The Companies “Solving” Loneliness, “Toy Story” Football Fever and the WSL’s $1B Dream
Toy Story Funday Football Jaguars vs Falcons
Credit:
Disney

The Companies “Solving” Loneliness, “Toy Story” Football Fever and the WSL’s $1B Dream

September 29, 2023

Each week, we sift through a ton of content and then debate it ad nauseam at FEVO HQ. And since good content, like the mind, is a terrible thing to waste, we are also sharing it here with you, our fans, in the form of this weekly blog post on e-commerce, media and life on the internet.

Pro Football Network: What is the “Toy Story” NFL game?

This Sunday the Jaguars and Falcons will play a game in London. Because London is five hours ahead of us, that game will be played at 9:30am EST, which is prime cartoon-watching time — or at least that’s probably the thinking of the NFL, which is set to broadcast this game on Disney+ live … from the set of Toy Story. “Using the NFL’s Next Gen Stats and on-field tracking data capabilities, every play will be presented in ‘Andy’s Room,’ where the familiar setting from the Toy Story franchise will be used as the playing field for all of the action,” reports Pro Football Network. Buzz, Woody and all your favorite characters will be in attendance as the NFL targets younger fans (and maybe also shows off its fancy tech capabilities to an older, more sophisticated audience). Is this the future of marketing live sports to Gen Z and Alpha? We’ll certainly be tuning in to find out.

Front Office Sports: How WSL plans to become first $1B women’s soccer league

The top women’s soccer league in England plans to be a billion-dollar venture within the decade. With interest in the women’s game continuing to grow, last season’s attendance rose 173% year-over-year, and the league plans to capitalize on that enthusiasm by bringing in more sponsorship and advertising dollars. 

Hugo Amsellem: The Loneliness Economy: How can technology help us belong?

The entrepreneur and tech advisor deep-dives into the reasons why 160+ different companies are working to “solve” loneliness at scale. He covers companies that operate across religion, family, community, friendship, dating and the workplace, pulling out valuable learnings and lessons from how these companies operate. Some great lessons to be learned here in terms of building community as well as what consumers are seeking out when they adopt new tech and patronize new brands. 

And a few more nuggets of assorted internet wisdom…

Wearable lower limb tracker certified for use in matches for first time (The Athletic)

A very cool basketball activation by Luka Doncic in Slovenia (Sports Illustrated)

Travis Kelce jersey sales spike by nearly 400% after Taylor Swift attends Chiefs game (Bleacher Report)

Meta launches Snoop Dogg AI Chatbot (Stereo Gum)

Whoop launches new generative AI feature using OpenAI’s GPT-4 technology (Sports Business Journal)

Tour Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake’s new golf-infused NYC sports bar T-Squared Social Club (Golf.com) 

The Companies “Solving” Loneliness, “Toy Story” Football Fever and the WSL’s $1B Dream