Entertainment

Animation Dance E-Sports Entertainment/Celebrity Film Music Radio Restaurants Sports Television Theater Video Virtual Reality
News Release Digital Asset Direct

MAJOR LEAGUE PICKLEBALL IS BACK IN 2022 WITH THE HIGHEST PRIZE MONEY IN PROFESSIONAL PICKLEBALL - $100,000 FOR EACH EVENT TO THE WINNING TEAM

Major League Pickleball

* 48 of the world’s best professional players line-up at Dreamland for MLP 2022 Austin fromJune 3rd-5th, kicking-off the three-event competition for this season’s Pritchard Cup, televised by CBS Sports * New MLP Team Owners unveiled joining Gary Vaynerchuk, Brené Brown, Marc Lasry, and James Blake * Additional MLP events announced in 2022 for Newport Beach, California, and Columbus, Ohio Austin, TX (May 31, 2022) – Major League Pickleball (MLP), the elite pickleball league showcasing the world’s best professional pickleball players in a unique mixed-gender team format, today announced its full line-up of teams, owners, events, and sponsors, as it prepares to kickstart its second season at MLP 2022 Austin from June 3rd-5th. In addition to Austin, additional MLP 2022 signature events will take place in Newport Beach, CA, from August 5th-7th, and Columbus, OH, from October 14th-16th. The winning team at each event will receive the highest prize money in professional pickleball: $100,000 ($25,000 per winning player). CBS Sports will exclusively televise the Austin final on June 5th, helping MLP serve as a platform to attract new pickleball fans and players to America's fastest growing sport. Each MLP 2022 signature event will take place over three days with all 12 MLP teams competing to win The Pritchard Cup, first awarded to Team BLQK at MLP’s inaugural event at Dreamland in November 2021. Last Saturday's draft at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, NY populated the 12 teams with 48 of the world’s best professional players on four-person teams. This unique draft format enabled Team Owners to pick gender equitable teams of two men and two women players. There are three pools of four teams. After pool play, the top six teams will move on to a single elimination bracket. The quarterfinals and the semifinals will be livestreamed on MLP digital channels, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The 12 teams will compete this year under an exciting roster of new owners including David Kass & Doug Ulman (The Bus), Molly Joseph & Travis Rettenmaier (Florida Smash ), and Zubin Mehta (Mad Drops Pickleball Club ) who join Gary Vaynerchuk’s team ( The 5s). David Kass will also host MLP 2022 Columbus in a new indoor pickleball venue later this year. “I could not be more excited to announce Newport Beach and Columbus as our next two signature events in addition to MLP 2022 Austin. And it’s my honor to welcome our new team owners to our iconic Major League Pickleball team owner group,” said Steve Kuhn, Creator and Founder of Major League Pickleball. "Adding to Austin, Newport Beach and Columbus, we now also have Pickleball Night in America, our regular Tuesday night pro pickleball series, which is moving around the country, taking pro pickleball into great locations across the USA and giving pickleball fans over 60 events a year of pickleball action to tune into. That’s hundreds of hours of opportunities to showcase the sport we all love as well as the amazing pro players.” New Sponsors for MLP 2022 include: Franklin balls, Skechers footwear, Ora Organic nutrition products, Knockaround sunglasses, and ProXR paddles. 2022 MLP TEAMS AND PLAYERS: ATX Pickeballers ● Jade Kawamoto ● Sara Ansboury ● Dylan Frazier ● Altaf Merchant BLQK (Defending Champions) ● Irina Tereschenko ● Parris Todd ● Zane Navratil ● Rafa Hewett Chimeras ● Andrea Koop ● Megan Fudge ● Rob Cassidy ● Daniel DeLaRosa CLEAN ● Michelle Esquivel ● Regina Franco ● Dekel Bar ● Joey Farias Florida Smash ● Maggie Remynse ● Lee Whitwell ● JW Johnson ● Travis Rettenmaier Hard Eights ● Jorja Johnson ● Susannah Barr ● Andrei Daescu ● John Cincola Jackrabbits ● Jackie Kawamoto ● Mary Brascia ● AJ Koller ● Wes Gabrielsen Lions ● Bobbi Oshiro ● Corrine Carr ● Thomas Wilson ● Chuck Taylor Mad Drops Pickleball Club ● Vivienne David ● Olivia McMillan ● Adam Stone ● Julian Arnold Ranchers ● Anna Bright ● Maggie Brascia ● DJ Young ● Austin Gridley The 5s ● Simone Jardim ● Lina Padegimaite ● Rob Nunnery ● Erik Lange The Bus ● Lauren Stratman ● Milan Rane ● Kyle Yates ● Eden Lica #### About Major League Pickleball Major League Pickleball (MLP) is the elite professional pickleball competition that sees teams of two women, two men, compete in a unique format that has set new standards in the fastest growing sport in America. MLP’s first-ever event, which took place in November, 2022, raised the bar for pro pickleball, introducing broadcast and event production innovations that saw MLP awarded the title “Event of the Year” by The Dink. In addition to MLP’s goal to create engaging new platforms to showcase the best professional female and male pickleball players worldwide, MLP is also focused on helping build the grassroots of the sport, attracting both new participants and fans to pickleball in the USA and worldwide. For more information on Major League Pickleball, go to MajorLeaguePickleball.net and follow Major League Pickleball on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube. Contact Details Red Knot Mauricio Villarreal +1 919-808-8848 mauricio@redknotcomms.com Red Knot Larry Fink +1 702-249-8586 larry@redknotcomms.com Company Website https://www.majorleaguepickleball.net/

