SBJ Tech: Seattle’s app for its World Cup spotlight

We’ve recently started T-ball in the Joyce household, and just like soccer, my son loves it. Monday evening practices are a new challenge in hustling for mom and dad.

I caught up with Lenny Goh recently, who just shifted to fan data platform Agilitek Solutions after 12 years at Tradable Bits. We talk about fatherhood a lot. His kids are a little older than mine are, so he’s much busier than I am.

I look forward to (and worry a little about) the schedule of Future Ethan. But that’s his problem, not mine.

What was the hardest part of building a sports tourism app?

Hedda McLendon said it was coming up with the name. The SVP/legacy of the Seattle World Cup Host Committee said she and her coworkers tossed options to one another anytime the lightning bolts of creativity struck.

“There were many texts — middle of the night, early in the morning, on the weekends,” McLendon chuckled at the end of our video call this week. “Different members of the team would get inspired: ‘What about these four ideas?!?’”

That’s not to say all the other parts were easy. (Narrator voice: Building an app is never easy.) So where did they land?

SEA & WIN, a gamified experience that gives users chances to win prizes while getting them out and about Seattle and communities beyond the FIFA World Cup host city. The app was officially deployed last month and was designed by Vancouver-based YumeBau Inc., a game studio that specializes in spatial app and VR development that’s worked with Meta, Epic Games and Netflix Games.

As for the experience: Users navigate a map of pinned landmarks and area tours to accrue tickets. There are also built-in minigames. A leaderboard tracks those with the most tickets, and fans can win prizes of varying value (all the way up to tickets to World Cup games in Seattle). With SEA & WIN, SeattleFWC26 hopes it’s created a funnel that will inject more of the projected $846 million (stat from Visit Seattle) expected to come through local businesses in the area.

A need to stand out

McLendon said when FIFA told host committees that it wanted them to make fan apps, SeattleFWC26 CEO Peter Tomozawa immediately suggested gamifying the experience. Seattle already has many tourism apps, McLendon added, and the FIFA app acts as one, too. So SEA & WIN needed to stand out.

“Our intent is the same, which is how do you get all these fans — soccer fans, residents, visitors in the community — in neighborhoods visiting some of what are the gems of not only Seattle, but all these different cities around Washington state that are part of the app and exploring historical locations, art and, really, small businesses,” McLendon said. “And what we’re hoping people will do is actually, ultimately, go into the small businesses and spend their money.”

SeattleFWC26 focused on authenticity, too, through the various tours users can take with the app. The location stops were determined by tour leads, who were people picked by the committee for the various fan zones in Seattle and the nine biggest cities in the state. Those tour leads often had direct ties or worked with the local chambers of commerce, meaning that the stops included on the tours and other content were picked by locals who live there.

Branching out

Jennie Foglia-Jones is the tour lead for the Olympia-Lacey Tour. She’s a consultant who works with the Thurston County Chamber of Commerce. Her tour started by focusing on the Olympia Farmers Market and the state capital building. Other options feature a sculpture on the town waterfront called “The Kiss” and a hearty mix of local staple businesses. “We’ve been all figuring it out together, but [the committee’s] creativity and their willingness to help and support has been phenomenal,” Foglia-Jones said. “So I’ve really enjoyed working with them.”

The cities also provided the local trivia that users get to experience in the game during tours. An example in Foglia-Jones’ territory includes “which U.S. Men’s national team goalkeeper graduated from North Thurston High School?” (Spoiler: The answer is American great Kasey Keller.)

McLendon said that another tour features questions about the names of two pets in a local shop. “You actually learn a lot about these locations in their voice,” McLendon said of the trivia associated with different businesses.

The project started in 2024, with SeattleFWC26 brainstorming and setting the foundation before testing the app multiple times in 2025. Roughly 500 people provided feedback on the app seen today by SEA & WIN downloaders. The planning committee made sure to test thoroughly on Android phones, which are used more prevalently outside of the U.S. (The New York Times recently reported that more than 1.2 million international travels are expected to visit during the games.) The app was also made in partnership with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, with SEA & WIN even teaching some words in Lushootseed, the indigenous language of the area.

