplace like YinzCam, VenueNext, Venuetize and Built.io. With $17.5 million in total funding now, the El Segundo, Calif.-based Hopscotch may add to its current total of 40 employees, while building out its product roadmap to include more services for game days, like wait-time apps or traffic and parking services.

In a phone interview Sotsky said Hopscotch is already trying beta tests of interactive advertisements, like one last basketball season at Auburn where fans using the app would get a message good for a free breakfast sandwich at a nearby Hardee’s if the opposing team missed two consecutive free throws late in a game. Though most stadium and team apps have been challenged so far just to get fans to download and use the apps — never mind generating revenue — Sotsky is betting that Hopscotch will find a way to help venues, teams and advertisers work together to build something that benefits fans while also delivering some ROI.

“If you deliver the right kind of ads you can get great revenue traction,” said Sotsky.

Filed Under: Apps, CBS Sports, NCAA Football, VenueNext, YinzCam Tagged With: Apps, Baylor University, Built.io, Hopscotch, Mobile Sports Report, Notre Dame, Paul Kapustka, VenueNext, Venuetize, YinzCam

Utah Jazz pick VenueNext for new stadium app

September 18, 2017 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

There’s no official announcement yet but the Utah Jazz today confirmed the scoop that was announced by CIO BJ Vander Linden last week at the Mobile World Congress Americas show, that the Jazz will use VenueNext for a new stadium app for the upcoming season.

Scoop from #MWCA17 : @utahjazz is newest customer for @VenueNext stadium app

— paulkaps (@paulkaps) September 14, 2017

More details will likely become available as we get closer to the tipoff of the 2017-18 NBA season, but in the meantime it’s interesting to ponder what has become of the equity deal struck between app provider YinzCam and the NBA 2 years ago.

Under the terms of that deal, YinzCam was supposed to “re-do” the stadium apps for 22 of the NBA’s teams, with things like food delivery and ticket services included. With two of those teams (the other is the Minnesota Timberwolves) now having announced plans to use VenueNext, there is a valid question about what is happening with YinzCam and some of its former clients.

Mobile Sports Report has reached out repeatedly to YinzCam CEO Priya Narasimhan over the past couple months, but we have not yet received a reply.

Filed Under: Apps, NBA, VenueNext, YinzCam Tagged With: Apps, Mobile Sports Report, NBA, Paul Kapustka, VenueNext, Vivint Smart Home Arena, YinzCam

NBA’s Charlotte Hornets partner with VenueNext for new app

August 3, 2017 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

The NBA’s Charlotte Hornets are partnering with app developer VenueNext to develop a new team and stadium app, which will be ready before the new NBA season begins, according to a press release from the team and the company.

The deal is VenueNext’s third NBA customer, after previously signing contracts with the Orlando Magic and the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Hornets deal also represents the second NBA team to move to VenueNext’s app platform following a 2015 deal where competitor YinzCam won a contract to redevelop 22 NBA team apps, including the Hornets’.

Like other VenueNext apps, the Hornets’ new app will support extensive digital ticketing services, as well as mobile payments and the ability for fans to use their devices to order and pay for concessions for express pickup at designated stands. The release said the new app will also “continue to remain the primary source of team-related news, video and content for Hornets fans.”

Screen shots of the new app were not available yet. According to the release, the new app will also support real-time scoring and game statistics, along with video highlights and “access to the Hornets’ radio broadcast and social media channels.”

VenueNext, which got its start as the app developer for the San Francisco 49ers and their new home, Levi’s Stadium, also has the NHL’s San Jose Sharks and the Minnesota Vikings among its pro sports team clients. VenueNext also designed the latest app for Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. The company has raised $24 million in venture capital, $15 million of which came in a Series B funding last October.