May 31, 2022 01:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time

College of DuPage Men’s Track and Field Win Second Consecutive NJCAA Title

COD Newsroom

Defending National Junior College Athletic Association men’s track and field champion College of DuPage left no doubt about repeating the national title with an outstanding display of depth and personal achievement May 14. Behind Josh Rivers, who won two individual titles, and a superb supporting cast that scored in 17 events, the Chaps won the men's title with 118.5 points, followed by Mineral Area College with 96. It marks the sixth title in school history, and is the first time since the 2003 season that the Chaps successfully defended their title. "It took a total team effort to come here and perform and win,'' said Chaparral Track and Field Head Coach Robert Cervenka. "We had a superstar performance from Josh, and with Anthony Eddy, Diego Villalobos, John Sassan, and Max Szul and Axel Huerta making the most of their talents. I'm in awe of what they were able to accomplish and bring a home a title for a second straight year.'' Rivers won both the long jump and high jump with season-best efforts Friday, and then added to his point total in both the 100- and 200-meter and in the 4x100 meter relay. Eddy finished second in the 1500 on Saturday, and gutted out a seventh place showing in the 800. "This was a big week for Anthony, who really showed his ability,'' Cervenka said. "He was a big leader for us in cross country and showed it again this week.'' Sassan, who sustained an injury during Friday's long jump, ran the opening leg on the 4x100 relay, and along with Villalobos and Rivers, secured 23 team points in the long jump. "Josh really shined all week,'' Cervenka said. "He took advantage of his talents and proved it.'' Szul placed third in the high hurdles and added a fifth-place effort in the 400 hurdles, along with running on the 4x100 relay. "Max is running faster than he did in high school,'' Cervenka said. "We don't win if we don't have everyone pulling their weight and competing in multiple events. They bought in and great things happened because of their willingness to put team first.'' Villalobos scored fourth in the 100, second in the 4x100 relay, second in long jump and third in the triple jump. He piled up 21 points including two from the eight-point 4x100 relay. Huerta, who ran the steeplechase just once prior to this week, placed fourth in that event and sixth in the 5,000. "He and Diego were such key guys for stepping up and giving us points.'' Cervenka said. Cervenka was named the NJCAA men's coach of the year for the second straight year. Learn more about Chaparral Athletics. Contact Details Mark Reinhiller +1 630-942-3761 reinhillerm@cod.edu

May 31, 2022 08:00 AM Central Daylight Time

Image

SleepX approved by the Helsinki Committee to conduct clinical trial with the SleepX PRO smartphone application

