SBJ Tech: Insider’s look at Tech Week

Hello, and welcome to a special Thursday edition of this newsletter. We’re going to take you behind the scenes of the SBA: Tech ceremony and SBJ Tech Week.

We heard from high-level experts in our field that personalization is no longer a far-off goal. It’s in every area of our industry, like ticketing, mixed-use venues, shopping and media.

There were many direct parallels to other industries and how they could boost aspects of the sports world. And, of course, AI was tapping the shoulder of everyone at the event, more developed than ever before and beaming with greater potential.

Also, on the fun side: The NBA called in some celebratory pizzas for its hearty presence at SBA: Tech awards; Next League CEO Dave Nugent worked the event with some custom-made sneakers bearing the company’s branding (the green of our presenting partner for SBJ Tech Week makes for a nice pop); and plenty of gatherings around our event had social calendars filled out and industry execs hustling all over the city.

On a personal note, I moderated my first SBJ panel (thank you again to OVG’s Katee LaPoff, the Titans’ Andrew McIntyre and United Center/The 1901 Project’s Justin Stahl for making it easy). I hailed my first NYC cab. Could I survive in the Big Apple now? Maybe so.

I am looking for my “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere” badge in the mail. While I wait for that, let’s dive in.

NEW YORK — Industry executives piled into the Hard Rock Hotel in Manhattan to celebrate the most impactful sports innovations of the year at the fourth annual SBA: Tech. The event was hosted by StatusPro co-founder, ESPN analyst and former NFL player Andrew Hawkins.

The energy in the room thumped along with the music throughout the evening, spiking with a standing ovation for the NBA’s Chris Benyarko, who took home Technology Executive of the Year.

Here is the full list of winners:

Best in AI — Elevate Performance & Insights Cloud (EPIC)

The AI data platform Elevate launched early last year, and more than 230 of the agency’s clients use it. Its applications, built on data from more than 450 million individuals and 1.7 billion devices, touch consumer insights, ticketing management and property analytics.

Best in Athlete Performance Technology — Plantiga

Maker of insole sensors that, paired with advanced AI, help athletes and coaches collect and analyze movement data. Plantiga’s technology is approved for in-competition use by the NBA, NFL and FIFA.

Best in Fan Experience Technology — OneCourt

This accessibility startup’s core product is a haptic tablet that turns live game-tracking data into vibrations that help blind and low-vision fans follow along. OneCourt’s devices are used by multiple NBA teams and MLB’s Diamondbacks, and four NFL teams were part of a pilot for its football capabilities.

Best in Immersive Technology — MLB App in XR

An immersive iteration of MLB’s flagship app that’s available in headsets like the Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest and Samsung Galaxy XR and includes features like 3D renderings that show distinct game angles and data visualizations.

Best in Venue & Franchise Operations Technology — Retailcloud

Retail-focused point-of-sale software vendor that, in the judging period, released a new inventory tracking management system (Inventory360, live at AT&T Stadium and United Center) and integrated its technology with Amazon Just Walk Out.

Best Technology Collaboration — TGL presented by SoFi x TMRW Sports x CapTech x Full Swing x Next League x SmartPin Cam x SYNLawn x Toptracer x Beau Welling Design x Hanse Golf Course Design x Jack Nicklaus Design x Piza Golf

In other words, TGL’s full, 11-company tech stack, which combines swing simulators, ball and shot-tracking technology, virtual hole designs and an adaptable putting area to power a new way of playing and watching golf.

Next In Sports Tech: Rising Woman Of The Year, presented by Next League — Darolyn Pierce, VP of Data, Analytics and Insights, Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment

At the heart of BSE’s data architecture and operations, Pierce has spearheaded initiatives such as the organization’s migration to Snowflake; embedding of analytics experts within key business units; custom upgrade of its crowd management software (WaitTime); and integration of NBA data into BSE’s sales platform (which drove a significant revenue lift).

