SIDEARM Sports Partners with LiveLike to Integrate Digital Fan Engagement Experiences

Collaboration now live on the Michigan, Texas and Texas Tech athletics mobile apps

DALLAS - SIDEARM Sports, the leading digital solutions provider in college athletics, announced today an innovative new partnership with LiveLike, an industry leader in audience engagement technology platforms.

The collaboration is designed to create enhanced fan engagement by integrating LiveLike's gamification-based platform directly into the mobile apps of SIDEARM school partners. This next generation fan engagement initiative, titled Daily Play, made its official debut on the Michigan Athletics App, Texas Longhorns App and Red Raiders Mobile App in August.

"Partnering with LiveLike is the next step in creating a more connected experience between our school partners and their fans through our enhanced mobile apps," said George Scott, President of SIDEARM Sports. "LiveLike's gamification, which helps build a daily ritual for fans, is the first step in what will create a complete fan engagement ecosystem featuring loyalty, rewards and badging."

Daily Play's initial roll-out will feature a set of highly-engaging games including trivia, predictors, sweepstakes and brackets. Each game will also integrate real-time engagement widgets, leaderboards and lightweight gamification, and cross-platform compatibility. For fans of Michigan, Texas, Texas Tech and future adopters of LiveLike gamification, Daily Play also delivers a loyalty program that offers fans tiered rewards and benefits.

For athletic departments, Daily Play provides invaluable data to enhance membership strategy and audience segmentation to continually elevate the fan experience, as well as sponsor-ready formats for new ad placement inventory built around gamification to offer greater fan engagement than traditional brand placements.

"Texas Tech Athletics is proud to work alongside SIDEARM as we add opportunities to enhance the fan experience and create new value across our digital platforms," said Robert Giovannetti, Senior Associate Athletics Director at Texas Tech. "The LiveLike integration has given us another way to engage fans through our mobile app and is providing a new sponsorship opportunity as well. We're excited to be among the first programs helping shape what this experience can become."

On top of the Daily Play gamification platform, LiveLike is also bringing a loyalty program integration to the table for fans, beginning with a student loyalty program offering at Florida State. The LiveLike loyalty program integration will reward students for their loyalty through points, tiered benefits and exclusive access, while giving athletic departments a scalable membership framework that treats students, alumni and donors as distinct audiences and opens a new revenue channel to support NIL and other priorities.

"Collegiate athletics represents one of the most passionate and underserved fan bases in sports," said Miheer Walavalkar, CEO and Co-founder at LiveLike. "Our partnership with SIDEARM Sports gives us the opportunity to bring real interactivity - mini- games, loyalty, membership - to over 700 schools across the U.S. We're already going live with our first programs, and this is just the beginning of what we think will be a significant expansion of how college sports fans engage with the teams they love."

LiveLike's foray into college athletics through the new collaboration with SIDEARM adds to its significant footprint in the sports industry, as its platforms are currently activating with various professional teams and leagues worldwide.

About LiveLike
LiveLike helps sports, media and entertainment organizations unlock the value of their fans. Its platform combines the games, communities and loyalty programs that bring fans in with Genie, an agentic AI layer that connects an organization's existing systems and automates the work of reaching every fan at scale. Leagues, clubs, broadcasters and publishers use LiveLike as critical infrastructure for growing their audiences and the revenue those audiences generate. Visit livelike.com to learn more.

About SIDEARM Sports
Operating in the Learfield business suite since June 2014, SIDEARM Sports is the nation's leading digital provider for college athletics. SIDEARM powers the digital fan experience for the majority of NCAA programs and Power Four athletic departments. Through strategic innovation, we transform the fan experience by creating connected, meaningful digital experiences that fuel engagement and growth. Trusted by the biggest brands in college sports, our best-in-class software and technology support websites, mobile apps, live stats, and streaming solutions. We built the foundation for the industry, and SIDEARM has continued to be a trailblazer in the digital fan engagement industry for 25 years, providing data-driven insight and top-of-the-line innovations.

About Learfield
Learfield is the media and technology company that powers college athletics. Through its digital and physical platforms, Learfield owns and leverages a deep data set and relationships in the industry to drive revenue, growth, brand awareness, and fan engagement for brands, sports, and entertainment properties. With ties to over 1,200 collegiate institutions and over 12,000 local and national brand partners, Learfield's presence in college sports and live events delivers influence and maximizes reach to target audiences. With solutions for a 365-day, 24/7 fan experience, Learfield enables schools and brands to connect with fans through licensed merchandise, game ticketing, donor identification for athletic programs, exclusive custom content, innovative marketing initiatives, NIL solutions, and advanced digital platforms. Since 2008, it has served as title sponsor for the acclaimed Learfield Directors' Cup, supporting athletic departments across all divisions.