How to Build a Brand New Sport | Next in Sports

when you first encounter Tech ball it

takes a minute to figure out what

exactly this sport is soccer ping pong

volleyball kind of too because you have

the three touches with some elements in

martial arts and now it's a bit of a

strange hybrid the gameplay is gripping

and skill levels of its top players

insane it's very very creative it's very

fast paced too the athleticism is crazy

it's very gymnastic

it is a great short attention span Sport

and because it uses a soccer ball we

know soccer soccer's most popular sport

in the world if you need more

endorsements look no further than soccer

royalty Lionel Messi Neymar or David

Beckham yeah

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yeah as a result the game's Founders are

hugely ambitious giving how relatively

unknown the sport is no one knows what

tech ball is I hate to say that but it's

a it's such a new sport this hasn't

stopped the team behind it chasing wild

dreams the 2028 Olympics

Tech Ball's backers are impatient most

sports take decades to develop build a

base a following and professionally

so are Tech balls plans realistic or

ridiculous

if you really want it can you just magic

a sport into the mainstream

[Music]

[Music]

all right Santa Monica Pier

Sunday morning in February come on where

would you rather be I mean I mean

honestly definitely not home in New York

sunny day but there's a tech ball

tournament here yeah at first glance

you're like why would you have any sort

of tournament on the Santa Monica Pier

but then when you start to think about

it it's like why not why would you not I

mean you already have an organic amount

of people so an amazing way to like

discover the sports really smart

notable ESPN like this is not something

that is under the radar this is very

efficient looking

[Music]

