In the final 2025 SBJ Tech newsletter of the year, we look back at our favorite stories and highlight 2026 predictions from some of the people in the sports tech industry. — Ethan Joyce
In today’s edition of Power Up:
- Checking out the A’s Immersive Cube at Ballpark Experience Center
- Gracenote adds new features to On Sports discoverability product
- ESPN experimenting with new ‘MNF Playbook’ data-driven alt-cast, utilizing TruPlay AI
Immersing myself in the Vegas future of the A’s
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The SBJ Tech Sandbox series is where we share our experiences testing products, gear, solutions and more in the sports tech space.
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LAS VEGAS -- After removing my shoes, the curtain is pulled back, and I enter the Cube.
Five of the six sides of the space, including below my feet, are fully outfitted with LED screens that spring to life with a few touches of an iPad.
It’s suddenly 2028, and I’m standing in owner John Fisher’s suite, overlooking home plate at the Athletics’ new Las Vegas Ballpark. Each new tablet tap transports me around the venue. I’m standing on the pitcher’s mound. I’m in a centerfield hospitality space. I’m floating above the city looking at the park’s proximity to the airport (The short distance to private aviation won’t apply to me).
The Immersive Cube is housed in the Ballpark Experience Center, the showcase built by the A’s to tell the team story, preview the construction and sell tickets and hospitality packages.
It replicates virtual reality without the headset, as 26-million pixels enclose 3,500 cubic feet, with many miles of cables and racks of servers hidden away. Built in the 3D development program Unity and enhanced with Advent’s Experience Management System, the Cube lets A’s fans and prospective ticket buyers imagine their place in the under-construction ballpark.
“The Immersive Cube is a space that is a pinnacle of this experience space,” said John Downie, SVP/Strategic Solutions of Advent, the sports experience design agency that led this project. “Everybody likes to see themselves within the story.”
Advent touts it as a first-of-its-kind installation in North American sports. And the A’s can load new renderings as needed to display updates or meet requested customizations from, say, a potential suite buyer.
“This is not something that is on rails,” Downie said. “It’s a space that can flex with the storytelling needs. But, of course, this is Vegas. So there’s a certain wow factor that is required in here.”
The Ballpark Experience Center sits about eight miles southwest of the ballpark construction site, which will anchor the bottom of the Strip. This showcase space connects to the office for the sales team and across the lot from the rest of the club’s Vegas offices. While tourists will undoubtedly comprise a sizable portion of the daily gate, season tickets and suites are geared more toward locals, making this spot away from the tourist center a good one. Also present are a bar, big screen and comfortable seating so it can host events.
The A’s have a long, proud history that most baseball fans will be aware of, but history lessons -- or at least reminders -- are critical to convince a new market to adopt them. Four of the franchise’s nine World Series trophies are on display. An architectural model of the ballpark includes a roof that elevates to unveil closer views of the seating areas. And there is a virtual hitting bay that houses another interactive display.
Tucked into the corner is a smaller cub, this one with batter’s boxes flanking home plate. Twenty baseball bats hang on the walls, each labeled with the name of an A’s legend or celebrated moment in team history. I grabbed the bat marked for Dallas Braden’s perfect game and tapped home plate with it. Immediately the big screen in front of me flickered to life with a highlight of the final out. (I was told Braden himself did the same a few days prior.)
“This is a space to persuade as well as inform,” Downie said. “That just disarms and creates an elevated moment.”
Gracenote adds new features to On Sports discoverability product
Gracenote, Nielsen’s content data business unit, is rolling out new enhancements to its sports programming discoverability product, On Sports, one year after its launch.
On Sports is a business-to-business software solution, delivered through an API, that provides TV providers, streaming services and device manufacturers the technical infrastructure for sports programming recommendation hubs.
At launch in late 2024, the service focused on logistics and core data, according to Gracenote’s SVP/Product Tyler Bell -- primarily around when certain games were being played and on which channel/streaming service they were being hosted. The updates to On Sports being announced Wednesday expand that recommendation engine to encompass the context of entertainment content around games as well. (That can include, for example, recommending and linking to the Yankees’ post-game analysis show or “The Captain” docuseries as a “Related Watching” add-on for viewers searching for the right place to watch a live Yankees game on a given night.) On Sports’ user interface is also adding new league, team and athlete imagery to improve the user experience.
While Gracenote does not publicly comment on the clients using On Sports, the product covers content from more than 160 sports leagues and competitions across more than 50 countries.
ESPN experimenting with new ‘MNF Playbook’ data-driven alt-cast, utilizing TruPlay AI
ESPN is testing out a new data-driven alt-cast for the next two “Monday Night Football” matchups, with the effort airing on ESPN2 as the ManningCast does not return until Week 18. “MNF Playbook with Next Gen Stats” will debut this coming Monday with 49ers-Colts on ESPN2 and the ESPN app, then again in the same places for Rams-Falcons in Week 17.
The alt-cast will also have a digital-only presence in Week 18, as well as for ESPN/ABC’s Wild Card and Divisional round broadcasts. The alt-cast, which utilizes the All-22 camera view, will provide real-time data, advanced metrics and analytics-driven commentary, powered by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats and Adrenaline’s TruPlay AI. Adrenaline is an outfit founded by former NFLer Sean Lee.
In Weeks 16 and 17, former NFLer Luke Kuechly, who calls some Panthers games locally in Charlotte on radio, will team up with ESPN NFL analysts Dan Orlovsky and Field Yates from ESPN HQ in Bristol for the alt-cast. In the weeks that follow, a rotating roster of ESPN commentators, including Mike Monaco, Tim Hasselbeck and Chase Daniel, will join the booth. Either Brian Burke or Seth Walder will serve as the analytics experts each week.
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