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 technology and business conferences across the United States and Europe, important earnings announcements from leading technology and media companies, and emerging innovations in AI, biomechanics, wearables, and athlete performance.
From sports investment and media innovation to sports medicine and digital transformation, the coming week will provide valuable insights into how technology is reshaping the global sports industry.
At Upside, we’re also preparing two new podcast conversations:
🎙️ Upside MLS Group Podcast: We’ll bring together experienced MLS practitioners to discuss athlete performance, sports science, technology adoption, and preparations for the 2027 season.
🎙️ Upside Podcast with Dr Ron Dick: We’re looking forward to another conversation with Ron Dick about his professional experience and perspectives on the sports industry and the latest news across the NBA, NFL, MLS, MLB, NHL, NCAA.
Here’s what we’ll be following next week.
🏟️ MAIN SPORTS TECHNOLOGY & BUSINESS CONFERENCES
💰 Sports Business Journal Dealmakers Conference — New York City | November 17–18
The SBJ Dealmakers Conference brings together leading investors, private equity firms, team owners, sports executives, and financial institutions to discuss investment opportunities and the evolving economics of professional sports.
Key topics include franchise valuations, private capital, mergers and acquisitions, emerging revenue models, and the role of technology in creating value across the sports industry.
Upside Take: As institutional capital continues flowing into professional sports, investors are increasingly looking beyond traditional team ownership toward sports technology, infrastructure, media, and data-driven businesses.
For sports-tech startups, this creates opportunities to engage with strategic investors who can provide more than capital, including distribution, commercial partnerships, and access to professional teams.
What to watch: Sports M&A, private equity, franchise valuations, strategic investments, and emerging sports-tech investment opportunities.
📺 SBJ Media Innovators Conference — New York City | November 17
The Sports Business Journal Media Innovators Conference will bring together executives from leagues, broadcasters, streaming platforms, technology companies, and sports media businesses.
Discussions will focus on the evolution of sports broadcasting, digital distribution, monetization, and emerging technologies transforming the fan experience.
Upside Take: AI is creating significant opportunities for sports media companies and startups developing automated highlights, computer vision, personalized content, and immersive experiences.
As media-rights costs continue to rise, broadcasters and leagues will increasingly seek technologies that improve production efficiency and create additional revenue opportunities.
What to watch: AI-powered broadcasting, streaming economics, advertising technology, automated content production, and fan engagement.
🏥 MEDICA Medicine + Sports Conference — Düsseldorf, Germany | November 18–19
The 14th MEDICA Medicine + Sports Conference brings together sports medicine specialists, sports scientists, healthcare professionals, athletes, and technology companies to explore innovations in performance medicine, injury prevention, rehabilitation, and recovery.
The conference takes place alongside MEDICA, one of the world’s largest medical technology trade shows.
Upside Take: The convergence of sports performance, healthcare, and medical technology continues to create opportunities for startups developing solutions in biomechanics, rehabilitation, physiological monitoring, and athlete recovery.
Technologies initially developed for healthcare applications may increasingly find commercial opportunities within professional sports.
What to watch: Sports medicine innovation, injury prevention, rehabilitation technology, wearable sensors, recovery solutions, and AI-powered healthcare.
🏟️ Athletic Business Show (AB Show) — Orlando, Florida | November 17–19
AB Show brings together athletic directors, facility operators, recreation professionals, fitness executives, and technology vendors to explore innovations in sports facilities, athletic operations, and fitness infrastructure.
The event includes educational sessions and an exhibition featuring more than 200 companies.
Upside Take: Sports facilities are becoming increasingly connected and technology-driven. From smart infrastructure and digital operations to performance equipment and athlete-monitoring systems, facility operators are investing in solutions that improve efficiency and user experience.
For sports-tech startups, the market extends beyond professional teams to universities, training centers, recreation facilities, and commercial fitness operators.
What to watch: Smart facilities, connected fitness, sports infrastructure, facility-management software, and new equipment technologies.
🌍 Smart Cities & Sport Summit — Lausanne, Switzerland | November 16–18
The Smart Cities & Sport Summit brings together representatives from cities, international sports organizations, event organizers, and industry leaders to examine how sport can contribute to economic development, social inclusion, sustainability, and urban transformation.
The 2026 edition focuses on creating measurable social impact through sport.