Appyea

SleepX, a subsidiary of AppYea (OTC: APYP) focusing on the development of accurate wearable monitoring solutions to treat sleep apnea and snoring, announces it received approval from the Helsinki Committee to begin its planned clinical trial on the SleepX PRO application. This follows the company’s recent update that it intends to test the SleepX Pro application at a hospital sleep lab. The trial is the first step towards applying for an FDA approval under the first-of-its-kind medical device category for contactless detection of sleep apnea to be performed through the Artificial Intelligence (AI) analysis of breathing during sleep. SleepX Pro, which is designed to diagnose sleep apnea using only a smartphone, requires no physical contact with the subject. Global Smart Sleep Tracking Products Market to Garner a Revenue of USD 11,234.55 Million by 2028 and Grow with a CAGR of 17.50% during 2020-2028; Surge in Concern for Sleep-Related Disorders to Drive the Market Growth, according to Kenneth Research (May 16, 2022). “Poor sleep is associated with the compromised immune system, heart problems, reduce physical and mental performance, mood problems, obesity and many other health problems”, said Neil Kline, Founder & former CEO of the American Sleep Association, and a AppYea Board Member. “Unfortunately, most people with sleep disorder breathing problems, like sleep apnea, are undiagnosed and untreated. Our goal in this unique technology is to raise the awareness to the problem and to improve people’s they can live healthier and more fulfilling lives.” “SleepX PRO makes for a unique, quick and friendly diagnosis tool that will prevent subjects from having to spend nights at sleep labs while saving the healthcare system and insurance companies hundreds of millions of dollars”, said Boris (Bary) Molchadsky, President and CEO of SleepX, and Chair at AppYea. “We plan to make our diagnosis solution highly accessible so people get tested easily. SleepX is an Israeli research and development company recently acquired by AppYea. The company had developed a unique product for monitoring and treating sleep apnea and snoring. The technology is protected by several international patents and the company plans to start serial production in 2022. The company currently focuses its activities on the development and commercialization of its flagship product DreamIT. Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This release includes forward-looking statements. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth herein. No statement herein should be considered an offer or a solicitation of an offer for the purchase or sale of any securities. Although APYP believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations and assumptions will prove to have been correct. Forward-looking statements, which involve assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies, and expectations, are generally identifiable by use of the words "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "intend," or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are subject to numerous factors and uncertainties, including but not limited to adverse economic conditions, intense competition, entry of new competitors and products, adverse federal, state and local government regulation, inadequate capital, unexpected costs and operating deficits, increases in general and administrative costs, unanticipated losses, financial condition and stock price, inability to carry out research, development and commercialization plans and other specific risks. APYP does not undertake any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement. Neither APYP nor SLEEPX are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 as amended. Contact Details Asaf Porat +1 800-674-3561 info@appyea.com Company Website http://www.appyea.com

May 31, 2022 08:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Social Media Winners of the Champions League Final

