In little more than three months, the NFL’s historic 50th Super Bowl is coming to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Just when we were in the depths of planning our dip-to-chip ratio for our viewing party, the NFL came to us with an idea: A sports-themed pitch-off competition just before the big game named 1st and Future.
The concept is simple. The NFL wants to see promising startups and technology that would advance the game and its facilities. TechCrunch is bringing our Startup Battlefield experience to recruit and train contestants, as well as run the competition. The audience will be NFL team owners and executives, in addition to invitees of Stanford and TechCrunch, and we’ll stream the entire event so everyone can follow along. Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business stepped in to contribute their extensive academic expertise on the startup scene, and to give the pitch-off a suitable setting.
Given that this was certainly one of the better offers we had for Saturday morning February 6, the day before the Super Bowl, we’re happy to announce 1st and Future, engineered by TechCrunch, the NFL and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
This is our first call for any and all startups interested in participating in the pitch off. Here’s what you need to know:
What are the competition themes?
The Future Stadium — The winner will be chosen based on the judges’ assessment of which startup’s product is most likely to be implemented and have the biggest impact on the experience of attendees at live, stadium sports events.
Bringing Home The Game — The winner will be chosen based on the judges’ assessment of which startup’s product is likely to see wide consumer adoption and alter in some fundamental way the enjoyment of live sports broadcasts in the home.
Tomorrow’s Athlete — The winner will be chosen based on the judges’ assessment of which startup’s product will have be most widely adopted and have biggest impact on athletes safety during practice and games, as well as improving their performance and training.
Startups must fit into one of these three categories to participate.
[“source-techcrunch”]