Technology Executive of the Year — Chris Benyarko, EVP and Head of Direct to Consumer Products, Technology and Operations, NBA

A veteran executive with more than two decades of experience at the NBA, Benyarko in 2025 led an overhaul of the league’s tech infrastructure to support a streaming-first media model; launch of the Tap to Watch digital discoverability feature; and new features for broadcasters (the Inside the Game statistics platform) and League Pass (highlight recaps, real-time game updates, multigame viewing on mobile).

A big night for OneCourt

OneCourt earned two victories Monday evening, winning Fan Experience Technology of the Year before claiming the night’s ultimate award, Sports Technology of the Year.

“I leave you guys with one thing, which is where would we all be without sports?” said OneCourt COO Antyush Bollini to the crowd during the Sports Technology of the Year acceptance speech. “It’s a huge part of all of our lives. And there’s so many people who can’t access it in the same way as us. So, let’s keep doing this.”

Founded in 2021 by a quartet of Univ. of Washington students, OneCourt has steadily pushed its way into many professional sports and raised awareness about accessibility in the process. The startup’s mission has focused on including a blind and low-vision community that’s been easily overlooked in an industry that produces must-see moments.

OneCourt first connected with sports fans in venues. Its thicker, tablet-sized device can take game-tracking data and turn it into haptics. The vibrations, paired with a surface featuring the field of play’s outline, become a low-latency play-by-play experience.

For device users, OneCourt fosters game days where they can finally cheer along with sighted members of their fan base instead of asking what’s going on.

Within the past year alone, OneCourt wrapped up its NBA Launchpad experience, deployed around the FIFA Club World Cup (in Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Lumen Field), the NBA (with double-digit partnerships and an All-Star Weekend appearance) and the NFL (four pilots with teams and a Super Bowl activation).

OneCourt is now attempting to join fans in their home as well with a first-generation at-home unit that should be available at the end of the year.

The company joins the three other Sports Technology of the Year winners:

• 2025: Lap of Legends, an Anheuser-Busch InBev sponsorship activation that pitted a Formula 1 driver against six virtual racers
• 2024: Evolv Express, the security-scanning unit developed by Evolv
• 2023: The semi-automated offsides technology was developed by a contingent of FIFA, Hawk-Eye, Kinexon, and Adidas for the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup

A short time ago, personalization was still much more aspiration than execution. “Artificial intelligence” was still the buzziest of buzz words — that has now likely been usurped by either “agent” or “future proof” — but there’s now much more to point to as real deployments make noticeable impacts.

Here’s a quick rundown of those bigger-picture angles prevalent at SBJ Tech Week:

Personalization zeroes in: One of the questions fed to the audience and speakers alike focused on how quickly we may see broadcasts that feed ads at a personal level. The prevailing notion — structured in our now/soon/never format — was that it would happen within the next year.

The picture is far bigger than that. Genius Sports Chief Product and Technology Officer Matt Fleckenstein pointed out how that personalization can become reactive to sentiment. A red card in a soccer game, for example, produces two distinct emotions for the fans of those respective teams. The fan who was affected negatively by the call is twice as likely to buy food for emotional eating purposes [I feel very seen here]. The person who benefited from the card is in a good mood and might potentially act on a bigger purchase that shows up, like an ad about a car or flight.

“We’ve taken our intelligence of the game, we’ve taken our intelligence of the fan, we’ve translated that into a set of emotions and have built an ad targeting capability that allows brands across the world to reach the right fan, the right moment, and the right creative and to deliver that message to fans where they are,” Fleckenstein said.

AI has also boosted Sportradar’s work with data-fueled alt-casts (a blending of two notable themes). Peacock’s Performance View offers various real-time insights, like the quality of shot a player is taking or providing a shooter’s heat map (like the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson) for a fan to digest the reason why they’re thriving in the moment. The way fans watch and the way games are covered has changed, even since last year’s SBJ Tech Week.

