I wanted to be sure I sent the warmest thank you here, in our last SBJ Tech newsletter of the year. I am very appreciative to share this space with you.
We’ll return to your inbox on Jan. 7. I’ll be spending the next week wrapping presents and enjoying the Christmas wonder of two small children. See you in 2026, and I hope it’s a special holiday season with loved ones for you.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman's approach to tech is that it's a complement to the game: "You don’t change the game for the technology." Marc Bryan-Brown
Phew, what a year.
Sports tech is a constantly growing and innovating sector, and because of that, it keeps our three-headed tech crew (Joe Lemire, Rob Schaefer, and yours truly) quite busy.
First, a look at the 10 Most Innovative Sports Tech Companies we honored in March demonstrates just how expansive the space can be. Plus, it’s a chance to say just how fun SBJ Tech Week is and how much I hope you join us next May in New York City. With Gary Bettman as our 2025 headliner, the NHL commissioner gave a long-term view of his league’s growth (and the tech that helped power that trajectory).
My favorite stories were those in which the three of us combined forces for all-encompassing breakdowns. We profiled the modern-day sports tech leaders and how they operate, spotlighted the ways that teams and leagues are cutting through the noise to develop practical AI deployments, and whittled down the torpedo bat’s impact (as well as other innovative pieces of equipment).
The investment class continues to pour money into startups of varying sizes, and no move showed the value of the space like Jazz and Mammoth owner Ryan Smith’s and Accel partner Ryan Sweeney’s creation of Halo Experience Company, which raised more than two-thirds of its $1 billion goal in just a couple of months.
We talk about AI a lot, and the teams that created GenAI muscle memory for employees did so through significant work to make conversations with LLMs much more approachable.
A few other really fun stories that piqued my interest for different reasons (which all happened to be written by Joe):
Next League Chief Digital Officer Shripal Shah sees the next step for AI becoming part of the workflow for ticketing and sponsorship. Courtesy of Vokol
Welcome back to one of my favorite end-of-year traditions: where I turn to many of you for insights and predictions for the coming year.
To no surprise, AI and data were the two big trends that my wide-ranging group of pollsters saw as they looked toward 2026. And you’ll see that many answers feature an intertwining of the two.
Anything that stands out to you as you read through these? Please send me your thoughts here.
Data and the growing personalization effort
Jeff Boehm, COO of Wicket:“As teams and venues continue to improve the fan journey, the importance of gathering and using fan interaction data will increase. Understanding actual fan identities and their full journey, including all of the in-venue activations they engage with, will help teams continually improve the fan experience, encouraging fans to return to the venue more often and increase per-cap spend.”
Katherine Rowe, VP/client strategy and insights for Fancam and CrowdIQ:“Teams, leagues and rights holders are learning that, after years of outsourcing data collection, analytics and measurement to vendors and agencies, they’ve outsourced more than tools. They’ve outsourced understanding. As data becomes the foundation for AI, personalization, and long-term competitive advantage, orgs will pull ownership of raw data, schemas, and business logic back in-house.”
Albert Ng, founder of Misapplied Sciences:“I’ll be watching how teams and venues leverage new fan data to drive emotionally impactful, personalized experiences for fans in-venue. While tools like AI have opened new dimensions in the digital world, successfully crossing the gap to the physical world — where fans express and grow their loyalty most powerfully — will be a watershed moment for the live events industry.”
Artificial intelligence becoming a business pillar
Shripal Shah, chief digital officer at Next League:“In 2026, the real adoption jump will come when AI stops being a side window and becomes part of the workflow for ticketing and sponsorship. Think: drafting partner briefs, building decks, summarizing calls, pulling next steps, and producing weekly ROI recaps — all tied directly to CRM plus inventory/rights systems. The winners won’t be the flashiest models. They’ll be the tools that fit into daily operations, approvals, and governance.”
Hannah Sorkin, CEO and co-founder of Playmaker Software:“The honeymoon phase with AI tools is ending. In 2026, sports organizations will stop asking ‘are we using AI?’ and start asking ‘is our AI actually making us better?’ Expect a consolidation wave as teams realize they can’t manage 15 different AI point solutions and demand platforms that create workflow integration, not workflow disruption.”
Patrick Carroll, managing director of digital technology for NASCAR:“In 2026, agentic AI will begin reshaping live sports production end-to-end. Autonomous systems will handle everything from event setup to real-time operational adjustments, giving remote production teams the ability to run events with far less manual load. AI agents will predict issues, optimize workflows, and resolve problems before they hit the fan experience — a quiet but profound shift in how live events are delivered.”
Wayne Kimmel, managing partner of SeventySix Capital:“We have not seen anything yet. In 2026, there will be accelerated transformational change due to the widespread adoption and integration of AI and other technologies across the asset class of sports. This will make more customized and personalized experiences for athletes, coaches, fans, and sports and gaming executives. It will happen at every level, from pro to college to youth. The professionalization of sports is just starting to happen.”
Jordy Leiser, CEO of Jump: “The ticket-buying journey is more often starting with ChatGPT or other AI tools, rather than traditional ticketing apps themselves. Also, a sports team will optimize using AI to set thousands of unique prices for unsold seats in a single game — a first for the industry.”
George Scott, president of Sidearm Sports: “AI will go mainstream for optimizing and assisting content creation and storytelling within our partner institutions.”
The fan experience becoming an all-encompassing, personalized experience
Bill Schlough, CIO of San Francisco Giants: "I’m hopefully optimistic (optimistically hopeful?) that 2026 will be the year that we really turn the corner with respect to facial authentication becoming a widely accepted, and expected, form of ballpark entry. Once fans try it, they’ll never go back. No more wondering if you downloaded those tickets into your Apple Wallet or trying to find a link in an email and authenticating multiple times through venue apps and ticketing apps. “Go Ahead” without breaking stride."
Robert Davari, CEO and founder of Tixr: “Fans don’t just want a seat. They want an end-to-end experience. In 2026, ticketing will become more multi-layered, with fans seeking the ultimate flexibility to customize and optimize experiences before or during game day such as access, upgrades, resale, and on-site commerce. Teams will deliver this all wrapped in a fun, simple, packaged user experience that’s sports-brand first, with more control over pricing and data.”
Brendan Lynch, president of Paciolan: “Fans will expect schools to speak to them with their whole history as context. If I’m a donor or a season ticket holder and you don’t acknowledge that, you are not respecting my participation in the community.”
SkillCorner, which uses AI to generate tracking data from broadcast video, received a $60 million investment from Boston-based growth equity firm Silversmith Capital Partners to scale its growth into the U.S., my SBJ Tech teammate Joe Lemire reports.
In the latest SBJ Media newsletter, my colleague Austin Karp pointed out that, along with the brotherly connection, the “ManningCast” experience on ESPN has fostered interest through innovative tech.
The Hornets named tech solutions firm Honeywell as the team’s official building automation partner, connecting two Charlotte-based organizations separated by approximately a mile.
To equip injury analyst Stephania Bell with a new way of explaining and visualizing player injuries, ESPN began collaborating with Virtual Medicine (with some help from Meta), Lemire also reports.
Gracenote, Nielsen’s content data business unit, is rolling out new enhancements to its sports programming discoverability product, On Sports, one year after its launch, according to SBJ’s Rob Schaefer.
OK, this isn’t as much of a speed read as it is a speed watch, but SBJ’s latest On My Mind segment features AWS Global Head of Sports Julie Souza sharing why the speed of innovation is her top priority in decision-making.
