Another exciting week ahead at the intersection of elite sports, sports science, artificial intelligence, technology, investment, and business!
Next week, we’ll be following several major sports industry conferences, technology and sportswear earnings, developments in AI and immersive media, and innovations in athlete recovery and performance.
After months of work behind the scenes, we’re getting ready to unveil our redesigned Upside Global website, better reflecting the evolution of our company and its businesses.
At Upside, we’re also looking forward to another conversation with a sports technology entrepreneur.
🎓 Upside NCAA Group Podcast: We’ll publish our latest group discussion featuring four experienced sports performance and medical practitioners from Rice University, the University of Florida, Duke University, and UNLV.
🎙️ Upside Podcast — Noel Grant, CEO of Deep Blue Cryo: We’ll explore localized cryotherapy, athlete recovery, the company’s technology, and its applications for professional teams and sports performance departments.
🏟️ Major Conferences: ESPN Edge Innovation Conference in NYC, Web Summit in Lisbon, the Sport Performance Summit in London, and Beyond Activ Americas in Dallas.
📈 Major Earnings: On Holding, CoreWeave, Cisco, and Applied Materials are among the companies on our radar.
🤖 Technology Developments: AI-powered sports media, immersive fan experiences, intelligent wearables, advanced computing, and recovery technologies.
Here’s what we’ll be following next week.
🏟️ MAIN SPORTS INDUSTRY CONFERENCES
📺 ESPN Edge Innovation Conference — New York City | November 12
ESPN’s sixth annual Edge Innovation Conference will bring together leaders from sports, technology, media, and entertainment to explore how emerging technologies are transforming the fan experience.
The agenda includes representatives from ESPN, Microsoft, Meta, Accenture, WSC Sports, Cosm, the NBA, and TMRW Sports.
Topics include AI-powered content creation, immersive experiences, digital storytelling, and innovations in sports broadcasting.
Upside Take: Sports media is becoming an increasingly attractive market for technology startups.
AI-powered video production, automated highlights, computer vision, and immersive experiences could fundamentally change how leagues and teams produce and distribute content.
For startups, this creates opportunities beyond athlete performance, including sports media, fan engagement, and digital monetization.
What to watch: AI-generated content, immersive broadcasting, automated highlights, spatial computing, and next-generation fan experiences.
🌍 Web Summit — Lisbon, Portugal | November 9–12
Web Summit is one of the world’s major technology gatherings, bringing together startups, investors, technology companies, and industry leaders.
Although not exclusively focused on sports, the event offers an opportunity to discover technologies with potential applications across elite sports.
Areas of particular interest include AI agents, robotics, computer vision, wearable technology, digital health, and advanced analytics.
Upside Take: Some of the most disruptive sports technologies may emerge from companies that were not originally targeting sports.
AI startups working in healthcare, manufacturing, robotics, or computer vision may develop solutions that can be adapted to biomechanics, rehabilitation, athlete monitoring, and scouting.
At Upside, we believe sports organizations should increasingly look beyond traditional sports-tech vendors when evaluating innovation.
What to watch: AI agents, Physical AI, computer vision, digital health, robotics, and emerging startups.
🏋️ Sport Performance Summit — London | November 11–12
The Sport Performance Summit brings together high-performance practitioners and leaders to exchange ideas about coaching, leadership, and athlete performance.
The event is particularly relevant to strength and conditioning coaches, sports scientists, performance directors, and practitioners working across elite sports.
Upside Take: While technology continues to advance, effective high-performance environments still depend on people, communication, and organizational processes.
For sports-tech companies, understanding how practitioners actually work is essential.
The most sophisticated technology will struggle to gain adoption if it creates additional work or fails to integrate into existing performance workflows.
What to watch: High-performance leadership, coaching innovation, athlete development, interdisciplinary collaboration, and performance culture.
💪 Beyond Activ Americas — Dallas, Texas | November 12–13
Beyond Activ Americas brings together leaders, investors, and businesses from the fitness, wellness, health, and sports industries.
The event focuses on investment, business growth, partnerships, and emerging opportunities across the health and fitness ecosystem.
Upside Take: We continue to see increasing convergence between sports performance, healthcare, fitness, and wellness technologies.
Companies developing advanced wearables, recovery platforms, movement analysis systems, and personalized health solutions may find opportunities across multiple markets.
For sports-tech startups, expanding beyond professional teams could provide additional revenue opportunities and help build more sustainable businesses.
What to watch: Recovery technologies, connected fitness, digital health, investment activity, wellness innovation, and strategic partnerships.
📈 MAIN EARNINGS TO WATCH
Next week, several technology and sportswear companies are expected to report financial results.
These earnings provide useful insights into consumer demand, AI investment, computing infrastructure, and the commercial opportunities available to sports technology startups.
👟 On Holding — November 10
Swiss performance footwear and apparel company On Holding is scheduled to report quarterly earnings.
The company has built a strong position in the premium running market through its distinctive footwear technology, product innovation, athlete partnerships, and global expansion.
Upside Take: On demonstrates how innovation in materials, product design, athlete feedback, and branding can help a challenger compete against established sportswear companies.