Filed Under: Apps, NBA, VenueNext, YinzCam Tagged With: Apps, Charlotte Hornets, Levi's Stadium, Mobile Sports Report, NBA, Paul Kapustka, San Francisco 49ers, VenueNext, YinzCam

Timberwolves, Lynx partner with VenueNext for new stadium/team apps

June 15, 2017 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

The Minnesota Timberwolves and the Minnesota Lynx announced a partnership with app developer VenueNext, under which VenueNext will build stadium and team-content apps for the NBA’s Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Lynx.

The deal represents the second NBA contract for VenueNext, which has already launched a successful app and associated marketing programs with the Orlando Magic and their home arena, Amway Center. The VenueNext partnership with the Timberwolves and Lynx coincides with a current renovation of the teams’ home arena, the Target Center, which will also get a new Wi-Fi network along with the new app in time for the 2017-2018 NBA season. The Lynx app, according to the team, will be ready before the start of the 2018 season.

Screen shot of old Timberwolves app. Anyone got an old Blackberry in a drawer that could run this?

Though service specifics and screenshots of the new apps are not yet available, the press release out today said that fans can expect the usual menu of VenueNext-type app features, including digital ticketing, arena information, and team content. In other arenas, like the NFL’s Levi’s Stadium, VenueNext apps support features such as in-seat concession ordering and delivery; other VenueNext apps like the one for the Kentucky Derby offer mobile betting.

According to the Timberwolves, the new app will replace their current mobile app, which was created by app developer YinzCam. In 2015, YinzCam sold an equity stake in the company as part of a deal to re-do 22 NBA team apps.

(If you search for mobile apps on the Timberwolves website, you can see a geeky-cool photo of the team’s first mobile app running on a vintage Blackberry, which they claim was the first NBA team mobile app.)

VenueNext, which signed the San Jose Sharks as its first NHL client this season, also recently added some more venture funding to strengthen its business operations.

Filed Under: Apps, Basketball, Levi's Stadium, NBA, VenueNext, Wi-Fi, YinzCam Tagged With: Apps, Levi's Stadium, Mobile Sports Report, NBA, Paul Kapustka, Stadium Wi-Fi, Target Center, VenueNext, Wi-Fi, YinzCam

Built.io formally announces sports-app business

May 23, 2017 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Screenshots from Built.io’s under-development mobile app for the NBA’s Miami Heat. Credit: Miami Heat

Built.io, the startup behind the Sacramento Kings’ new team and stadium app, formally announced its “fan experience platform” today, putting the company more directly in competition with market leaders YinzCam and VenueNext.

A San Francisco-based company, Built.io did not have a standalone sports-app business when it was selected by the Kings to be the base app technology for both the Kings’ team app as well as the app for the Kings’ new home, the Golden 1 Center. Since that arena’s launch last year, Built.io has also signed the Miami Heat as a customer, ahead of today’s formal launch of the sports-app platform.

In the larger sports world, YinzCam is by far and away the company with the most apps developed for teams and stadiums, with many of its content-focused developments used by numerous pro league teams as well as many large colleges. VenueNext, which entered the world as the app developer for the San Francisco 49ers’ new Levi’s Stadium a few years ago, has since signed up multiple pro teams like the NHL’s San Jose Sharks as well as entertainment entities like Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.

Of the two market leaders, Built.io’s platform-based approach to app building — where third-party components for features like wayfinding and parking can be added via an API structure — is more like VenueNext’s, though YinzCam also has the ability to add third-party components as needed. The challenge for all stadium- and team-app builders, as well as for venue owners and teams, is to get fans to download and use the apps, so that teams can take advantage of the opportunities afforded by digitally connected customers.

Screenshot of part of the Built.io app for the Kings.

While there is plenty of promise and perceived opportunity in team and stadium apps, the current reality sees fans at stadiums using public social-media apps like Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram, or other tools like email and search, far more often than team- or stadium-specific apps. However, by driving fans to use apps for digital ticketing and other necessary service transactions, team and stadium apps are likely to be more used over time, following the adoption curves for other businesses like coffee shops and airline tickets.