Those are all, yet again, reminders of the thoughtfulness placed in this app.

So far, McLendon said approximately 2,000 people are playing a week. That number should dramatically increase as the start of the events approaches and more people fly into Washington. McLendon is excited to show all those people the product, too.

And thank goodness they finally landed on the right name.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the official launch of TransferRoom’s marketplace for international women’s soccer. TransferRoom’s marketplace platform has long been a staple on the men’s side — working with more than 800 clubs — but this effort follows the steadily growing interest and investment in women’s clubs around the world.

As a quick reminder: Clubs can list players for transfer or loan on TransferRoom’s marketplace, adding a layer of visibility that enhances roster building for all involved.

Now, the women’s marketplace has produced its first official deal. Germany’s RB Leipzig Women loaned F Persis Oteng to Norwegian side Molde FK. According to TransferRoom, Oteng’s representation first connected with Molde at the company’s Women’s Football Forum in February at Stamford Bridge in England. Once RB Leipzig listed Oteng as available for loan, Molde was able to move quickly with the contact and negotiations thanks to the tech tool.

Stamford Bridge is the home for Chelsea, the club where the marketplace’s driving force, Claire Rafferty, played for the bulk of her professional career. Rafferty has worked with TransferRoom for nearly five years and helped to build and grow the women’s marketplace project.

One month after launch, the women’s marketplace already has more than 50 international football connections, such as Liverpool, Aston Villa, Juventus, and Bayer Leverkusen. The USL Super League was TransferRoom’s first league-wide deal last month.

Cosm promoted Head of Venues COREY BRETON to SVP and head of venues.

Lenovo named Honeywell Marketing Manager/Partnerships and Marketing Strategy ROBERT COLMERY to SSG sports industry senior marketing manager.

Nike Chief Innovation Officer TONY BIGNELL is “leaving” the company to “pursue his own creative and philanthropic interests.” Bignell was elevated to the position last June. He will be succeeded by Nike VP and Creative Director for Sportswear ANDY CAINE. Caine will report to EVP and Chief Innovation, Design and Product Officer PHIL MCCARTNEY.

Genius Sports named TONY MARLOW as CMO. Most recently, he served as CMO at LG Ad Solutions. He previously held CMO roles at Integral Ad Science and Data Axle and led B2B marketing at Yahoo prior to that.

Epicore Biosystems named former Precedent CRO BRIAN REAGAN as CCO. Reagan notably has held leading roles with CDS, Actifio and IBM.

RotoWire co-founder and President PETER SCHOENKE announced on LinkedIn that he is leaving the company. In an online post, he said that he plans to “stay involved in the fantasy sports industry” and plans to remain on the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association board and continue to lead their government affairs efforts.

Rights holder data platform Agilitek Solutions named LENNY GOH as VP/strategic growth and marketing. The hire marks Agilitek’s first dedicated commercial leadership role. Goh had spent more than 11 years with Tradable Bits in various roles, most recently as VP/partnerships.

• A federal jury in New York City determined Wednesday that Live Nation operated as an illegal monopoly at both the federal and state levels, bringing a nearly two-month trial to an end and reigniting a long-lingering question about a Live Nation-Ticketmaster breakup.
• My favorite read of the week: My colleague Joe Lemire went through the NBA’s testing in its biomechanics program. He learned that he, in fact, is not an NBA-caliber athlete (but he’s still an all-star to me).
• Fubo became an 11th-hour suitor of the 13 NBA teams that just exited Main Street Sports Group, multiple sources told SBJ’s Tom Friend on Tuesday night.
• Private equity firm TPG is finalizing the purchase of Learfield to make it the majority owner of one of the most prominent multimedia rights and technology providers in college athletics, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy reports.
• GameRun, a startup that uses AI to analyze athlete movement and performance, raised $4 million in funding to expand its clientele and foster product development.
• Edge Sound Research, the audio innovation startup that has participated in the NBA’s and MLS’ technology accelerators, closed an undisclosed investment from audio equipment manufacturer Shure, my SBJ Tech teammate Rob Schaefer writes.