We will be particularly interested in its innovation strategy, performance footwear business, international growth, and athlete partnerships.
What to watch: Running footwear innovation, consumer demand, international expansion, product development, and profitability.
🤖 CoreWeave
CoreWeave, an AI cloud infrastructure company, is among the technology businesses expected to report results next week.
Its financial performance will offer another perspective on the enormous investment taking place in AI computing infrastructure.
Upside Take: AI infrastructure is becoming increasingly important for sports technology companies.
Startups working on markerless motion capture, video analysis, athlete tracking, and generative AI often require significant computing resources.
Improvements in computing availability and efficiency could help make sophisticated sports analytics more accessible.
What to watch: AI infrastructure investment, GPU computing, cloud capacity, operating costs, and demand for AI services.
💻 Cisco
Cisco’s earnings will provide insights into enterprise networking, cybersecurity, AI infrastructure, and connected systems.
Upside Take: Professional sports organizations are becoming increasingly sophisticated technology businesses.
Beyond sports performance, teams need reliable infrastructure to support stadium connectivity, cybersecurity, data management, and digital operations.
For sports-tech startups, cybersecurity and integration with enterprise systems are becoming increasingly important purchasing considerations.
What to watch: AI networking, cybersecurity, enterprise infrastructure, automation, and connected environments.
🧠 Applied Materials
Applied Materials is a major supplier of equipment and technologies used in semiconductor manufacturing.
Its results will offer insights into the broader semiconductor industry and demand for advanced computing technologies.
Upside Take: Innovation in semiconductors has important implications for sports technology.
More powerful and efficient chips could enable smaller wearable devices, faster on-device AI processing, improved computer vision, and more sophisticated movement analysis.
These advances could eventually make technologies previously limited to specialized laboratories more portable and affordable.
What to watch: Semiconductor investment, advanced computing, chip manufacturing, AI infrastructure, and processing efficiency.
The Bigger Question for Sports-Tech Startups
AI investment remains substantial, but the focus is increasingly shifting toward practical implementation, efficiency, and measurable returns.
For sports-tech startups, the ability to demonstrate real value will become more important than simply adding AI features to existing products.
🚀 PRODUCT & TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS TO WATCH
Several areas of innovation deserve particular attention next week. These are technology themes and potential announcements to monitor, rather than a list of confirmed product launches.
📺 ESPN Edge — AI-Powered Sports Media and Immersive Experiences | November 12
The ESPN Edge Innovation Conference will provide an opportunity to see demonstrations and discussions involving emerging sports media technologies.
We will be particularly interested in developments involving AI-generated content, immersive viewing, automated video production, and personalized fan experiences.
Upside Take: The combination of AI, computer vision, and advanced media technologies could significantly change the economics of sports content production.
For leagues and teams, these technologies may reduce production costs while creating additional opportunities to engage fans.
What to watch: Product demonstrations, AI video workflows, immersive content, automated storytelling, and media technology partnerships.
⌚ Wearables, Smart Sensors and Continuous Monitoring
We will continue following developments in wearable sensors, physiological monitoring, sleep technology, and athlete recovery.
One particularly interesting trend is the movement toward smaller, more intelligent devices capable of processing information in real time.
Upside Take: Continuous monitoring could help teams better understand athlete responses to training, travel, competition, and recovery.
However, more information does not necessarily translate into better decisions.
Validation, data quality, usability, and integration with existing systems will remain essential.
What to watch: Advanced sensors, physiological biomarkers, sleep monitoring, wearable AI, and real-time athlete monitoring.
📹 AI-Powered Biomechanics and Computer Vision
Advances in computer vision continue to create opportunities for companies developing movement analysis and biomechanics platforms.
Portable and markerless technologies could make sophisticated assessments more accessible outside traditional laboratories.
Potential applications include rehabilitation, return-to-play, skill acquisition, movement screening, and performance optimization.
Upside Take: One of the biggest opportunities is to make biomechanics part of the daily workflow of professional teams.
Solutions that are fast, portable, easy to use, and capable of producing actionable insights could have significant commercial potential.
What to watch: Markerless motion capture, AI movement analysis, edge computing, biomechanics, and automated reporting.
🎙️ AT UPSIDE — UPCOMING PODCASTS
🎓 Upside NCAA Group Podcast — Sports Science, Athlete Health & Performance in College Sports
Next week, we’re excited to publish our latest Upside NCAA Group Podcast, featuring four experienced sports performance and medical practitioners from leading NCAA programs.
Our guests include:
Dr. John DeWitt — Director of Applied Sports Science in the Athletic Department and faculty member at Rice University.
Paul Silvestri — Senior Director of Sports Health and Performance, University of Florida Football.
Drew Lukes — Senior Physical Therapist at Duke University and Head of Sports Science for Duke Women’s Soccer.
Frederick Donnell — Head Football Athletic Trainer at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
Together, these practitioners bring perspectives from NCAA football, women’s soccer, sports science, physical therapy, athletic training, and athlete health.
During the discussion, we’ll explore the challenges and best practices associated with managing athlete performance in collegiate sports.
