This Week in Sports News: 12 Stories You Need to See

A roundup of the week's most newsworthy sports industry press releases from PR Newswire

NEW YORK, June 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help journalists covering the sports industry stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a roundup of stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

1. "The Messi Experience": An interactive multimedia experience inspired by Leo Messi's career will be on Tour around the world
   Entering a world fueled by childhood dreams, and record-breaking achievements, guests will be transported to experience and discover the man behind the legend: Digital on-ball activities with live score updates, personal virtual engagement with Messi himself will be some of the activities for a complete immersive experience.
2. VOICEINSPORT Foundation Launches Side of Equity™ Fund to Help Close the Pay Gap for Women
   While FIFA has stated that they have a goal to reach parity by 2026/27 for the women, the VOICEINSPORT Foundation Founder & CEO, Stef Strack has created a tangible path for the 2 billion expected fans and global brands to get involved by stating, "Why wait? We must take action as a global community and accelerate the progress we all expect to see for women athletes."
3. Major League Soccer, adidas, and Marvel Team Up to Launch Co-Branded Merchandise
   The unique product offerings, mixed with creative design elements, position MLS and Marvel at the intersection of sports and fashion as they celebrate the cultural moment surrounding heroes on and off the field.
4. Athletes unite to create the Enhanced Games, a competitor to the Olympic Games: The first global sports event without drug testing.
   "We believe that science is real and has an important place in supporting human flourishing. There is no better way to highlight the centrality of science in our modern world than in elite sports," said Dr. Aron D'Souza, the President of the Enhanced Games.
5. IBM Brings Generative AI Commentary and AI Draw Analysis to the Wimbledon Digital Experience
   A new Artificial Intelligence (AI) feature, leveraging generative AI technology from IBM watsonx, will produce tennis commentary for all video highlights packages during Wimbledon. And in a first for tennis, the IBM AI Draw Analysis feature will also provide a new statistic to define how favourable the path to the final might be for each player in the singles draw.
6. Pete & Gerry's Announces 'Eggciting' 2023 MLB All-Star Week Partnership
   The brand is challenging fans to take a "crack" at spotting "Shelly", the Pete & Gerry's hen, and an "egg ball" in T-Mobile Park in an MLB Instagram photo, for a chance to win tickets to MLB All-Star Week (July 8-11), plus travel and accommodations, as part of the "Ultimate All-Star Eggsperience by Pete & Gerry's Home Run Eggs™" sweepstakes.
7. Gatorade Assigns Ukrainian Football Legend Andriy Shevchenko as a 'Confidence Coach' to Inspire the Next Generation
   Now in its sixth year, Gatorade 5v5 has grown to feature teams from 11 countries, spanning Latin America, Asia, Middle East, and Europe. The tournament's mission is to support and inspire young players on their journey, whilst instilling them with confidence by offering unique opportunities to reap the benefits of sport. 
8. REI Co-op Studios and Wondercamp release "The Right to Joy," a film about community, perseverance, and inclusion in the world of cycling
   The film shares the story of Izzy Sederbaum, a trans-masculine cyclist and policy scholar who survived a rare cougar attack on a bicycle ride just outside Seattle in early 2018.
9. XSET, The World's Fastest Growing Gaming Lifestyle Organization, Announces XSET Day at Fenway Park in Collaboration with the Red Sox
   Through the one-day activation, XSET will host Fenway Park's first-ever gaming lounge, open to all game goers, and provide the audience with the opportunity to compete, connect and celebrate baseball before and during the Red Sox game. The lounge will have a wide variety of games available for spectators and enthusiasts alike.
10. PepsiCo Extends Strategic Partnership With UEFA Champions League For Another Three Years During A Pivotal Time In The League's History
    The next era of the PepsiCo and UCL partnership will fuel a two-way dialogue between brands and fans and will generate cultural moments of global conversation. PepsiCo is committed to delivering unmatched experiences for fans and is striving to further expand the reach of UCL globally and doubling up activations in the U.S. – the fastest growing football market – and the Middle East.
11. eBay Launches Training Camp for Sports Trading Card Collectors
    "As sports fans catch the collector's bug, it can take many years to acquire the skills needed to formulate a valuable collection, but we have an engaged and excited community, and the tools and services to help," said Gene Cook, VP of Collectibles at eBay.
12. MASN and BIG3 Launch Sports Media Programming and Community Impact Partnership
    MASN and BIG3 will launch a media programming and community impact partnership to televise 52 games of the exciting three-on-three summer professional basketball league throughout MASN's seven-state television territory starting later this month.

Read more of the latest sports-related releases from PR Newswire and stay caught up on the top press releases by following @PRNsports on Twitter.

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