Tech Innovation Leads Fourth Annual SBA Showcase
Explore the highlights of the fourth annual SBA Showcase, where top sports technology innovations were honored, including NBA exec Chris Benyarko’s award.
Industry leaders gathered at Manhattan’s Hard Rock Hotel for the fourth annual SBA: Tech awards, a ceremony that highlighted the year’s most influential sports‑technology innovations.
Top honors announced
NBA executive Chris Benyarko received the Technology Executive of the Year trophy after a two‑decade tenure that saw the league shift to a streaming‑first media model and launch new viewer features such as Tap to Watch. The audience rose for a standing ovation as Benyarko’s achievements were detailed, including the rollout of the Inside the Game statistics platform and expanded mobile multigame viewing.
In the AI category, Raise Performance & Insights Cloud (EPIC) earned Best in AI. The platform, launched early last year, now serves more than 230 agency clients and draws on data from over 450 million individuals and 1.7 billion devices to inform ticketing, consumer insights, and property analytics.
Plantiga’s insole sensor system, which pairs advanced AI with movement data, was named Best in Athlete Performance Technology. The solution holds approval for in‑competition use by the NBA, NFL and FIFA, allowing coaches to track biomechanics in real time.
OneCourt captured two awards: Fan Experience Technology of the Year and the overall Sports Technology of the Year. Its haptic tablet translates live game data into vibrations, giving blind and low‑vision fans a tactile play‑by‑play experience. The device is already deployed by several NBA franchises, MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks, and four NFL teams in pilot programs.
MLB’s immersive app, compatible with Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest and Samsung Galaxy XR headsets, won Best in Immersive Technology. The app adds three‑dimensional game angles and data visualizations to the traditional baseball experience.
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Retailcloud secured Best in Venue & Franchise Operations Technology for its Inventory360 system, live at AT&T Stadium and United Center, and for integrating Amazon’s Just Walk Out checkout.
The Best Technology Collaboration award went to a consortium led by TGL and supported by more than ten partners, including SoFi, CapTech and Full Swing. Their combined stack blends swing simulators, ball‑tracking, virtual hole designs and a flexible putting area to reshape how golf is played and viewed.
Rising talent recognized
Next League presented the Rising Woman Of The Year award to Darolyn Pierce, VP of Data, Analytics and Insights at Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment. Pierce has overseen the organization’s migration to Snowflake, embedded analytics experts within business units, upgraded crowd‑management software and integrated NBA data into the company’s sales platform, actions that collectively boosted revenue.
OneCourt’s chief operating officer Antyush Bollini closed the ceremony with a reminder of sports’ broader impact, stating that sports are a huge part of all of our lives.
While the awards celebrate technical breakthroughs, the broader industry must still grapple with adoption hurdles. Companies like Plantiga and OneCourt rely on partnerships with major leagues, yet scaling those solutions beyond pilot phases often encounters budget constraints and legacy system inertia.
The fourth SBA: Tech ceremony highlighted a trend toward data‑driven performance, immersive fan engagement and inclusive design. As leagues continue to invest in AI, sensor tech and mixed‑reality platforms, the next award cycle may see even more cross‑industry collaborations, especially as the cost of advanced hardware drops and cloud‑based analytics become standard infrastructure for sports organizations.
