Major league baseball team the Los Angeles Dodgers has kicked off its first ever accelerator program in partnership with ad firm R/GA, aimed at attracting startups “at the intersection of sports, technology, entertainment and media.”

The call for companies resulted in nearly 600 applications from over 34 countries, and was trimmed down to 10 startups who will be given access to the resources of the franchise, its owners and partners.

The program is designed to provide companies with opportunities for strategic development, pilot programs and brand strategy, with the Dodgers providing the companies with a $20,000 (£12,700) investment in exchange for a six per cent equity stake.

Among the companies taking part are Appetize, a mobile ordering, POS and inventory management platform for live events, ProDay, a fitness app which lets users work out with professional athletes, Doorstat, a foot traffic, demographics and customer behaviour analytics solution and Kinduct, which develops connected health, fitness and human performance software.

“All of the companies will benefit greatly from the network and expertise the L.A. Dodgers, and its ownership, can provide,” said Tucker Kain, chief financial officer of the Dodgers. “Its a little bit of an array of businesses, and were excited about it. Now we have the opportunity to dig in and understand what problems people are trying to solve, find great entrepreneurs and work with them.”