Good morning from a very sunny and warm London. Part of me is wondering if I mistakenly woke up in Italy, so I got suitably dressed and am drinking far too many cappuccinos.

On with today’s news and more. Below are some of the main articles I’ve come across over my caffeine overdose. But before we get to them I just wanted to highlight a couple of key, and hopefully interesting, things for you;

1. We have a new podcast coming out today (which you can not get on Spotify as well now!) where I’m talking technology, innovation and education with Chelsea’s Matt Mead and Carl Southwell.
2. We’re closing in on our next fantastic events. On Tuesday we’ll be discussing social media and next gen fans at Social Chain’s office in Manchester. And on 9th May we’ll be engrossed in future tech at the Loughborough University campus in Stratford. Hopefully I’ll see you at one of these, if not both!

Now here’s today’s reading as you take time out to sunbathe for the first time this year…

Digital doping: Are big data, AI and virtual reality creating an uneven playing field? (alphr.com)

A fair question me thinks. Some insights included from, amongst others, the founder of the Sports Technology Awards, Rebecca Hopkins. Someone we know well here at DS. So in this time of constantly evolving and improving technology, are we creating a world of the haves and have nots? Is one team having so much more tech available, and budget for it, than one that does not fair? And the same for individual athletes too. Digital doping really is going to become a thing.

SportsPro Live 2018: new sports media relationships and ecosystem begin to take clearer shape (deltatre.com)

Away from player technology, another industry that is being massively disrupted is that of sports media. I was at SportsPro last week and listened to the panel on which Andy Wasef from deltatre was on – one that probably threw up more questions than answers. No-one has the solution at the moment but there’s a hell of a lot of testing going on.

Euroleague introduces innovative second-screen app (sportbusiness.com)

Euroleague is one of the most experimental rights holders out there. They continue to push the boundaries with partnerships such as this with HEED. This use of AI and IoT (there’s lots of industry speak in this release)… “uses sensors, cameras and data analytics to identify exciting moments within a game, generate new insights and deliver content in near real-time directly to fans’ mobile devices.”

Will it catch on and be useful, or just a fan engagement fad? Lots of people will be watching on in interest I feel.