BetXpert

BetXpert has collected data for which players in the Champions League final that got the highest number of new followers across Instagram and Twitter. Continue reading to figure out which 10 players won the Champions League Social Media challenge. The Champions League season has just ended, with Real Madrid’s Vini Jr. scoring the only goal in the final match against Liverpool. Even though Vinicius Jr. scored the deciding goal, it was in fact their goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, being awarded the Man of the Match. Getting to the final was sometimes hard, with French striker Benzema getting a lot of attention during the playoffs. Benzema didn’t only play a big part of getting Real Madrid to the final; he also won the battle on the two Social Media platforms, Instagram, and Twitter. Data collected by BetXpert is showing the number of new followers gained on the two platforms, by every player, in the final. Firstly, we collected data directly after the respective semi-finals had been played on 3rd and 4th May. Thereafter, we collected data directly after the final, and then again after 12 hours had passed. We did this to see what a Champions League final and the players’ performance does when it comes to followers in social media. Performing well in the Champions League final will significantly increase the number of new followers, as shown below. Karim Benzema won the Instagram battle Benzema had the biggest increase in new followers on Instagram. He received a total of 2.8 million new followers from right before the semi-final and directly after the final. 12 hours later he had gained an additional 200.000 followers. Karim Benzema went from having 50.6 million followers on Instagram on May 4th to having 53.4 million after the final. This is an increase of 5,5%. Benzema is not the only one who could smile after seeing the number of followers gained after the final. See the list of the top 10 players who received the highest number of new followers on Instagram below. Benzema won the Twitter battle On Twitter Benzema went from having 15.2 million to 15.7 million followers after the final. That half a million new followers is only an increase of 3,3%. These are the players who got the highest number of new followers on Twitter between the Champions League semi-final and final. Instagram and Twitter combined As Benzema is the player with the highest number of new followers on both Instagram and Twitter, he is also the one winning the Social Media battle overall. The player with the highest number of followers overall is Marcelo, but he couldn’t get close to Benzema. However, which other players had success over the course? The table below shows us that especially Vini Jr. and and Rodrygo also received many followers. The two managers The team is more than the players, and with that in mind there is others that can happily look at what getting their team to the Champions League final can bring from social media. Read Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti went from having 7.4 million followers on Instagram to 7.8 million. On Twitter he went from 2.8 million to 2.9 million. Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp is not that interested in social media, which is why we do not have any numbers on him. On the other hand, we have the numbers for his club. Liverpool’s official Instagram account went from having 37.7 million followers to 38.7 million. On Twitter they went from 20.4 million to 20.6 million new followers. Some good results from Liverpool, even though Real Madrid is unbeatable on social media. Los Blancos started with 115 million followers on Instagram and 41.4 million on Twitter, to now 118 million and 42 million. Social Media is a gold mine For players that have a lot of followers on social media, it can be worth more than having the upper hand on your teammates. There are big amounts of money if you have enough followers. This is easy to see when Cristiano Ronaldo playing in Manchester United has 446 million followers on Instagram. They say he can pocket about 1.5 million GBP for a sponsored post. This amount of money is not what the players in the 2022 Champions League final is earning, but you can be sure the top 10 players in this article can smile whenever they post something sponsored on their accounts. Contact Details BetXpert Christer Johansen +47 929 75 226 christer.johansen@raketech.com

May 30, 2022 03:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Image

COD Women’s Track and Field Win Second NJCAA Championship

COD Newsroom

Defending NJCAA champion College of DuPage women’s track and field team are repeat national champions. Under the direction of Head Coach Robert Cervenka and his coaching staff, Michelle Stratton and Rachael Ramon, each member of the Chaps squad earned points at the Hudson Valley Community Track and Field Complex. The team title is COD's sixth in school history and is the first time it has repeated since the Chaps won three straight championships from 2000 to 2002. Sprinter Kiara Carter won both the 100- and 200-meter sprints, and Alexandra Ochab added to her long jump title with a victory in the 400-meter as the Chaps totaled 138 points to out-distance runner-up RC Gloucester, which finished with 111. Carter and Ochab each added a title in their one and only relays with Carter in the 4x100 meter and Ochab the 4x400. "Maximum efforts across the board and we could not be happier,'' said Cervenka. "Kiara is so talented and I think Alexandra's experience from a year ago was pivotal. Every one of our nine athletes scored in more than one event. That speaks volumes about their buy-in to the team and winning the title going away.'' The 2022 championship marks the second straight national event where the Chaps won all three relays; a point Cervenka emphasized. "It's a pride thing where we demonstrated skill and those relays capped our week,'' he said. "All nine ran at least one leg on a relay. That really says it all.'' Carter won the 100 in 12.40 seconds and added the 200 title in 25.88 seconds. "So proud of Kiara and for her to get the job done,'' said Cervenka. "Her maturity picked up. She's always had the talent and was such a big contributor for us.'' Ochab ran in just the 400, a day after winning the long jump by improving 30 centimeters over her previous best. "What can you say,'' said Cervenka. "She's another one who got the job done in spectacular fashion.'' The effort of Akira Lebron throughout the week was vital. She competed and scored in five individual events and ran on the winning 4x100 relay. "Akira is such a phenomenal athlete,'' said Cervenka. "We asked a lot of her and she responded so well. Her efforts in those five events took points away from the competition and she excelled.'' Lillian Buzani added a runner-up finish in the 800 and placed third in the 1500, while her distance teammate Bella Adduci was fourth in each event. Both ran on the 4x800 title relay. "Both Lillian and Belle showed their best when it mattered the most,'' said Cervenka. "Again, we really got the most of our nine athletes.'' Morgan Clifford was seventh in the 100 hurdles and sixth in the 400 hurdles. Alyssa Gaski was the only Chap who ran on all three relays, and Mya Mangan added to her pole vault title with a leg on the 4x100 relay. Paulina Stachura tied for fourth in the high jump and ran on the 4x400 relay. Cervenka was named NJCAA coach of the year upon conclusion of the event Learn more about Chaparral Athletics. Contact Details Mark Reinhiller +1 630-942-3761 reinhillerm@cod.edu

