Chelsea Football Club has announced Infinite Athlete as its principal partner for the 2023/24 season.
The brand will appear on the front of the men’s and women’s teams' playing kits and training kit sleeve, starting with Chelsea Women’s FA Women's Super League game against Tottenham Women on Sunday.
Infinite Athlete currently powers innovative technology enhancements for the club and its global fanbase, including the launch of Match View X via the club’s official app.
Infinite Athlete combines Tempus Ex Machina’s cutting-edge sports video and data technology with groundbreaking safety and performance analytics from partner company Biocore, and currently hold dynamic partnerships leveraging its proprietary technology across the NFL, Colorado Athletics, and more.
Its mission is to be the industry-standard operating system across all global sports, empowering a better experience, with greater opportunities and access to the highest quality technology for fans, the game and athletes.
Chelsea FC chief executive officer, Chris Jurasek, believes Infinite Athlete’s technology infrastructure can proliferate European football.
He said: 'From the outset, it was clear the potential Infinite Athlete has in leveraging technology to unlock competitive advantage and to enhance the fan experience.
'We have a like-minded partner in Infinite Athlete. The speed at which our relationship has grown, alongside the evolution of Infinite Athlete’s business, made this an obvious extension to our partnership.
'Infinite Athlete has the potential to revolutionise the world of football and global sports, particularly when it comes to fans wanting to consume more match and player data and control their own viewing experience, while also providing players and coaches with insights and analytics that can help with player performance, health and safety.'
Under the existing partnership, Chelsea FC deployed Infinite Athlete's artificial intelligence (AI) Match View X™ (MVX) technology to provide fans with customisable broadcasts and fan engagement opportunities on the club’s official app.
Launched during the club's summer tour of the U.S, fans were able to tailor live streams of matches with graphical overlays, real-time statistics, play-by-play match events, player tracking, and instant highlights.
Chelsea FC and Tempus Ex’s collaboration on MVX was a groundbreaking moment for live sports streaming, driving viewership and fan engagement. There were 2.7 million total views (48% up on the previous year) with almost half of all fans using MVX’s suite of interactive features.
Throughout this partnership, Chelsea FC and Infinite Athlete will co-create new products that will put the most groundbreaking technology available in sports, into the hands of football fans and athletes across the globe.
“Since the beginning of this year, we have established a fantastic partnership with Chelsea FC, launching MVX in just a few months, and strategizing on how we can properly serve Chelsea fans, players, the coaching staff and more with our proprietary technology,” said Charlie Ebersol, co-founder and CEO, Tempus Ex Machina and Infinite Athlete.
“Debuting our new global entity - Infinite Athlete, to the world on football’s premier global stage, and on the front of the legendary Chelsea FC kit is a great honour and we are humbled by the opportunity to be able to continue this journey alongside the best in the world.”
Fans will be able to buy the 2023/24 match and replica kits with Infinite Athlete branding on from official club outlets and selected retailers in the near future.
About Infinite Athlete
Born out of the idea that we can do better in all aspects of sports and live events – the fan, the game, and the athlete experience, Infinite Athlete’s mission is to create a single technological foundation across all major sports, upon which innovative sports technology and media products can be built.
This foundation will combine and connect sports data from all sources, which will create infinite possibilities. Rebranded as Infinite Athlete in 2023, after the merger of Tempus Ex Machina and Biocore, LLC.
Biocore was founded in 2009 and Tempus Ex Machina in 2019.