Upside Take: Major sporting events are increasingly evaluated not only on attendance and revenue but also on their broader economic, social, and infrastructure impact.
Technology can play an important role in measuring event outcomes, improving venue operations, managing transportation, and creating more sustainable sporting environments.
What to watch: Sports infrastructure, event economics, sustainability technology, smart venues, and long-term event legacy.
⚽ FBIN Management Excellence Summit — Lisbon, Portugal | November 18
The Football Business Inside Network (FBIN) Management Excellence Summit focuses on the business and management of professional football clubs.
The event brings together football executives and industry professionals to discuss organizational management, commercial development, and digital transformation.
Upside Take: European soccer clubs are increasingly operating as sophisticated businesses that require stronger integration between sporting operations, commercial departments, technology platforms, and financial management.
For sports-tech companies, understanding how clubs evaluate investments, manage budgets, and implement new technologies is essential to building sustainable partnerships.
What to watch: Football club management, digital transformation, operational efficiency, commercial innovation, and technology adoption.
📈 MAIN SPORTS & TECHNOLOGY EARNINGS TO WATCH
🤖 NVIDIA — November 17
NVIDIA’s upcoming earnings will be one of the most closely watched technology events of the week.
The company’s results could provide important insights into demand for AI computing infrastructure, GPUs, data centers, and the economics of artificial intelligence.
Following co-founder and longtime CEO, Jensen Huang’s resignation, NVIDIA appointed CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO and launched a search for a permanent successor. Investors will be closely watching how the company addresses the leadership transition, its future strategy, and whether the uncertainty surrounding Huang’s departure could affect customer relationships, investor confidence, and its competitive position.
Upside Take: AI infrastructure is increasingly important to sports technology companies developing computer vision, markerless motion capture, automated video analysis, and AI assistants.
As computing capabilities improve, sophisticated performance technologies could become more accessible and affordable for professional teams.
What to watch: AI infrastructure demand, GPU capacity, data-center investment, inference costs, and competition. NVIDIA’s CEO succession plans, Colette Kress’s leadership strategy, investor reaction to Huang’s departure, AI infrastructure demand, GPU sales, data-center growth, competition, and the company’s future technology roadmap.
📺 Disney — November 17
Disney’s results will provide insights into the broader entertainment and media business, including ESPN and the evolution of sports broadcasting.
With sports media undergoing major changes in streaming, direct-to-consumer distribution, and digital engagement, Disney remains an important company to follow.
Upside Take: The next generation of sports broadcasting will increasingly combine traditional live coverage with AI-powered highlights, personalized content, interactive statistics, and immersive experiences.
What to watch: ESPN’s business performance, streaming economics, advertising, sports-rights costs, and digital distribution.
🔐 Palo Alto Networks — November 18
Palo Alto Networks is scheduled to report earnings, providing another perspective on cybersecurity, enterprise technology, and AI-driven security.
Upside Take: Professional teams and leagues are managing growing amounts of sensitive athlete, medical, operational, and commercial data.
As organizations adopt more AI platforms and connected technologies, cybersecurity and data governance are becoming essential considerations when selecting technology vendors.
What to watch: AI cybersecurity, enterprise adoption, data protection, and platform integration.
🧠 Keysight Technologies — November 19
Keysight Technologies develops electronic testing and measurement solutions used across advanced computing, communications, semiconductors, and connected devices.
Upside Take: Advances in sensors, connectivity, and electronic measurement have important implications for sports technology, particularly wearable devices, movement analysis, and real-time physiological monitoring.
What to watch: Semiconductor testing, advanced wireless connectivity, sensor technology, and computing infrastructure.
🛍️ Walmart, Target & Home Depot — November 17–19
These major retailers are also scheduled to report earnings, providing insight into consumer spending, pricing, and broader economic conditions.
Although they are not sports technology companies, their results offer useful context for consumer-facing fitness, wellness, wearables, and sporting-goods businesses.
What to watch: Consumer spending, discretionary demand, pricing pressure, and retail technology investment.
🚀 PRODUCT & TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS TO WATCH
The following are innovation themes to monitor, rather than confirmed product launches scheduled for next week.
🤖 AI Agents for Sports Performance Departments
One of the most interesting developments in sports technology is the emergence of AI agents capable of assisting practitioners with daily workflows.
Potential applications include automatically summarizing athlete-monitoring data, identifying relevant performance trends, generating reports, and helping practitioners evaluate technologies suited to their organizations.