Though still small, Built.io has been around for a bit, as it was founded in 2007. The company has previous experience connecting larger enterprise businesses, experience founder Neha Sampat told us will work well as stadiums and teams become more connected in all their businesses.

“What the Kings are trying to do is a large-scale enterprise use case,” said Sampat in an interview last year. “There are a lot of big-data analytics and so much personalization that is dependent on data.”

Sampat said Built.io’s model of a “back end as a service” and its ability to quickly connect other programs’ APIs should be a good fit for the Kings, as well as for other teams looking to blend more services and functions into team and stadium apps.

Filed Under: Apps, Facebook, Horse Racing, Levi's Stadium, NBA, San Jose Sharks, Venture Capital, VenueNext, YinzCam Tagged With: Apps, Built.io, Golden 1 Center, Levi's Stadium, Miami Heat, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, Sacramento Kings, Stadium Wi-Fi, VenueNext, YinzCam

NFL builds its own Super Bowl app, with no concessions delivery and fewer replays

February 3, 2017 by Paul Kapustka Leave a Comment

Screen shot of map function on NFL Super Bowl LI app.

The NFL has built its own Super Bowl mobile app, breaking with a recent history of using stadium-app specialists like VenueNext and YinzCam to develop specific apps for Super Sunday.

Also unlike recent years, the NFL’s Super Bowl app will not feature instant replays or have any kind of food or drink delivery services. Instead, there appears to be a big focus on promoting Super Bowl events (especially those for this weekend) and for helping out of town tourists find their way to Super Bowl events and to the game itself.

Curiously, an interview about the app with the NFL’s CIO claimed that this year’s app will also be the first to include the ability for fans at the game to watch Super Bowl commercials. The story also claims without any attribution that “In the past, commercials weren’t on the app in order to avoid using too much bandwidth in the stadium.” However, at the most recent Super Bowls, including the past two, stadium bandwidth has been more than sufficient enough to stream plenty of video. And in fact, both of the last two Super Bowl apps have included the ability for fans at the game to see Super Bowl commercials.

Last year’s app, developed by VenueNext for the Levi’s Stadium hosting of Super Bowl 50, definitely showed Super Bowl commercials, part of what the San Francisco 49ers network team said was a record-breaking day of app-based video watching. The Super Bowl 49 app, built by YinzCam, also included Super Bowl commercials according to this NFL video and according to our previous reporting.

Fewer replays, no food or beverage delivery service

Screen shot of transportation info links from Super Bowl LI app.

And even though NFL CIO Michelle McKenna-Doyle is quoted in the previous story about the new app as saying “You won’t feel like you’re using two separate apps as fans have in the past,” the Super Bowl LI app contains a link to download the separate NFL Mobile app, which is apparently where Super Bowl highlights and replays will live. There was no confirmation from the NFL or Verizon about whether or not fans in the stands would be able to watch the live broadcast of the game via NFL Mobile. Fans not at the game will be able to use NFL Mobile to watch the game on cellular devices; fans can also stream the game from the FoxSports website, for PCs or tablet devices.

This year’s app will also not include any way for fans to use the app to order food or beverage delivery to their seats; last year’s app did have the ability to order in-seat delivery of beverages or to place an order for food and beverage express pickup, a service used for 3,284 orders. NRG Stadium, however, does not offer full-stadium in-seat ordering like Levi’s Stadium does; the stadium does have serving staff with wireless devices providing in-seat ordering services for club sections, which will likely be in use at the Super Bowl as well.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Apps, DAS, Extreme Networks, Facebook, Levi's Stadium, NFL, NFL Mobile, Super Bowl, VenueNext, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi, YinzCam Tagged With: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, Extreme Networks, Fox Sports, Levi's Stadium, Mobile Sports Report, NFL, Paul Kapustka, San Francisco 49ers, Stadium Wi-Fi, Super Bowl, Tablet, VenueNext, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi, YinzCam