For Investors & Technical Co-Founders
How Fieldhouse
Actually Works
Sports rights are fragmented across 10+ platforms. No one owns putting the right game on the right screen with the right sound. Fieldhouse is the management and orchestration layer on top.
The right game. On the right screen. Automatically.
The Fragmentation Problem
A sports bar operator has to manually track every one of these contracts — then manually assign games to screens. Fieldhouse makes that disappear.
Section 01 — Hardware Integration
No New Hardware Required
Fieldhouse is an API integration and orchestration layer that sits on top of the AV gear bars already own. It speaks directly to the professional AV control systems already installed — primarily URC and Crestron — and tells each screen what to show. We confirmed both in real bar visits: URC at Penn Quarter Sports Tavern (DC), Crestron at The Canuck (NYC).
Live Schedule Feed
SportsRadar API
Cross-platform sports schedule — every game, every network, every start time. Updated in real time.
Subscription Intelligence
Per-bar licensing
Which platforms is this bar licensed for? What can it legally show — and on how many screens?
Scheduling Algorithm
Bar identity + momentum
Combine bar preferences, customer demand, real-time game momentum and crowd energy to rank assignments.
AV Control API
URC / Crestron
Execute the screen change. No human touches a remote. The system tells every TV exactly what to show.
Sound Switching
Automated + instant
Commercial detected → switch audio to music. Play resumes → switch back. The #1 pain point — gone.
The hard part
Each of these systems exists independently. The orchestration layer that makes them all talk to each other cleanly is the defensible moat — and the thing no existing product has attempted.
Section 02 — The Data Layer
The Brains Behind the Bar
Four data layers power the orchestration engine. Each one compounds on the last.
Live Schedule Feed
SportsRadar API
Every game across every platform, updated in real time. Who's playing, what network, tip-off time, current score. This is the heartbeat of the system.
Per-Bar Licensing
Subscription Intelligence
Each bar has a different contract mix — DirecTV Business, EverPass, streaming add-ons. Fieldhouse knows what each bar can legally show and surfaces the gaps ("you can't show this playoff game and here's what it would cost to fix that").
Bar Identity + Momentum
Assignment Algorithm
Bars have personalities. A Bills bar shouldn't auto-assign the Cowboys game. The algorithm weighs bar identity, patron demand signals, live game momentum, and crowd energy to pick the optimal assignment.
The #1 Operator Pain Point
Automated Sound Switching
Surfaced in every customer discovery call: operators hate switching audio manually during commercials. Fieldhouse detects commercial breaks and switches the audio source automatically — then switches back the moment play resumes. It's the single feature that converts skeptics.
The Data Flywheel
Out-of-Home Viewership — The Unmeasured Billion
Out-of-home sports viewership is currently almost entirely unmeasured. Fieldhouse, operating at scale across hundreds of bars, generates the first reliable signal: what games people actually watch in bars, by neighborhood, by night, by sport. That data is a standalone product for leagues, streamers, and advertisers — and it only exists because we built the operator layer first.
Consumer app is location-aware and pulls live bar data from the bar-side tool, closing the loop between fan intent and operator action.
Section 03 — Build Phases
The Roadmap
We're building to be live for the 2026 football season — the most active sports-bar period of the year. Every phase is designed to close the next raise.
Now
Foundation
Validation conversations complete. Clickable prototype built. Founding documents done. Market confirmed: operators hate the current workflow and fans can't find their game.
Months 1–3
Working Demo + Pre-Seed
Working demo in hand. 5 NYC bars committed as pilots. Pre-seed raise of $250K–$500K to fund the first engineering sprint and SportsRadar licensing.
Months 3–9
Live in New York City
Bar tool and consumer app live in NYC. Licensed SportsRadar feed integrated. 50–100 bars on the platform. First revenue from bar subscriptions and reservation flow.
Months 9–18
Seed + Second City
Seed raise of $1M–$3M. Expand to a second market. Begin EverPass integration conversations. Data layer starts generating signal worth packaging for partners.
Months 18–30
Series A + National Expansion
Series A of $8M–$20M. National rollout. Data product launched for leagues and streamers. The orchestration layer is the moat — no one else has it.
Hard Timing Target: September 2026
NFL opening week is the single most important sports-bar moment of the year. Being live — even in one city — for that weekend is the proof of concept that matters.
Section 04 — Feature Prioritization
What Ships First
The MVP proves the loop: bar gets found, fan shows up, game is on with sound. Everything after that is building the moat.
- 1Consumer map of NYC bars with real-time "what's on / sound on" status
- 2Concierge-style bar profiles — form submission → public neighborhood page
- 3Manual / assisted bar dashboard for game assignment
- 4TV reservation + table reservation requests
- 5Cross-platform sports schedule view (what's on, where to watch)
Goal: prove the loop works — bar gets found, fan shows up, game is on with sound.
- 1Live SportsRadar feed — automated cross-platform schedule intelligence
- 2Automatic URC / Crestron screen control API integration
- 3Fully automated commercial sound-switching (detect ad → music → resume)
- 4Scheduling algorithm with live game-momentum scoring
- 5Subscription & coverage audit ("what you can't show and what it'd cost")
- 6Dead-hour intelligence — fill quiet periods with high-engagement content
- 7Operator auth + billing + subscription management
- 8Real geolocation / map layer with live bar status pins
- 9Out-of-home viewership data product for leagues, streamers & advertisers
- 10National and global expansion playbook
Goal: the orchestration moat — automated, self-improving, with a data layer no one else has.
Want to Build This?
We're looking for a technical co-founder who loves sports, hates bad UX, and wants to build the infrastructure layer for a fragmented $100B+ market.