Fourth annual awards recognize the best in sports technology
Fourth annual awards recognize the best in sports technology
Publish Date: 2026-05-25 06:02:00
Source Domain: www.sportsbusinessjournal.com
For evidence of how robust the state of the sports technology industry is in 2026, look no further than last week’s Sports Business Awards: Tech.
Hundreds of executives congregated at the Hard Rock Hotel in Manhattan on May 18 to celebrate the fourth edition of these awards, which honor the industry’s most impactful innovations of the year in categories including AI, venue operations, athlete performance and more.
This year’s class featured 46 finalists across nine categories selected by Sports Business Journal’s editorial team, with winners determined by an external panel of expert judges. The ever-expanding role of tech in sports — on the field and behind the scenes — was on display in the diverse set of honorees. The evening saw an AI data platform, smart insole maker and mixed-reality app recognized, among others. The Best Technology Collaboration award, which went to TGL for its full tech stack, was spread across 11 companies, proving the point made onstage by guest host Andrew Hawkins that “innovation does not happen in silos.”
Sports Technology of the Year: OneCourt OneCourt co-founder
and COO Antyush
Bollini accepted the
Sports Technology of
Year award, reminding
the audience of the
importance of serving
fans who can’t access
sports in a traditional
manner. (Keely Whipple) 
Best in Fan Experience Technology: OneCourt Antyush Bollini, co-founder and COO, OneCourt (Marc Bryan-Brown) 
Technology Executive of the Year Chris
Benyarko, executive
vice president and head
of direct-to-consumer
products, technology
and operations, NBA (Marc Bryan-Brown) 
Next in Sports Tech: Rising Woman of the Year (Presented by Next League) Darolyn Pierce, vice president of data, analytics and insights, Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment (Marc Bryan-Brown) 
Best in Venue and Franchise Operations Technology: retailcloud Kiran Shastri, enterprise
account manager, retailcloud (Keely Whipple) 
Best Technology Collaboration: TGL presented by SoFi x TMRW Sports x CapTech x…
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