Format's Social Media Revolution, NBA's Electronic Court Training & Tariff Impacts on Global Sports.

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Welcome to the ninth edition of The Sports Stack! This week, we’re launching a new content thread that spotlights sports technology start-ups and products. We’ll begin with Format. I met Will, Format’s Managing Director, at the Leaders in Sport events and spoke with him about Format for this week’s edition.

We’ll also cover: 

• Visualising Victory: The Bulls' New Electronic Court Bringing Play Calls to Life.

• What Impact Could Tariffs And Potential Trade Wars Have On Sports? 

• Quick Hits: This Week’s Stories & Updates.

But first, I’m delighted to share that Morning Brew is once again partnering with The Sports Stack. Morning Brew is a fantastic source of daily news and one of the best free newsletter subscriptions available on the market. Support The Sports Stack by subscribing.

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❓ Inside Format: The AI-Powered Tool Solving Social Media's Speed vs. Quality Dilemma.

Q. Please introduce yourself, Will. 

I'm Will Gilgrass, the Managing Director of Format. I have a background in managing and leading social teams for Red Bull and The BRIT Awards, among others, and consulting on content strategies for brands, agencies, and individuals, primarily in sports and entertainment. 

Q. What is Format? 

It's a tool that allows teams and individuals to create templated static and video assets quicker and with less stress. Anyone, regardless of their design background or skill, can produce assets with confidence that they'll be pixel-perfect. 

Brand integrity is guaranteed by putting up guardrails to prevent mistakes. Data can be pulled from live API feeds, e.g., scoring or leaderboard feeds, and conditional logic ensures the correct logo, colours, players, and so on are always associated with the selected team. AI elements replace laborious and repetitive tasks such as background removal behind figures, text resizing and rebalancing across lines, and many more tricks.

Q. How is Format using technology to impact sports? 

The speed of sport is relentless, and the pressure on social teams to be first and perfect can be overwhelming. Format's technology aims to be a tool to help teams maximise their performance and output while taking as much stress out of the process as possible. 

Format has been developed by people who've worked in these sorts of environments and understand the challenges faced by community managers, designers, and team leaders. It's, therefore, been built with that experience in mind to make it as easy to use and integrate as possible. 

[Mark] I’ve seen Format in action, and it’s a great product. In the following example, you’ll see how Format creates a heatmap using real data for Bissouma’s performance in the premier league against Brentford in under 30 seconds. 

• Format auto adjusts your selected player image within the pre-defined template. 

• You can adjust certain aspects, like width and placement, to further enhance it. 

• You can select a player from your team and instantly access their live feed data, such as heat maps, goals, and assists.

• You can easily adjust the size of the heatmap as desired. 

• You can quickly replace the opponent's badge with the click of a button, enabling this template to be used across all league opponents.

Last week, Format ran a webinar with https://goodbadrugby.com/, and former England international James Haskell demonstrated how easy it can be to create pixel-perfect graphics. In his own words, if he can use it, anyone can. Watch the short 2-minute clip here.

If you’d like to try Format, Will has kindly set up a demo environment for Sports Stack readers here: https://app.format.social/ugc/crh3d4zm

If you’d like to learn more about Format, you can get Will directly on Linkedin or via email: [email protected]

🎁 Don’t forget about our referral competition

🏀 Visualising Victory: The Bulls' New Electronic Court Bringing Play Calls to Life.

How does it work? 

• This system features customisable LED lines that can be controlled via touchscreen, allowing seamless transitions between different sports configurations. It's ideal for multi-use venues, eliminating the need for portable flooring.

• The floor is made from durable materials with a 70-year lifespan and is designed to be inclusive for various users, including those with disabilities.

• Suitable for both indoor and outdoor use, the courts can accommodate motion pictures and live data displays like play calls, making it versatile for sports events.

• These courts are built by https://asbglassfloor.com/.

As you’ll see from some of the videos, the Bulls are using it to overlay play calls to help their players visualise and train better. Incredible. 

✍️ Have your say and shape the future of The Sports Stack.

🗺️ What Impact Could Tariffs And Potential Trade Wars Have On Sports? 