May 27, 2022 04:00 PM Central Daylight Time

Image

Why Influencer Marketing is Taking Over Online Advertising

TCM DIGITAL

TCM has launched NinjaInfluence, an all-in-one Influencer Marketing AI SaaS platform that provides an affordable yet powerful use of influencer marketing that enables eCommerce businesses to deal with increased ad costs and reduced marketing budgets due to unstable market sentiment. On Tuesday, May 24th, The Snap Company announced it will miss its projections due to decreased ad spending. The announcement triggered a spiral effect for most ad-driven super techs, such as Google and Facebook. This came as no surprise given the current environment, along with rising ad prices and macro headwinds likely to extend to every region of digital advertising. An article published by CNBC earlier this week states, “Social media companies were already having a rough year from the cutback in digital ad spending caused by rising inflation, supply chain challenges, and the war in Ukraine. Forecasts for the second quarter called for meager growth at best, and stock prices were getting hammered.” Following Snap’s disclosure, JMP Securities analysts shared, “Macro headwinds likely extend to all digital advertising.” They added that brand budgets, and especially digital ones, “are more at risk of being reduced as companies tighten ad budgets,” while direct response ads, or those that encourage viewers to take immediate action, are “more connected to consumer spend, particularly eCommerce.” Read the full CNBC article here. The eCommerce space is seeking alternative means to cut down advertising spending amid rising costs of social media ads in an environment that's highly volatile. Even now while ad costs rise, eCommerce has seen a massive uptick since the start of the pandemic, expected to total $5.55 trillion in 2022 and to grow by almost $11 trillion between 2021 and 2025. This increase can also be attributed to the effect of influenceres/online creators. An authentic and engaging presence online is critical to being disruptive in a saturated marketed experience. People want to be wowed, connect to something, and belong to a community. Enter influencers, a person valued by the audience much more than the classic pop-up ad. With such dedicated followings, you can shorten the sales cycle by standing apart from your competition. A strong brand doesn’t only optimize performance marketing in the short term but also makes it a source of sustainable growth. Stronger brands draw more organic acquisitions, retain more customers, and command higher sales. As the digital space becomes more crowded, brand identity and brand awareness will only become more crucial. When time is a critical commodity,one needs to be fast, agile, and ahead of its competitors. One needs to focus on brand equity and improve upon one's brand loyalty while maintaining one's ad spend. While inflationary pressure affects purchasing decisions, brands must strengthen their community reach and customer relationships. After spending over eight years operating within the eCommerce space both as an eCommerce seller and as a leading aggregator, we have experienced community creation, aptly named influencer marketing, first hand. But how do you go about finding the right influencers? Even if you do find the right influencers, how would you manage them, monetize, measure performance, and still be able to attend one's eCommerce business? Welcome to the solution of NinjaInfluence, TCM’s disruptive influencer marketing platform. With our dynamic and elastic AI search engine, we have curated a database of over 140 million influencers for you to filter and pinpoint the perfect brand representative. Each will be the champion brand ambassador and increase sales. Within the platform, you can conduct research, outreach, and campaign management along with tracking your real-time sales and social metrics. Even making payments to your influencers are just a click away using NinjaInfluence. You do not have to take the journey alone. Our team of Influencer Managers is here to oversee the entire process, from discovering and identifying the right influencer, to outreach and sending customized messages all the way to managing your entire marketing influencers funnel, your own dedicated Influencers Manager. With the assistance of the Influencer Manager, negotiate everything from partnership terms to campaign management as they set up eCommerce coupons, tracking links for sales, and social engagement. On June 1st at 9:00 am ET, the Ninjainfluence team will be conducting a live webinar. We invite you to join our live demonstration and roundtable discussion as we tackle the alternative means of online advertising and how to best engage with Influencers for the maximum outcome. To save your seat, click to register and write "Save my seat for the upcoming webinar." About NinjaInfluence NinjaInfluence is an influencer marketing software that supports users in easily managing their strategies and communicating with influencers/creators. Following up on its predecessor, NinjaOutreach, it provides access to over 140 million influencers across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter. In addition to its established search engine, NinjaInfluence offers a multitude of features such as eCommerce integration, full analytics dashboards, smart search manager, internal payment platform, related profile recommendation engine and a consolidated CRM-like workspace. Scalable and effective through its use of powerful big data technology, NinjaInfluence searches through millions of creators to intelligently identify qualified influencer leads, and enable the launch of influencer campaigns with traceable ROI. For more information, a free trial, or to subscribe to NinjaInfluence, visit https://NinjaInfluence.com/. Contact Details Gabi Bar +1 845-709-8324 gabi@tcmdigital.com Company Website https://ninjainfluence.com/

