Welcoming Beyond Sports Into Sony’s Sports Businesses

Sony Corporation (“Sony”) announced that Sony is reconstructing its sports business organization following a recently completed acquisition, and welcomed Beyond Sports into Sony Corporation’s sports business.

Beyond Sports will drive its business alongside Hawk-Eye and Pulselive as part of Sony’s sports business. The addition of Beyond Sports to the group is a key pillar in providing Sony’s clients with the very best end-to-end services in the sports data and tech space.

Hiroshi Kawano, Corporate Executive, Executive Vice President of Sony Corporation stated: “We are confident that the acquisition of Beyond Sports will further strengthen our sports business to realize new sports entertainment bridging live and virtual worlds. By maximizing Beyond Sports’ technology and expertise, we aim to create new sports entertainment experiences that unlock the power and emotion of sports.”

Rufus Hack, CEO of Hawk-Eye & Pulselive stated: “We are delighted to welcome Beyond Sports as we further strengthen Sony’s sports business. We feel that marrying the unique capabilities of Beyond Sports alongside the incredible businesses of Hawk-Eye and Pulselive will truly enhance our ambition to be a strategic partner to the world’s biggest sports leagues.

Beyond Sports has an incredible reputation in the sports industry for delivering world class data and using that data to create new and immersive sports content experiences. We are excited to continue to build out the breadth and distinctiveness of our capabilities and feel the data tracking expertise of Hawk-Eye paired with the data visualization expertise of Beyond Sport will be a winning combination for our clients.”

Sander Schouten, Beyond Sports’ CEO & Co-Founder echoed Hack’s statement: “We couldn’t be happier to be joining Sony’s sports businesses. Hawk-Eye and Pulselive offer an incredible suite of products and services to their clients globally, across different sports and end user touch points, and we’re excited to add ourselves to these conversations.

Our vision at Beyond Sports has always been to challenge the status quo when it comes to sports data, data visualization and sports content consumption, and we will keep on doing so for the benefit of everyone involved. We believe that we can accelerate that process alongside the existing businesses, to fully utilize the combined potential and cater to the needs of the new generation of sports fans.”

Beyond Sports technology is already being used by the biggest names in the sports industry and it has powered the hugely successful and Sports Emmy winning NFL Wildcard game in 2021 as well as the popular NHL Stanley Cup Blocky livestreams.

The Beyond Sports team brings an additional layer of data expertise to the group, especially when it comes to human movement sciences and modular yet scalable applications. Its proprietary engine will accelerate collective efforts in making three dimensional visualizations and applications available to rights holders and fans.

Beyond Sports’ efforts are platform agnostic, meaning that any output format imaginable is ready to be used instantly, from traditional TV all the way to fully immersive mixed reality headsets, positioning itself as the gateway to (live) sports in the Metaverse.

Hawk-Eye and Pulselive form the core foundation of Sony’s sports business, with a shared commitment to deliver best-in-class officiating, broadcast and digital solutions to the sports world.

Adding Beyond Sports to the family means a step closer for the group to a full end-to-end partnership for sports rights holders. Hawk-Eye and Pulselive look to grow in meaningful ways that address changing client needs, and we felt that Beyond Sports was the perfect fit.

For existing partners, this is an active step towards not only receiving best-in-class officiating and digital technology, but also an outlet for the group’s unique data capture capabilities to drive additional commercial value and fan engagement opportunities.

Sony Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation and is responsible for the Entertainment, Technology & Services (ET&S) business. With the vision of “continuing to deliver Kando and Anshin to people and society across the world through the pursuit of technology and new challenges,” Sony will create products and services in areas such as home entertainment & sound, imaging, and mobile communications.

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*Both Japanese words, Kando means emotion and Anshin has various meanings such as peace of mind, reassurance, reliability and trust.

Hawk-Eye Innovations have been at the forefront of sports officiating and broadcast enhancement technology since 2001. The world’s biggest sporting events trust Hawk-Eye to make the right call, when it matters most.

Hawk-Eye’s vision-processing, video replay and creative graphic technologies make sport fairer, safer, more engaging and better informed. Our innovations are constantly changing the face of sports officiating, production, content management, fan engagement in every sport.

Pulselive are the proud digital partner to some of the biggest names in sport, committed to creating experiences sports fans can’t live without. Pulselive are responsible for creating, developing and managing digital platforms, reaching millions of sports fans every day; whether that’s the official Rugby or Cricket World Cup website, ATP Media and FC Barcelona’s OTT platforms or the Premier League’s iOS and Android apps.

Beyond Sports is an AI based data analysis and visualisation company that offers a new way of experiencing sports. Our Emmy Award winning visualisation platform enables real-time digital sports engagement solutions for leagues, broadcasters, brands and ultimately the consumers. We deliver never before seen sports content spreading from traditional media all the way to the Metaverse.
Beyond Sports is one of Sony’s sports businesses aimed at innovating the industry through data and entertainment.