The NFL this morning will announce it is reprising its Shark Tank-like technology competition at Super Bowl LI, this time in conjunction with the Texas Medical Center (TMC). The first competition the day before Super Bowl 50 awarded $50,000 each to three companies that won in a range of categories, including fan experience. This time, the categories are all tied to player and health safety -- coach to player communications; athlete training; and materials to protect players. Companies can now begin submitting proposals to the NFL, which is putting together a group of judges that will include former players, entrepreneurs and medical professionals to review as many as nine contestants.
The winners of the contest get the money, acceptance into TMC’s startup program, and two tickets to Super Bowl LI. 1st and Future, as the competition is known, will again occur the day before the Super Bowl on Feb. 4. The NFL held last year’s event at Stanford in conjunction with TechCrunch, a technology news service, which is not involved this time.