May 27, 2022 09:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time

The ForeverLawn Black and Green Grass Machine Returns at Charlotte Motor Speedway

ForeverLawn

ForeverLawn, Inc. ® will continue their sponsorship of Jeffrey Earnhardt and the “Black and Green Grass Machine” at the Alsco Uniforms 300 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Saturday, May 28, 2022. This race is part of ForeverLawn’s multi-race deal with Earnhardt and the Sam Hunt Racing team and will be streamed live from Charlotte Motor Speedway at 1:00 p.m. ET on FS1. “Last year our race at Charlotte was filled with memorable moments, one being when Jeffrey hit the wall and as a result flew the Harvest Church back panel banner on national TV,” says Dale Karmie, Co-Founder of ForeverLawn. “This year with SHR, we are hoping to get noticed for a different reason: running at the front. We also want to honor and pay tribute to all the men and women who gave their lives to serve and protect this great nation. God Bless America.” Earnhardt will pilot the No. 26 ForeverLawn Toyota GR Supra with a revamped version of the 2022 Black and Green Grass Machine paint scheme, as seen in the SRS Distribution 250 at Texas Motor Speedway. Continuing their ongoing sponsorship participation alongside ForeverLawn are the Accredited Petroleum Association, LifeGR, STR, and Precision Products. Viewers can follow Earnhardt and the ForeverLawn car by watching on FS1 or on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook using #blackandgreengrassmachine. About ForeverLawn ForeverLawn ® improves spaces and communities through innovative synthetic grass solutions. Beginning in 2004 as the daring entrepreneurial venture of two brothers, ForeverLawn has consistently led the synthetic turf industry through groundbreaking approaches to products and practice. As the premium choice for synthetic surfacing, each product is engineered to solve unique consumer needs and desires while maintaining superior standards and natural aesthetics. Today the company services over eighty localized markets through their dealer network, with an impressive regional, national, and international project portfolio. Want to be a part of something bigger? Learn how you can be a person of impact through business ownership opportunities with ForeverLawn. For more information, contact opportunities@foreverlawn.com. Contact Details ForeverLawn, Inc. Julia Kontur +1 330-499-8873 julia@foreverlawn.com Company Website https://www.foreverlawn.com/