“The expectations are higher, and a couple of the key takeaways are, one, that data and AI play a critical role in meeting the expectations of the modern sports fan,” said Sportradar VP/Americas Brian Josephs. “Second, delivering personalization is starting to happen now. This isn’t a far-off thing in the future. Expectations are now and these experiences are starting to roll out.

“And then third, the ability to tell stories is really changing as well.”

AI making real and noticeable impacts: SeatGeek’s Director of Engineering Kate Dramstad provided one of the clearest examples of an AI boost to date, pointing toward the company’s product called SeatGeekIQ. The autonomous pricing engine not only navigates mounds of historic data, but it also forecasts a pricing model, providing for flexibility for a ticketing operator that recognizes a need to shift pricing after a star player is injured. Those moments, she said, become boosts to the model too as it continues to learn and grow.

“This is a very innovative group, but the important thing is that at the end of the day, the strategy piece here is still human. So, the AI is doing what your judgment, your context, your goals are trying to achieve,” Dramstad said.

The referencing of other industries: The outside impacts of other industries seemed more prevalent than ever before. No one was perhaps more emblematic of that than Ticketmaster Global President Saumil Mehta, whose career was steeped in Silicon Valley and spent a decade at fintech mammoth Square. Mehta pointed out that a lot of the issues facing the ticketing ecosystem — most notably, the fight against fraud and speculative ticketing — have been solved in the financial and banking sectors.

But the outside entries into sports came up again in a conversation featuring Harbinger Sports Partners cofounders Steve Cannon and Rashaun Williams. Cannon mentioned his experience as President/CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA before shifting over to CEO of AMB Group, a role he held for more than eight years. Williams, meanwhile, mentioned the intrigue of more real estate-minded pros who continually notice the increasing tailwind that comes with sports investment.

Valkyries President Jess Smith perhaps put it most poignantly when she acknowledged the necessary curiosity needed to find new angles. That’s why pursuing the learnings discovered in other industries, or leaning on the expertise of people who are newly joining the sports space, will remain crucial to the growth of all technological advances.

“Often in a sports team, of course, we don’t know the newest technology advances that we have, and so how are we getting outside of ourselves?” Smith said. “How are we actually learning from other industries, and then implementing that into sport in a way that can make it really powerful?”

The NBA, nominated for multiple SBA: Tech, sent a particularly strong contingent Monday night, taking over two tables on the first floor.

Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment VP/Data, Analytics and Insights Darolyn Pierce got a huge round of celebration as the second annual Rising Woman of the Year. After the event on a quiet stage, Pierce and the NBA’s EVP and Head of Direct to Consumer Products, Technology and Operations Chris Benyarko (our Technology Executive of the Year) got a picture together.

Along with the food at the event, the NBA also called in a slew of pizzas for its 20-plus employees.

Clippers CTO George Hanna, the 2025 tech exec winner who presented the award this year, recalled a stop in the TSA line to investigate his SBA: Tech trophy as he was catching his flight home last March. After explaining the crystal, the intrigued agent celebrated with him. “You, too, may get a fist bump from the TSA,” Hanna deadpanned before announcing the winner.

Andrew Hawkins, whose company StatusPro received the Best in Immersive Technology award last year, prefaced this year’s announcement with a warning for the eventual winner, MLB App in XR. He suggested the reps may want to get an agent “because the endorsement deals are going to start flowing in.”

TGL’s tech stack, which includes 11 companies, won Best Technology Collaboration and thus was up for Sports Technology of the Year at the end of the evening. The recurring role call was whooped up by TGL’s Andrew Macaulay, who shouted “Keep going!” in the middle of the contingent’s intro. He also was heard shouting “Say it again!” when SBJ’s Dan Kaufman finished rattling off the honorees.

The Famous Group’s Eric Burak and Ravens’ Jay O’Brien, whose companies were up for the tech collab award, got into town a day early to watch their beloved Mets cap off the Subway Series by staging a late-inning comeback against the Yankees at Citi Field on Sunday.