all right I see some players warming up

over here so let's see if we can go get

smarter let's let's see how it works

foreign

Tech ranks as one of the top most

successful Tech ball teams in the world

they're currently world champions and

have reached today's Finals here on the

Santa Monica Pier the US's first

tournament in this year's calendar

I look at this I'm like nope can't do

that right it's like the same thing with

like the NFL right you can't do it

that's what they're doing yeah you want

to see legitimate athleticism yeah and

that is clearly on display here clearly

it's a really small surface

before their game I caught up with The

Man Behind The Sports Rapid growth

stateside ESPN two ESPN3 like this is

really happening so tell me about the

importance of that it's really important

from building a not only an audience but

also the brand IP of tech ball as a

whole yeah right and uh you look at from

a broadcasting perspective there's not

many important Sports networks as

important as ESPN sure

um so that gives us a lot of cachet and

a lot of Leverage because we continue to

build a tech ball brand and evolution of

the tech ball brand as well what were

the things that you saw that were there

but then also needed to be accelerated

from a business perspective uh Community

to direct integration into a building

Community from there that Community

evolves and that's where you have the

brand in the audience and then the

evolution of the players as well and

then second of that you need characters

in terms of the players if you look at

the UFC Conor McGregor as a character

look at the NBA you have Dwight Howard

and LeBron etc those are all characters

and so for my perspective it's building

that piece as well

the success of the UFC is touted by just

about every nascent sport as their

aspirational model it was once on the

fringes and now it's exploded into a

massively influential Global phenomenon

that's worth about 10 billion dollars

before Tech ball can hit the Dizzy

Heights of a sport like the UFC it needs

to build a bit more of a base

I'm here at Rutgers University college

campuses are a key place for Tech ball

to grow and as a former soccer player

I'm very interested to learn how to play

so I'm gonna go learn from a two-time

World Cup champion

hi Carly what's going on great to meet

you great to meet you thanks for uh

teaching me how to play I'm excited to

learn oh yeah it's a lot of a lot of fun

so Carly tell me about your relationship

with tech ball how it transitioned from

soccer to Tech ball how does that feel

2020 is where I got introduced to it

obviously a lot of people were home and

not doing a whole lot and so I got

introduced got a table sent to me I

started using it I was coming back from

a knee surgery it was great to to just

kind of get my touches back I've been

using Tech ball since then and playing

and yeah it's a lot of fun teach me a

little bit about it you know it's it's

similar to soccer but they have their

own rules so as far as the the control

the awareness your touch all of that

that's similar but as we as we look at

this table you'll notice it's not a flat

table so there is a curve to it and

depending upon where that ball hits on

that curve is how it's going to come off

the serve just needs to to be any body

part just has to hit that table and one

of the big rules is the three touch

maximum but the caveat to that is it

cannot be the same body part in a row

you know foot foot thigh makes it you

know a little challenging as well

the game can be played as singles or

doubles but in both the same rules apply

you or your partner have to use

different body parts in a sequence for

example foot knee head in order to score

points

oh God

do you have you don't have to do three

though right so you have to do a maximum

of three but you have to do at least one

pass so if you take one touch and she

takes one touch okay and you're

perfectly make sense

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they are rushing the pros

well places like colleges are where you

grow the Grassroots and find the stars

of the future showcasing top talent is

another way to build the fan base

let's give it up one more time USA

versus Brazil so back to the table in LA

and bellatek are up in the women's final

they go down on the first set to a

tenacious Brazilian side that move but

like the soul of your shoe they just

pulled back the second set to tee up a

tense decider

alert

congratulations

[Applause]

we just like watch you guys win it's

amazing how do you feel

okay I mean we obviously like first

tournament of the year and we wanted to

start off obviously on a high note being

able to do this in our hometown again in

Los Angeles you know um we're both

living here and she's from here I'm from

California but being able to have the

home crowd here and and do what we do

and win and get another gold and add

that to the Shelf is always a great

feeling how did you guys come together

as a as a pair well we met back in 2011

uh when we played college soccer

together no kidding yeah yeah we met

freshman in college when we were 18

years old nice and ripe and now we are

even more ripe at uh almost 30 and it's

it's a blast playing with one of your

old college buddies me and my teammates

would love to have this what if you had

one of these tables like when you were

in college oh my God I obviously would

have just gone crazy I mean it's just

like soccer like soccer tennis right we

play it all the time at practice

obviously this takes a different set of

skills and I mean clearly you know we're

super gravitated to it automatically

Tech ball Executives say they've sent

tables to 500 universities in the U.S

alone

not only do they need Pros like Carolyn

and Margie with any sport you need

amateurs and fans too

that's just one element of a

multi-faceted strategy Tech ball senior

management team are pursuing to not only

grow the sport but make sure it survives

at the elite level we're just scratching

the surface and there's a lot more to

come

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this is

the world's best location for a tech

ball table

[Music]

is Tech Ball's inventor former pro

soccer player the Hungarian dreamed up a

game for him and his retiring soccer

buddies to play in a more low-key

environment

so this is very different from what

was born in your garage right no because

the

the sizes yeah are are same really are

same yes okay so what's the hardest move

in Tech ball the one that is very

difficult to defend the best iconic move

in table that if somebody give up the

ball step closer the table and try smash

with food I think this is the best yeah

yeah I've seen a few of those and

especially if you really get a lot of

power on it I mean it can yes it would

end up in uh in Hollywood yeah this is

the best

this sport that you've created how did

it come about so I grew up in a poor

district and we played all the time on

the street with my friend and then we

finished the normal soccer we tried to

play food tennis on the flat table

tennis table but unfortunately the the

boa didn't bounce out and I thought if

we cut the table the ball always come

out so the game will be more exciting

and more comfortable and so when when

you're first designing it I mean you're

just trying things right I mean you're

trying different surfaces you're trying

different curves I mean tell me about

that you are right and if I remember

back it was very hard but the the very

very beautiful moment because we put one

table in the garage

and of course we played all day always

and the rules are working weirdo what we

wrote immediately and later when we fed

it's working with okay we finished the

story end and we're progressing it's an

amazingly fast Journey then from that I

mean it's a matter of less than 10 years

to to the point where now you're

thinking this could be an Olympic sport

I mean that's a that's a big dream yes

and we need dreams always and I believe

that the second world will be the the

Olympic sports and in this year the tech

ball will be the officially made our

Sports in the European games and I think

it's very important milestone for for us

and I hope it's just the the beginning

and later we can go to the Olympic we

have 151 National Federation and I think

the tech ball is the fastest growing

sport

phrase the fastest growing sport is one

Tech ball uses a lot and in some

respects it's true

where Sunny built the first table in

2012 and Incorporated the sport in 2016.