May 25, 2022 12:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Image

Ripken Baseball Expands Programming in Pigeon Forge

Ripken Baseball

Ripken Baseball, the leader in youth sports events, announced they are gaining access to four additional fields in the City of Pigeon Forge. As one of the most sought-after youth sports complexes in the country, Ripken Experience™ Pigeon Forge will be able to host teams from around the country on 10 total fields, including access to the newly renovated fields at Pigeon Forge’s Wear Farm City Park. The park’s four fields will be completely upgraded and reimagined prior to the start of the 2023 season. Similar to the original six fields at Ripken Experience™ Pigeon Forge which opened in 2016, each field at Wear Farm City Park will become a youth replica of famous Major League Baseball parks of the past and present. Residents of Pigeon Forge will benefit from the renovations as Wear Farm City Park will continue to host tournaments throughout the year on state-of-the-art artificial turf that closely replicates real grass. “Every year, our teams and their families take home countless fond memories of the Pigeon Forge area when they participate in The Ripken Experience™,” said Cal Ripken, Jr., who co-founded Ripken Baseball with his brother Bill Ripken. “The views are unbelievable and the feeling you have when you experience our complex is special. The demand to play here is through the roof. This is an exciting opportunity to expand and welcome even more baseball families to Pigeon Forge.” Wear Farm City Park’s four fields will be transformed into youth replicas of the following big league stadiums: St. Louis’ Busch Stadium, Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium, Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium, and Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium. The $3 million renovation project will begin this summer. “Pigeon Forge’s partnership with Ripken Baseball is a successful one, as demonstrated by the annual increase in demand for the ball fields and the direct impact on our city’s tourism industry due to the many families who visit,” said Pigeon Forge City Manager Earlene Teaster. “The upgrades to Wear Farm City Park are a win-win for The Ripken Experience™ and our Pigeon Forge residents as these fields bring vast improvements for everyone to enjoy.” Pigeon Forge residents and local youth teams will enjoy the renovations immediately following completion. The Ripken Experience™ Pigeon Forge’s access to Wear Farm City Park applies primarily to daytime hours during the summer season, allowing the four baseball fields to remain available for Pigeon Forge residents during evenings, weekends, and most Fridays. The addition of artificial turf provides longer days during the winter months (November through early March), earlier year-round start times, and quicker turnaround during the event of rain. Wear Farm City Park is open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. The park, which also has soccer and youth football facilities, will continue to host youth baseball leagues. The Ripken Experience™ Pigeon Forge hosts more than 1,000 teams annually from over 30 states, traveling from as far away as California, Alaska, and overseas. Players’ families, many of whom are first-time visitors to Pigeon Forge, have a significant impact on the Pigeon Forge economy. A 2018 economic impact study attributed $33.8 million in visitor spending to The Ripken Experience™ Pigeon Forge during the facility’s nine-month season that year. The appeal of Pigeon Forge as a family vacation destination was a major reason the city built the $22.5 million complex and contracted with Ripken Baseball to operate it. During seven seasons of operations, the facility has solidified Pigeon Forge as a major sports tourism destination. In addition, research indicates that 99 percent of those who visit the facility reside outside of Sevier County. Tournament participants, coaches, and their families contribute to the local economy through overnight lodging stays ticket purchases to area attractions, restaurant dining, and other purchases. Pigeon Forge is located in Sevier County just six miles from the entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Since opening its doors in March 2016, more than 5,000 youth baseball teams and 250 high school softball teams have taken to the six fields at The Ripken Experience Pigeon Forge. In total, more than 75,000 players and coaches have traveled to play ball on fields that offer unobstructed views of the Great Smoky Mountains, with an additional 1,000 teams expected to travel to the complex for competition in 2022. The Ripken Experience™ Pigeon Forge is located on a ridge above Pigeon Forge. Each field borrows its design inspiration from current and former ballparks highlighting the professional player progression from the Minor to Major Leagues, including Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The others are Calfee Park in Pulaski, Va., the oldest park in the Appalachian League; Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C., known as “Little Fenway”; Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, Tenn., a filming location for the “42” movie about Jackie Robinson; BB&T Ballpark in Winston-Salem, N.C.; and Isotopes Park in Albuquerque, N.M. The Ripken Experience™ Pigeon Forge hosts tournaments nine months out of the year and offers year-round branded events in its 14,000-square-foot clubhouse. Tournaments are free to spectators, and parking is free at the complex. Visitor information about Pigeon Forge is available online at MyPigeonForge.com and toll-free at 800-251-9100. To learn more about Ripken Baseball and for The Ripken Experience™ Pigeon Forge, visit RipkenBaseball.com. Cal Ripken, Jr. headshot and The Ripken Experience Pigeon Forge facility images are available here. Photo credit: The Ripken Experience Pigeon Forge About Ripken Baseball Ripken Baseball brings teammates, coaches, and families together through its Big-League Experiences, while teaching the values of the game, and how to play it the right way – the Ripken Way. Recently expanding the best experience in youth sports to satellite locations through Ripken Select Tournaments, Ripken Baseball continues to innovate the game through tournaments, camps, clinics, and spring training at their state-of-the-art baseball and softball facilities – The Ripken Experience™ Aberdeen (Maryland), The Ripken Experience™ Myrtle Beach (South Carolina), and The Ripken Experience™ Pigeon Forge (Tennessee). # # # Contact Details Eric Nemeth +1 602-502-2793 nemeth@ericpr.com Company Website https://www.ripkenbaseball.com/

