Welcome to July, my friends. We’re now in the time of summer vacations (I know I’m staring mine down that’s coming in a couple of weeks). I relish the battles between the heat and cold treats, and I know my two little ones will help me fight the melting of my ice cream over the next few months.
As we turn the page on the first half of 2026, we wanted to send you into a long holiday weekend with a look back at the SBJ stories that resonated most in sports tech.
Here’s a quick rundown of those, with links in case you missed them (or if you want to read them again, which is recommended by four-out-of-five doctors):
Fueled by family viewing and recruiting purposes, youth sports streaming is now a $10 billion business
My tech teammate Joe Lemire’s look at the impact of streaming platforms on youth sports offered one jaw-dropping stat after another about the booming vertical. A quick rundown of some of those: a $10-billion market, more than 2.5 million streams of various sports and a $400-million purchase by a private equity firm.
Phew, those are some big figures.
Streaming, especially at the youth level, has made it so much easier for families (nuclear or extended) to follow along. It’s also become a serious recruiting backbone, expanding the reach of recruiters, athletes and youth programs alike.
And as a young dad, I can’t even imagine how much bigger the youth industry may get as I watch my little ones grow up in the space.
Introducing SBJ’s newest 10 Most Innovative Sports Tech Companies
The SBJ Tech editorial staff puts a lot of consideration into selecting our 10 Most Innovative Sports Tech Companies every year. And this year’s class, our fourth cohort, featured emerging leagues, budding AI powerhouses and fan-experience enhancers alike.
Now you might be asking yourself a question: Ethan, are you really going to make me click to see the companies instead of just telling me here? Yes, I am. But they’re worth it, I swear.
Owl AI determines Milan Cortina judges were wrong on women’s slopestyle decision
We’ve all seen bad calls or terrible misses in sports officiating. To be topical, go back and look at any footage or images of Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal from the 1986 FIFA Men’s World Cup. All evidence points to a handball that was missed by officials. Yet the goal is seared into the victorious legacy of a player widely considered to be one of the best we’ve ever seen.
Less blatant and more subjective are sports that are scored and judged. And that’s why Owl AI’s breakdown on the women’s slopestyle final podium at the Milan Cortina Olympics. It offered analytical proof to match a prevailing sentiment with the help of AI and a model that understands the sport thanks to its X Games-adjacent upbringing.
NHL installs Cosm’s C360 high-res cameras in all team venues
Cosm has been an ear-perking company for the last few years, and a league-wide deployment of its ultra-high-res cameras in the NHL certainly grabbed attention.
The tech, which was installed during the 2025-26 season, helps the league with instant replay/officiating, player safety, stat tracking and content.
It’s worth pointing out that these are not the cameras that Cosm uses to broadcast events to its shared-reality venues in L.A., Dallas and Atlanta. That’s right, they have another set of intensely innovative cameras, and Lemire runs through their capabilities in this one.
Jets leaning into AI under new front office leadership
Pro franchises have their own AI journeys, and my fellow techster Rob Schaefer got an inside look at the Jets’ growth with the tech. Spearheading that effort was Iwao Fusillo, who started as the N.Y. Jets’ chief data and analytics officer in January.
The Jets saw a massive influx of AI use throughout their organization — 91% of its front office is using Microsoft Copilot on a day-to-day basis, as of late last month — and credited part of that success to tech firm Next League and its Chief AI and innovation officer, Shripal Shah.
Shah has been a wonderful guide for me in AI, so I like seeing him getting some shine here, too.