❄️ Interview with Noel Grant, CEO of Deep Blue Cryo — The Future of Athlete Recovery
We’re excited to feature an interview with Noel Grant, CEO of Deep Blue Cryo, a company developing innovative localized cryotherapy solutions for athletes, practitioners, and sports organizations.
Deep Blue Cryo’s technology uses high-pressure CO₂ to deliver localized cooling treatments.
During our conversation, we’ll explore:
Noel’s background and the story behind Deep Blue Cryo.
How the company’s localized cryotherapy technology works.
The potential applications of localized cooling in sports performance, recovery, and rehabilitation.
The differences between localized cryotherapy and traditional whole-body cryotherapy.
How teams could integrate the technology into their daily workflows.
The company’s product strategy, commercial model, and future innovations.
We’ll also discuss the company’s approach to developing portable recovery technologies and its vision for expanding into professional sports.
Upside Take: Recovery is one of the most competitive and rapidly evolving segments of the sports technology industry.
Teams have access to numerous modalities, including compression, cold-water immersion, cryotherapy, photobiomodulation, and other recovery technologies.
The challenge for practitioners is determining which modalities are appropriate for specific athletes, conditions, and recovery objectives.
For startups, the opportunity is to develop products that are effective, practical, evidence-based, and easy to integrate into existing workflows.
We’re looking forward to sharing Noel’s perspective on the future of localized cryotherapy and athlete recovery.
Stay tuned for the interview!
🔮 THE BIG PICTURE — FIVE TRENDS WE’RE WATCHING
1. AI is transforming the sports media industry.
Automated content production, immersive experiences, and personalized fan engagement are creating new opportunities for sports organizations and technology providers.
2. The convergence of sports performance, healthcare, and wellness continues.
Wearables, recovery technologies, biomechanics, and digital health platforms are increasingly targeting overlapping markets.
3. Advanced computing could make sophisticated sports technologies more accessible.
Developments in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, and edge computing may enable more portable and affordable solutions.
4. Sports-tech startups need to demonstrate measurable value.
As teams become more selective in their technology investments, evidence, usability, integration, and ROI will be increasingly important.
5. Innovation must be connected to real practitioner needs.
Whether we’re discussing AI, biomechanics, athlete monitoring, or recovery, successful technologies need to address practical problems faced by sports organizations.
🚀 UPSIDE VIP LUNCH — ATLANTA, DECEMBER 18
Preparations continue for our upcoming Upside VIP Lunch at the new U.S. Soccer Headquarters in Atlanta.
📅 December 18, 2026 | 12:00–2:30 PM
📍 U.S. Soccer Headquarters, Atlanta, Georgia
👥 Approximately 250 MLS and NWSL practitioners and decision-makers expected.
The event will bring together sports performance directors, athletic trainers, rehabilitation specialists, sports scientists, and innovative sports technology companies.
Selected startups will have opportunities to present their technologies, showcase their products, participate in speed-dating sessions, and connect directly with practitioners and decision-makers.
🚀 One New Sports-Tech Company to Be Announced Next Week!
We’re excited to announce that another innovative sports technology company will be joining our lineup of presenting vendors at the Upside VIP Lunch in Atlanta!
We’ll share more about the company, its technology, and its potential applications in elite sports next week.
Stay tuned!
Upside Take: One of the biggest challenges for sports-tech startups is gaining meaningful access to professional teams and the practitioners responsible for evaluating new technologies.
Our goal is to create an environment where innovative companies can showcase their solutions, receive direct feedback, and build valuable relationships with sports organizations.
We believe that connecting startups with practitioners is one of the most effective ways to accelerate innovation in elite sports.
🚀 Unveiling Our Newly Redesigned Upside Global Website
After months of work behind the scenes, we’re getting ready to unveil our redesigned Upside Global website, better reflecting the evolution of our company and its businesses.
The new website will highlight our AI-powered sports-tech scouting platform, consulting services, VIP events, podcasts, industry insights, and case studies showcasing our work with elite sports organizations and innovative startups.
We’re also working on exciting new AI capabilities for our Upside AI Assistant, with more announcements coming soon!
CONCLUSION — CONNECTING INNOVATION WITH ELITE SPORTS
Another exciting week lies ahead across sports, technology, investment, and business.
From the ESPN Edge Innovation Conference in New York and Web Summit in Lisbon to technology earnings and developments in wearables, AI, and recovery, there will be plenty of important trends to follow.
We’re particularly interested in how emerging technologies are moving from research and development into practical applications for elite sports organizations.
At Upside, we’re also looking forward to sharing two exciting podcasts.
Our NCAA Group Podcast, featuring practitioners from Rice University, the University of Florida, Duke University, and UNLV, will provide perspectives on athlete health, sports science, performance, and the challenges facing college sports programs.
Our conversation with Noel Grant, CEO of Deep Blue Cryo, will explore localized cryotherapy and emerging recovery technologies, including their potential applications in professional sports
At Upside, our mission remains the same: connecting teams, practitioners, startups, and investors while identifying technologies, trends, and ideas that can make a meaningful difference in elite sports.
We look forward to another exciting week of innovation, conversations, and opportunities.
Stay tuned!