May 25, 2022 09:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Telematics can Now Issue Crypto Token for Driver Engagement, Powered by Damoov

Damoov

We are fast advancing to an age where the lines separating our real life from our virtual life are blurring. From Virtual Concerts to sites that let you buy virtual property anywhere in the world - it's all there already, and there is more coming up. In the latest development, Telematics major Damoov has announced the integration of the popular crypto networks of today, Solana and NEAR, to its Telematics platform. The integration opens up two significant possibilities. Firstly, companies building telematics-based apps can provide drivers with new ways of engaging by accruing crypto tokens for safe driving, eco driving or driver performance. The crypto tokens that have all known benefits and may be transferred to wallets across the entire blockchain ecosystem. On the other hand, gaming companies can easily build Play to Earn games where gamers can be rewarded with crypto for their real-life driving skills. Telematics is the field that studies vehicle movement and position data to arrive at actionable insights about driving skills, safety, and vehicle longevity. Companies like Damoov use machine learning to analyze the data to derive such insights. Damoov's APIs have been used by Automakers, Fleet Management Companies, Driving Schools, and Insurance companies to build their smartphone app for telematics. As per Ivan Shornikov, the CEO of Damoov, the promise is immense. " All existing smartphone telematics products are struggling with low driver's engagement. That is a game-changing step for driver engagement and future telematics. The new service unlocks huge opportunities to use crypto to improve safe driving, eco-driving, and driver performance," says Shornikov. " Most Importantly, this engagement feature doesn't require months of development. In as little as 30 mins, you can add crypto earning capabilities to your existing telematics-based apps for safe driving. " So, how does it work? Damoov's proprietary machine learning-based algorithm measures smartphone sensors data and translates it into driving behaviors, vehicle position and other variables to calculate Safe Driving Score, Eco Driving Score, and other performance metrics. These metrics can then be used as input for rewarding drivers as well as vehicle utilization. While such rewarding capabilities were already present in Damoov's telematics suite, the rewards get more real with the new developments. When it comes to Crypto gaming, we are also looking at some exciting possibilities. " We are in talks with Crypto Game Developers as well. We will soon see games where your real-life driving skills are linked to your virtual car and can reward you in the virtual world via crypto tokens," adds Shornikov. Damoov supports any 3rd party tokens launched on Solana or NEAR protocols, so Developers can launch their own tokens and connect them to Damoov platform. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Washington, Damoov has so far raised funding from Alchemist Accelerator and StartaVC. Contact Details Ivan Shornikov PR Contact connect@damoov.com Company Website https://damoov.com

May 25, 2022 07:25 AM Eastern Daylight Time

1 ... 168 169 170 171 172 ... 249