Geek Locker Roundup #42
August 8th, 2025
Geek Locker
Welcome back to the Geek Locker Roundup— your bi-weekly collection of the latest sports innovation news, product releases, and design resources!
Last week, I shared a quasi-article, quasi-rant about the lack of gear bundles sold by both individual manufacturers and consolidated vendors like REI. I definitely don’t believe that purchasing gear bundles is for everyone— especially those like me that love the Sisyphean task of scouring the internet for the “best” version of every piece of gear. However, discounted gear bundles would be great for beginners, kids, and even experienced athletes who want to consolidate and simplify their shopping process. The whole promise of online shopping is convenience and I think the overflow of options and information on the internet is starting to degrade that value proposition!
Recess #15: Bundle Your Home Insurance, Auto Insurance, and Climbing Gear
If you're like me, you've fallen hard down the rabbit hole of a new gear-heavy outdoor hobby in the past, be it backpacking, trail running, fly fishing, mountain biking, cross country skiing, or any of the other myriad of options. Whenever I’m on the precipice of jumping into a new hobby (either because I know nothing about it and it looks interesting, …
Next week, we’ll be diving into the aforementioned duopoly that pervades the resort skiing industry. Recent news of both Ikon and Epic Pass mountains being sold by their constituent owners has lead me to believe that we might soon start to see a departure from the scaling-focused business model that dominates skiing and snowboarding today. The modern North American ski experience dominated by two companies might soon change, although I won’t be holding my breath too tightly.
As always, I appreciate your engagement and please share with others who might be interested in reading about sports innovation. On to the news (which was a bit quite for the past two weeks)!
Company Cable
Updates about major sports tech company transactions.
ESPN has acquired NFL Network and a variety of assets (including Red Zone) for 10% equity in ESPN. This deal is… crazy, and I’m not entirely sure the full ramifications are understood, especially for the NFL. Linking a media company/broadcaster so tightly with your league might deter competitive bidding on their future media rights deals, among other issues.
Creator Sports Capital and influence Paige Spiranac have invested in Par-3 The Grass League's $2.75M investment round. With normal golf and mini putt both being widely popular, I could easily see par-3 golf taking off as a happy medium, especially for areas without the money or space for full golf courses!
Garmin has acquired timing and analysis company MYAPS as the race for complete fitness ecosystems intensifies. The all-encompassing health and fitness tracking ecosystem arms race keeps heating up. If you have some proprietary sensor or fitness tracking tech, you should expect a call from Garmin, Polar, Strava, Coros, or Suunto in the next 48 hours.
Putter brand L.A.B. Golf has been sold for $200M to private equity firm L Catterton. LAB Golf has absolutely exploded onto the scene with their wonky putter designs, though I fear in the long run that the acquisition will reduce down to the brand name as opposed to helping accelerate the company’s development.
Race organizer Triathlon PTO has received investment from the Saudi Public Investment, reportedly topping $40M in a Series C. The corporate-ization of competitive endurance racing continues, for better or worse!
New Releases
New sports products and major features that are hitting the market.
DJI has launched its Amflow e- Mountain Bikes in the US, following the continued growth and scrutiny of their drone business. The carbon bikes start at $7,500, which for a high-performance mountain bike is quite competitive (shockingly).
Echelon has released an update that forces its at-home gym bikes to be connected to the internet to function. This move has historically been unpopular for video game consoles, but internet access is becoming so ubiquitous and reliable that I think it warrants fewer complaints than before, though concerns about data privacy remain.
Hoka's new carbon-plated shoe the Rocket X Trail has been leaked and will likely formally launch soon. Maybe once I commit to doing a runnable 50 Mile race I can justify a purchase of a pair! (This will not happen)
Flosports has introduced a new AI-powered computer vision system to track and score wrestling matches automatically. I still think Flosports has one of the least consumer-friendly subscription services of all time, but it’s exciting to see their products advance and add new features.
Some News
Select news stories from across the sports and design world.
Riot Games plans to invest $200M into the esports scene for Valorant Mobile ahead of its launch in China. The mobile esports space as a whole seems poised for a global explosion given the ubiquity of smartphones world wide. It will be fascinating to see how mobile gaming’s broad popularity translates into formal competitions!
UK Researchers have shown some fitness benefits from electrostimulation of a nerve running to the heart. This is a preliminary study and should be taken with a grain of salt, but it would not surprise me if this type of technique made its way to professional cycling at some point— have to get those marginal gains!
Pixellot and TPE have partnered to improve the hockey-tracking recording -> analysis pipeline. After seeing some VEO cameras in action at a local flag football event, I’m a huge believer these products have a chance to dramatically improve the fan and player experience of youth sports.
Italy is set to become the first country to require helmets for all skiers and snowboarders on the mountain. It would not surprise me if other countries and potentially individual resorts follow suit, though I imagine it will be some time before US resorts make the same decision.
The Halo franchise will no longer officially support esports starting in 2027, which has left a dedicated fanbase reeling. It’s a pretty big bummer, but unfortunately tracks with Microsoft’s reluctance to support esports for anything but its biggest titles (i.e. Call of Duty) and the decline of Halo as a standalone property.
The city of Miami is facing public backlash for subsidizing World Cup event hosting while dealing with lean budgets. I think this will become a pretty common theme for decades to come, even for major events like the World Cup and Olympics. Public appetite for funding pro sports teams and events has diminished substantially in recent years.
Startup Bay Padel is adding 2 new venues to its expanding network of paddle sports infrastructure. Padel seems poised to take a run at Pickleball as the paddle/racket sport of the decade…
Grab Bag
Interesting or useful sports innovation and product design resources, ranging from books and websites to individual graphics.
Yanko Design shared a deep dive on the aesthetics and ergonomics of RITFIT's weights and dumbbells. I’m a huge fan of minor design tweaks to plates that make them easier to manipulate— I might honestly pick up a set from RITFIT at some point!
The Presidential fitness test is set to make a return. I really wish that the sitting president could pick whatever they wanted to be the current fitness test set of events. Why not throw in a marathon? A beep test?