two years later the governing body fit

Tech was recognized by the Olympic

Committee of Asia and they've since

launched World Championships

but how does a sports startup afford to

send tables that sell for thousands of

dollars to University campuses and

foreign sports clubs for free

for starters one of the company's other

Founders Georgie gatian is one of

hungary's wealthiest men

he pumped tens of millions into the

company and his fortune comes from

online pornography

then there's other people's money at

least seven million dollars has come

from European and Hungarian taxpayers

through various grants

at least two million dollars has been

spent on Tech ball Tables by the

Hungarian government

many of those have been donated abroad

by hungary's Foreign Ministry including

to Hungarian troops in Afghanistan

these political connections they've made

some in hungry question why the company

is getting so much public support

especially when the various Tech ball

related companies appear to be lost

leading

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so it appears Tech ball has a few safety

nets that most developing companies

don't have

and why is it targeting the U.S market

well it's the biggest Market in the

world and there's tons of potential when

it comes to soccer a sport Tech ball has

crafted a special relationship with

it does feel like soccer football is

having quite a moment right now you know

we're coming off of the men's World Cup

we're going into the Women's World Cup

how important is it that soccer here in

the United States grows in order to

benefit the growth of tech ball for us

there's three three billion soccer

players in the world today and it's it's

a World's Global Sport and so we see the

audience is already there right because

those are the tech ball fans of tomorrow

and so it's sort of funneling that

audience into the sport of tech ball and

so the clubs that have Tech ball tables

whether they use it as a training tool

helps us as well in that sense

the company has partnered with a long

list of A-list soccer clubs Paris

saint-germaine Real Madrid Manchester

United just to name a few sending over a

table emblazoned with a team's crests or

badge doesn't take much but might reap

some big rewards commercially I think

partnering with soccer clubs is a really

smart move it legitimizes the sport it

gives it some infrastructure Mary pylon

is a sports writer and has been keeping

an eye on Tech Ball's recent rise a lot

of these soccer clubs have really

impassioned fan bases it's really really

smart to kind of ride off the coattails

of some of the most successful

franchises in the world and I think

these soccer clubs pretty smartly

understand that Tech ball isn't going to

eat their lunch anytime soon

you know a lot of emerging Sports don't

have that option they don't have these

huge platforms these huge teams that

they can just kind of attach themselves

you know I think as things get more

fractured fan bases are going to be

smaller but more impassioned more

hardcore and when the pandemic struck

canceling some of their very first

tournaments the tech ball team made the

best of it soccer's biggest stars were

also on lockdown bounced around their

large Gardens looking for something

anything to do double final today that

said Tech ball is taking a lot of risks

and spending a lot of money to build

their brand success is far from

guaranteed least of all for the players

when you're traveling around for those

tournaments how much of that you know do

you actually net from your prize money

when you're traveling around still

without a sponsor pretty much not much

yeah maybe a couple hundred dollars if

we win

[Music]

while team bellatek won the Santa Monica

tournament they're not exactly living

the life of pro soccer players

you just won two titles yesterday but

we're in a very different venue right

now can you tell me about what these

days are like your Monday through Friday

um it's pretty hectic I'm not gonna lie

but I'm very blessed to be able to do

what I do compete and also obviously

have the opportunity to work here in Los

Angeles so I mean I'm up at six in the

morning every day sometimes earlier

sometimes 4 45 depending on training

schedules so I can get that in then I

come sit up at Hi-Fi espresso basically

Monday Wednesday Fridays sometimes

Tuesday Thursdays as well I'll work for

about four hours in the morning

hop over to my training session with my

trainer at game ready and then I'm off

to either coach and then depending on

the day sometimes I'm also training at

night with my mixed doubles partner

I think I'm wanting to train and play

more than I ever have even in my early

20s I found something that I really love

and when I'm passionate about something

and I have goals and dreams and things

that I want to fulfill and Achieve so

like in the back of my head right I'm

being told hopefully Olympics 2028

that's five years away or whatever it is

now so to me I'm like that's the next

goal for me that's a Five-Year Plan how

I would achieve that is yeah I would

love to be a full-time athlete and just

be able to dedicate a hundred percent of

my time to just playing and competing

and getting paid for that

in U.S tech ball there is no Union or

any collective bargaining agreements

salary minimums or shares for athletes

and broadcast deals

players have yet to see big shoe or

apparel contracts and are largely on

their own for health care and Fitness

so Margie has to invest in looking after

her body through the season

[Music]

