Tonight in Unpacks: Amazon is getting adoption for its Just Walk Out stores from its hometown sports team. SBJ's Bret McCormick looks at the positive results the Mariners are seeing in Year 1 at T-Mobile Park. Other headlines:

In today's Morning Buzzcast, SBJ's Abe Madkour breaks down a seismic day for the future of golf. Also, baseball's hot summer in New York and whether "Welcome To Wrexham" could be the sleeper TV hit of summer.

Amazon's new Just Walk Out store concept is becoming all the rage for sports teams in the Emerald City. Today, the Seahawks announced plans for one of the stores at Lumen Field this season. That comes after the Mariners on May 22 deployed one of their own at T-Mobile Park.

The MLB club has been thrilled with the results so far at what they dubbed the “Walk-Off Market.” Mariners VP/Fan Experience Malcolm Rogel tells SBJ's Bret McCormick that transactions are up three to four times what they were at the same location previously -- before it became a checkout-free store -- and that the increase in transactions has been much faster than the Mariners expected. The purchasing speed has proved especially crucial in baseball where lines of patrons in between innings can lead fans to miss the action.

"If I could have 10 of these things tomorrow, I probably would,” Rogel told SBJ. Rogel said the Mariners’ concessionaire, Sodexo Live!, is discussing more stores. One aspect Rogel would change in future layouts: the fridges are currently front-loaded, meaning stadium employees must reload coolers from the front, which could be disruptive or slow down fans. In the future, a store would be situated in front of a large walk-in cooler, allowing the store’s fridges to be restocked by employees from the back, like a grocery store, and out of the way of patrons.

Food sales were initially low at the Mariners’ market but have picked up as Rogel and Sodexo Live! began offering more cold food, like salads, wraps, hoagies, poke bowls and sushi. “We see the food piece as a growth area,” said Rogel. "It is what takes a lot of time at a venue, getting food." The team wouldn’t disclose any financials, but Rogel pointed out one indirect -- and maybe unexpected -- impact: more concourse space. Because the Just Walk Out store eliminated lines in its neighborhood of T-Mobile Park, Rogel said the freed concourse space now presents room for a different type of concept, like a high-end coffee bar or lobster roll shop. Queuing space has always been considered in building design, but checkout-free stores could help shift that moving forward.

“I don’t know that we’ve found the ceiling yet or what this store can do on a giant event,” Rogel said. "Every game it’s like a new record for that store.”

The Mariners have one Just Walk Out location at T-Mobile Park this season

Dynamo Chair Ted Segal increased his majority stake in the organization that includes the MLS club and the NWSL Houston Dash, buying out the interests of Gabriel Brener, Oscar De La Hoya and Ben Guill, reports SBJ's Alex Silverman.

In addition, Dynamo Vice Chair Lyle Ayes has taken an equity stake in the organization. 76ers guard James Harden will maintain his equity stake in the club. The size of Segal, Ayes and Harden’s stakes were not disclosed.

Segal became the owner of the Dynamo and Dash last summer, purchasing a majority interest from Brener for a reported sum of approximately $400 million.

Data provider Genius Sports has struck a deal to oversee Bally Interactive’s sports betting, iGaming and daily fantasy platforms, reports SportTechie's Tom Friend. Genius will leverage its proprietary analytics and livestreams to help Bally’s grow its brands, particularly its online sportsbook Bally Bet.

As part of the agreement, Bally’s will also benefit from Genius’ exclusive data deals with the NFL, Premier League, NASCAR, CFL, Liga MX, Primera División (Argentina) and Categoría Primera A (Colombia). For instance, Bally’s Interactive will be able to make use of Genius’ access to the NFL’s real-time statistic platform, Next Gen Stats.

The two companies will also collaborate on livestreams to enhance the Bally’s betting experience for soccer matches in Argentina, Colombia, Iceland and China, not to mention FIBA basketball games and FIVB volleyball contests. Genius previously helped the NBA, AHL and Drone Racing League with betting solutions.

The deal comes a week after Bally’s announced the impending launch of its subscription streaming service, Bally Sports+, available on Sept. 26 ahead of the NBA and NHL seasons.

MLS has hired CAA sports media agent Kristin Bredes LaFemina as a consultant to help hire on-air broadcast talent for the debut of the league’s Apple TV streaming service in 2023, report SBJ's Alex Silverman.

LaFemina worked under now-MLS Deputy Commissioner Gary Stevenson at Pac-12 Networks from 2012-2014, where she was responsible for casting broadcast talent for the then-startup media operation. A person with knowledge of the league’s plans said LaFemina will be onboarded in the next couple of weeks before beginning to reach out to current MLS team broadcasters with insight into the hiring process. LaFemina did not respond to a request for comment on her role.

Under MLS' 10-year, $2.5B contract with Apple, the league is responsible for the production of all its games. This had previously been handled by the league’s national broadcast partners or teams’ local broadcast partners.

Multiple sources said the league plans to hire roughly 12-15 English-language broadcast teams, along with a similar number of Spanish-language teams, plus hosts and studio analysts. Beyond that, little is known about the league’s plans to build a production apparatus capable of producing nearly 600 top-level games per season.

The Eagles agreed to a multiyear deal that will make TicketManager the team’s ticket management partner, the first such team deal in the NFL, reports SBJ's Bret McCormick.

TicketManager is used by over 500 corporations -- including Eagles sponsors Verizon, Anheuser-Busch, FedEx and Wells Fargo -- to manage their sports and entertainment tickets, helping the companies reduce ticket waste and increase their return on investment

TicketManager will provide the Eagles' corporate season and premium ticket holders, corporate partners and corporate suiteholders with complimentary access to TicketManager services, leveraging Ticketmaster’s tools to assist with ticket re-sale.

Tonight's op-ed is from Karena Man and Ty Gold at Egon Zehnder, who write the importance of chief information security officers (CISOs) in sports.

"As bad actors use more advanced techniques to gain access to data, sports venues, teams, and leagues need a CISO who can balance keeping fans safe without compromising the fan experience. We wanted to unpack the greatest security threats facing CISOs in the sports industry and how they can secure the fan experience and create and grow a cybersecurity culture within their organizations."

For the full contribution, click here.

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