Upside Take: AI agents could significantly reduce administrative work for sports scientists, strength and conditioning coaches, athletic trainers, and rehabilitation specialists.
However, their value will depend on data quality, reliability, privacy, and integration with existing systems.
What to watch: AI workflow automation, athlete-management integration, natural-language analytics, and decision-support tools.
📹 AI-Powered Biomechanics and Computer Vision
Advances in computer vision are making movement analysis more accessible outside traditional biomechanics laboratories.
Portable systems and markerless technologies could allow teams to conduct assessments more frequently, including during training, rehabilitation, and return-to-play programs.
Upside Take: The biggest opportunity is to make biomechanical analysis a practical component of daily team workflows rather than an occasional specialized assessment.
What to watch: Markerless motion capture, automated movement analysis, edge computing, and integration with athlete-management systems.
⌚ Smart Wearables and Physiological Monitoring
We will continue monitoring developments in intelligent wearables, physiological sensors, sleep technology, recovery devices, and personalized health monitoring.
The trend toward smaller devices with more advanced sensors and on-device AI could create opportunities for more continuous and less intrusive athlete monitoring.
Upside Take: The next generation of wearables will need to go beyond collecting information and provide validated, actionable insights.
What to watch: Smart rings, advanced sensors, sleep monitoring, AI-powered wearables, and recovery analytics.
📺 AI-Powered Sports Media and Immersive Experiences
Sports organizations are increasingly exploring AI-powered content production, automated highlights, interactive broadcasts, and immersive fan experiences.
These technologies could help leagues and teams create more personalized content while improving production efficiency.
Upside Take: Sports media is becoming a major opportunity for AI startups, particularly companies working in computer vision, generative AI, spatial computing, and automated storytelling.
What to watch: AI-generated highlights, immersive viewing, AR/VR applications, personalized broadcasts, and sports media partnerships.
🎙️ AT UPSIDE — UPCOMING PODCASTS
⚽ Upside MLS Group Podcast — Performance, Technology & Athlete Health
Next week, we’re planning to host another Upside MLS Group Podcast, bringing together experienced practitioners from professional soccer.
With the MLS season approaching its conclusion, this is an important time for performance and medical departments to evaluate their work, identify opportunities for improvement, and begin planning for the next season.
We’re looking forward to hearing how MLS practitioners are addressing these challenges.
🎙️ Upside Podcast with Dr Ron Dick
We’re also planning a new Upside podcast featuring Ron Dick.
During our conversation, we’ll explore his professional experience, perspectives on the sports industry (NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS, MLB, NCAA), and lessons that could be valuable to sports organizations.
We’ll share more details about the discussion and the topics we’ll cover next week.
🚀 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!
🔮 THE BIG PICTURE — FIVE TRENDS WE’RE WATCHING
1. Private capital is reshaping sports. Institutional investors, private equity firms, and strategic investors are creating new opportunities for sports organizations and technology startups.
2. AI is transforming sports media. Automated production, intelligent content distribution, and immersive experiences could change how sports content is produced and monetized.
3. Sports performance and healthcare are converging. Biomechanics, wearable sensors, rehabilitation, and recovery technologies increasingly serve both professional sports and broader healthcare markets.
4. Advanced computing is reshaping sports technology. Developments in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, sensors, and computer vision could make sophisticated technologies more accessible to sports organizations.
5. Technology adoption increasingly depends on measurable value. Whether a startup is selling to an NBA team, a European soccer club, a sports facility, or a healthcare organization, successful adoption increasingly depends on integration, usability, and clear returns on investment.
CONCLUSION — CONNECTING INNOVATION WITH ELITE SPORTS
Another exciting week lies ahead across sports, technology, investment, and business.
From major sports investment conferences in New York to sports medicine innovation in Germany, football business discussions in Portugal, and technology earnings in the United States, there will be plenty of important developments to follow.
At Upside, we’re particularly excited about our upcoming MLS Group Podcast and our conversation with Ron Dick. These discussions are part of our ongoing commitment to connecting sports practitioners, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders while sharing insights into the technologies and practices shaping elite sports.
Our mission remains the same: helping teams, leagues, startups, and investors identify meaningful innovation, evaluate emerging technologies, and build stronger connections across the global sports industry.
We look forward to another exciting week of innovation, conversations, and opportunities.
Stay tuned!