so Margie's day after winning two Tech

ball finals is work training more work

day is absolutely stacked we want to see

if her teammates is the same let's go

check out what Carolyn's up to

all right get started Savannah go

you won the prize money yesterday but

how is that impact you like do you rely

on it or is it just like nice like extra

cash flow you know it's a little bit of

both I'm I'm a soccer coach and

environmental consultant that is not

like much of a living so like getting

that extra chunk of change is huge last

year full disclosure in prize money I

only made like somewhere between twenty

and thirty thousand dollars that's not

enough to live in LA anyone who lives in

L.A knows that so these other side

hustles that I do which my side hustle

is Tech ball actually that's not where

most of my income is coming from so it's

it's really important that I'm getting

that money I'm winning at these

tournaments

and when you're traveling around for

those tournaments how much of that do

you actually net without a sponsor

pretty much not much yeah maybe a couple

hundred dollars if we win obviously Tech

ball itself as the organization and the

tournaments are now you said they're on

ESPN they have sponsors so how do you

see that transitioning into maybe

sponsorship for players you know USA

Tech ball is its own entity and they

have their own sponsors and our image is

used frequently and I feel like it would

be nice if some of that was shared back

but I'm ultimately not on their budget

sheet so it's kind of unfortunate for us

well Greco really is playing well here

as there is more tournaments as you

build towards the Olympics how do you

see that continuing to grow even from

let's say last year to this year it

definitely seems like it's getting more

and more serious I mean we're taking

steps all the time I mean I'm drug

tested frequently now now that wasn't

the case in the beginning even like my

location is is like tracked as well like

so somebody could come in here right now

and be like hey we're gonna randomly

test you which is how they treat Olympic

athletes

absolutely storms passed so as it does

climb to the Olympics is that something

that you're personally thinking about

for you as a player absolutely I'd like

to play as long as I can I think this is

a sport that is conducive of

um you know as you get older you kind of

get better we'll see where I am when it

does end up at the Olympics I'm not

going to you know cry if I'm not and

actually that's a lie probably will cry

but I mean I would be happy to see it in

the Olympics whether I'm there or not

grackle out wide hezbo shot

Greco has done it dreams do come true so

what are tecfall's chances of making the

2028 Olympics in LA

so getting a sport into the Olympics is

extremely difficult you need at least 40

different countries playing it and you

need deep participation in those Sports

uh you think about surfing or you know

snowboarding or some of the things I've

been more recently added takes a long

time sometimes generations for people to

really normalize a sport and have it

taken seriously at that level I think it

helps that La is hosting the Olympics I

think it helps that it's beautiful

outside here and you can play on the

beach and it's great you know this is

also a city that has embraced beach

volleyball another sport that was added

to the Olympics but it's hard and you

need to really really do a lot of work

to grow the sports gender Equity is

actually a priority now and that's

something that Tech ball has going for

it so do I think Tech ball could be the

Olympics perhaps do I think it's going

to happen tomorrow no it's a lot of work

oh

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Tech ball is an interesting case study

on how to build a sport on an

international level without a real

Grassroots base or even widespread

interests it certainly helps having

State backing when you need to inflate

its in periods and success the real

difficulty for Tech ball will be whether

it can truly create a critical mass of

people to engage with the sport which

normally happens organically consumers

are more Discerning than you think and

Slick Tick Tock highlights will probably

only push it so far but as a sport it is

Niche and the way we engage with sport

has changed a lot in recent years it is

very difficult to grow a sport from

scratch any sport it's not like the old

days where if you got on network TV

millions of people would see you

automatically you need fans you need

athletes you need sponsors you need buzz

you need an online presence across

platforms it's very very difficult

thank you I think what it means to be a

successful sport is a changing

definition I think of tech ball a lot

like a startup you don't need to become

the NBA to be successful right the pie

of success is large and I think everyone

can have a slice of it and I think that

Tech ball you know as like a smaller

sport there's a lot of money out there

[Music]