I had previously considered writing about the impact that trade wars and tariffs could have on sports, but I wanted to let it play out a bit. Now, we’re starting to hear about the ripple effect across sports from these added tensions. 

The escalating trade tensions between the United States and Canada may have considerable implications for the NHL. Commissioner Gary Bettman voiced concerns regarding potential financial fallout during a recent CNBC interview.

With 25% of the league's revenue generated by its seven Canadian franchises, any decline in the value of the Canadian dollar due to new tariffs would impose financial strain on the entire league. All NHL players are paid in US dollars regardless of their location, meaning Canadian teams would face higher effective costs if their currency devalued further against the USD.

While the NHL is currently enjoying strong financial performance, with expectations to exceed $7 billion in mixed-currency revenue this season, political tensions have already spilled onto the ice. During the recent 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, Canadian fans booed the US national anthem to protest President Trump's tariff policies and rhetoric concerning Canada.

The situation highlights how interconnected the North American sports economy truly is, with even a league as financially robust as the NHL being vulnerable to geopolitical headwinds. For team owners and league executives across all sports with cross-border operations, this should serve as a reminder that broader economic policies can significantly impact the bottom line, regardless of on-field or on-ice performance.

As Bettman noted, he's hoping this is "a moment in time" that both countries will work through.

It’s not just currency fluctuations that are at risk in Sports. 

Tariffs Driving Up Event and Equipment Costs: Import/export duties on sports equipment, merchandise, and even travel logistics are raising the cost of staging events. Sports equipment manufacturers have raised concerns that tariffs will make essential gear more expensive.

Geopolitical Tensions Undermining Sponsorships and Markets: Beyond direct costs, broader geopolitical friction is creating financial risks for sports leagues in key markets. A prominent example is the NBA’s dilemma with China: Political tensions in 2019 caused Chinese state television and tech platforms to cease NBA broadcasts, and several Chinese sponsors, ranging from sportswear brand Li-Ning to tech giant Vivo, suspended their partnerships.​

Esports Facing Hardware Tariffs and Global Uncertainty: The esports industry is not immune to trade-war pressures. Unlike traditional sports, esports rely heavily on technology hardware (PCs, consoles, etc) that is often manufactured in Asia. New tariffs on these devices threaten to increase costs for both organisers and gamers. 

🗞️ Quick Hits: This Week’s Stories & Updates.

• It’s Players Championship week, and the PGA Tour has launched an impressive number of ‘fan forward’ initiatives.

  • Morgan Stanley AI Course Setup Tool debuts at THE PLAYERS 2025: This groundbreaking tool will assist the PGA TOUR Rules Committee in optimising tee and pin placements by simulating predictions of scoring and driving distances, ensuring the most competitive setup.

  • PGA TOUR World Feed launches at THE PLAYERS Championship: New international broadcast service will provide customised coverage focused on international players, with six dedicated cameras following global talent.

  • Creator Classic brings golf influencers to TPC Sawgrass: Ten top golf content creators, including Bryan Bros, Fat Perez, and Kyle Berkshire, will compete in a back-nine showdown the day before The Players, streamed live on YouTube.

  • AI commentary transforms TOURCAST experience: Every shot at The Players will now feature generative AI commentary through the PGA Tour app and website. The AWS-powered system provides real-time context and statistics for all 30,000+ shots, helping fans understand each shot's significance within the larger tournament narrative.

• A clip of IShowSpeed in the recent Sidemen’s charity game has become Adidas’ number 1 Tik Tok of the last 9 months - H/T Rich Johnson 

  • The numbers that the Sidemen’s charity game created are truly incredible. No matter what your opinion on ‘amateurs’ playing football in front of 90,000 people, you can’t argue with the facts.

@adidas

rate the assist 😮‍💨 & rate the finish 🙃 #sidemencharitymatch #thebeautifulgame #football #adidas

• Mastercard launched a tech-enabled merchandise line at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational described as ‘phygital. ’

• Per SBJ, Shohei Ohtani will be the latest athlete to “hit the Fortnite battlegrounds” when his playable character appears in the game’s shop on March 17.

• NBA is leaning into AI as it approaches global growth opportunities.

Thanks for reading!