NHL VP/IT Carol Dann worked extensively on the league’s Watch Comms App, which was nominated for Best Technology Collaboration, and was looking forward to seeing whether it might win an award. Only problem: She lives on Long Island and couldn’t easily get to the Tech awards on Monday because of the LIRR strike. So she drove to the ferry station and took a boat across Long Island Sound to Conneticut, then took a Metro North train into the city in a remarkable show of personal dedication.

Bolt6 CCO James Japhet, UFL Senior VP/Innovation & Media Scott Harniman and Sportable SVP/Strategic Partnerships Blaine Scully, were seen chatting together at the Monday event, as well as Edge Sound Research CEO Val Salomaki, ASB GlassFloor America CEO Chris Thornton and Sports Tech HQ Head of Marketing Brian Alkire.

Several folks made international trips from Canada, the UK and elsewhere for SBJ Tech week. Applaudo Head of Communications and Corporate Affairs Karla Rivas traveled from El Salvador. Applaudo works with the Clippers and Heat.

At our State of the Industry on Tuesday, Mets President of Business Operations Lewis Sherr stuck around to support the club’s SVP/Head of Technology Oscar Fernandez and watch his session.

Genius Sports Chief Product and Technology Matt Fleckenstein, who previously worked at ESPN, was in the green room chatting it up with current ESPNers Phil Orlins and Michael “Spike” Szykowny. They hadn’t met before.

All speakers received Next League CEO Dave Nugent’s new book, “The Business of Sports Technology: How to Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.”

While moderating a session, Nugent was asked by a member of the audience if he was wearing Next League-branded sneakers. The answer? Yes. His wore custom shoes from handmade sneaker maker My Mancini of Florence, Italy.

Speaking of Next League, the company’s Tuesday night dinner at The Palm featured a list of approximately 70 sports tech-heavy hitters. Attendees included Jets Chief Data and Analytics Officer Iwao Fusillo, NBA CTO Krishna Bhagavathula, Apple Segment Marketing/WWDR Larry Moss, New York Road Runners CEO Rob Simmelkjaer, Oak View Group CTO Katee LaPoff, USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland and Chief Strategy and Growth Officer Katie Aznavorian, Hometown Soccer Holdings CEO Tom Glick, Heisman Board of Trustees Chair Dan Reed, USGA Managing Director Anthony Santora and Senior Director/Global Media Dave Giancola, TMRW Sports’ Jon Kropp, and a four-person NASCAR group consisting of Director of AI Richard Bowman, VP and CTO John Martin, VP/Interactive & Emerging Platforms Nick Rend and VP/Performance Marketing Cara Verwholt.

The Knicks’ Game 1 absolutely epic comeback in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals produced heavy chatter around the Times Center on Wednesday. It was particularly exciting for MLB CTO Sean Curtis, who is a Knicks fan and — like crucial Knicks roster pieces Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges — a Villanova alum. Go, Cats!

Wednesday morning’s hour of Tech Connect programming featured a strong mix of team/league operators and tech vendors. They discussed whether the at-home/mobile experience would become more attractive than in-venue experiences, among other topics.

• Venue tech execs: Build the backbone before the business demands it
• Valkyries president Jess Smith discusses data insights, tech in building brand
• Mets Connect loyalty program helps Mets get fans to return to Citi Field
• SBJ Tech Week: Leagues, entertainment companies embrace scalable tech to transform fan engagement
• Sights from 2026 Sports Business Awards: Tech
• Sights from SBJ Tech State of the Industry
• Sights from SBJ Tech Week Day 2

SBJ would like to express our sincere gratitude to each of our sponsors, speakers, attendees, honorees and other guests for their participation in and support of SBJ’s 2026 SBA: Tech and Tech Week events.

With Tech Week and the SBAs behind us, the countdown begins for SBJ’s next event: the Brand Innovation Summit, taking place June 9-10 at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile. To register or learn more, see here. Also: See our event slate for 2026.