We mentioned in Wednesday’s send that OTTO SPORT AI has rebranded SportWrench, its volleyball management platform, as OTTO Event.
Otto Event head Eugene Tichenor said it was a bittersweet process at times after he spent close to a decade building SW, but “it definitely makes a lot more sense for the full structure of everything that we're bringing together.”
Otto also updated its AI-powered event builder and operations tools in conjunction with the rebrand, as well as launched a new public schedule experience. Tichenor said the aim is to "truly give the user the ability to capture and gather the data in the way that they want to,” regardless of whether they are at the event or tracking from afar.
“Whether you're on-site as a coach, on-site as a parent or you're a thousand miles away, it’s the same tool that everybody needs to be able to use,” he said. “You've got to be able to give the features, modules and activations to be able to let them navigate according to how they want to navigate it. It is one of the most difficult things to conquer because so many end users have their hands on it and want to do it in a way that they feel is native to them.”
Part of the public schedule experience will be providing users with easy link access to live streams when available. But Tichenor said Otto does not currently have plans to move toward streaming events itself.
“We understand what our niche is, and we understand what we want to be really, really good at,” he said. “And that's the event space specifically.”
Also: Otto CEO Luke Zaientz recently told Buying Sandlot the company has much more work to do in volleyball before it sets its eyes on significant expansion into other sports. But it does have some club lacrosse and soccer clients and Otto Event’s ticketing solution is now available for operators in all sports.
The ticketing platform is designed to ensure safety and security at youth sports events. The system references industry organizations’ banned persons lists and also utilizes facial recognition technology to verify attendees’ identities; that tech also allows ticket purchasers to use an app beforehand to receive almost instant access to their event.
Otto’s ticketing also has the ability to integrate digital sponsorships.
“We don't want to get in the business of selling tickets to Row M, Seat 7,” Tichenor said. “We want to get in the business of making your junior sporting event as safe and as secure as possible. … The days of accepting cash at the door unfortunately are just too dangerous in today’s society.”
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