Bank of America Stadium is undergoing a $1.3 billion renovation, but Tepper Sports & Entertainment isn’t just thinking about new seats. The bigger question is, what will get fans off the couch and into a stadium in 2030?

Bryan Lodigiani, VP of Business Strategy and Analytics, talks to Dave about why personalization and creating experiences fans can’t get at home are shaping the renovation. He also shares how TSE uses data to understand the surprisingly different audiences behind the Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC.

Bryan breaks down where AI is already creating value across ticket sales, partnerships, and marketing, why not every business problem requires an AI solution, and how Charlotte’s rapid growth is creating new opportunities for sports and entertainment.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why some “AI problems” are actually process or automation problems in disguise
• How TSE is designing stadium products specifically to create an entry point for younger fans
• What Bryan learned trying to break into sports after a career in banking, consulting, and retail
• The new Sales Experience Center that can pull up the exact game you attended and the moment that made you a fan

Resources and Links:

Connect with Bryan Lodigiani on LinkedIn and learn more about Tepper Sports & Entertainment on their website.

Learn more about Next League on our website and LinkedIn. We are leading sports organizations into the digital future.

Dave’s book is available now! Get your copy of The Business of Sports Technology: How To Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.

A tablet that turns basketball into vibrations sounds like a novelty. Today, roughly half the NBA carries one, and Ticketmaster is footing the bill.

In this conversation, OneCourt co-founder and COO Antyush Bollini explains how a college project became Sports Business Journal’s Sports Technology of the Year, and how partnerships with leagues, clubs, and brands helped the company reach the market. 

Antyush also shares what OneCourt learned from its earliest pilot with the Portland Trail Blazers, how the company is approaching media and tracking-data rights, and why founders must validate not only whether a solution works, but whether customers will actually pay for it.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How OneCourt moved from hand-built prototypes and 3D-printed parts to preparing a scalable consumer product
• The feature that inspired a fan to check the score and game clock 700 times during one game
• What the Portland Trail Blazers risked by becoming OneCourt’s first in-venue pilot partner
• How a viral fan video helped OneCourt move from cold outreach to inbound interest from NBA teams
• The three tests Antyush believes every startup idea must pass 

Resources and Links:

Connect with Antyush Bollini on LinkedIn and learn more about OneCourt on their website.

Learn more about Next League on our website and LinkedIn. We are leading sports organizations into the digital future.

Dave’s book is available now! Get your copy of The Business of Sports Technology: How To Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.

Sidearm Sports powers the digital experience for the vast majority of major college athletics programs, but George Scott believes the next challenge is much bigger than publishing scores, schedules, and game recaps. 

With roughly 85% of Power Four schools and 90% of Division I programs in its network, Sidearm occupies a unique position in the college sports landscape. George joins Dave to trace his path from Fans Only and the NFL to YinzCam and Sidearm, and explains how those experiences shaped his view of digital fandom.

George offers a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges of serving major programs alongside the Division II and Division III schools, what the changing economics of football and basketball could mean for smaller sports, and why uncertainty around NIL and athlete compensation makes long-term planning difficult.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why an 18-year old will download a college app (and keeps it for life), but not an NFL team app
• What sports organizations risk getting wrong when they prioritize data collection
• How Sidearm uses Learfield for ticketing, content production, and licensing to create more revenue opportunities
• How Sidearm's AI partner Noda turns raw game video into written stories in each school's own voice

Resources and Links:

Connect with George Scott on LinkedIn and learn more about Sidearm Sports on their website.

Learn more about Next League on our website and LinkedIn. We are leading sports organizations into the digital future.

Dave’s book is available now! Get your copy of The Business of Sports Technology: How To Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.

What happens when an entrepreneur recognizes that one of the world’s most-watched Olympic sports has never been built to maximize its global audience?

Nic Sulsky saw an established sport with elite international athletes and a premier competition that fans outside Canada could not easily watch. After acquiring the Grand Slam of Curling, his team launched Rock Channel, created the mixed-gender Rock League, built a live data infrastructure, and raised $11.2 million to begin connecting the sport’s media, events, athletes, sponsors, and fans.

In this conversation, Nic explains why The Curling Group operates as a media company, how it tripled Grand Slam revenue while remaining focused primarily on Canada, and how localized broadcasts, athlete-driven storytelling, and international distribution could turn curling into a far larger global sports property.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How a single Instagram data point is shaping where The Curling Group decides to expand next
• Why Rock League tested its concept with a 1 week preview season instead of launching at full scale
• What makes curling suited to a mixed-gender league where women and men compete together 
• How virtual in-ice advertising could allow sponsors to see market-specific broadcasts
• Nic's "95% instinct" rule, and the chainsaw story that explains why he built a team to challenge his ideas

Resources and Links:

Connect with Nic Sulsky on LinkedIn.

Learn more about Next League on our website and LinkedIn. We are leading sports organizations into the digital future.

Dave’s book is available now! Get your copy of The Business of Sports Technology: How To Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.

What happens when you stop benchmarking yourself against other teams and start borrowing ideas from Apple, Google, and Netflix instead?

Darolyn Pierce leads three distinct functions at Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment (consumer research, advanced analytics, and sales enablement) – with her team shifting in real time between Liberty ticket performance, renewal risk, NPS feedback, arena experience, Nets fan segmentation, and next-season planning. 

In this conversation, she explains how that constant overlap shapes decision-making, why her team is trying to push beyond what other clubs are already doing, and how she earned the trust to move analytics from a 3 department support function into a company-wide operating capability.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How the Nets doubled their fan base and generated millions by identifying untapped "free agent" fans
• Why Darolyn gives every member of her team dedicated time each quarter to build passion projects
• How a 12-person team is borrowing the personalization strategies of Apple, Google, and Netflix to reshape the fan experience
• What Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment learned launching 47 AI initiatives across 10 business functions
• How an internal AI lab uses employee competition, hands-on experimentation, and financial incentives

Resources and Links:

Connect with Darolyn Pierce on LinkedIn.

Learn more about Next League on our website and LinkedIn. We are leading sports organizations into the digital future.

Dave’s book is available now! Get your copy of The Business of Sports Technology: How To Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.

College athletics, media, and technology are all being forced to reinvent themselves at the same time. Alden Mitchell has spent her career navigating exactly those industry shifts at Disney, MTV, Uber, the Pac-12, Stanford Athletics, and now TrailRunner Sports.

In this conversation, Alden shares why college athletics is being forced to operate more like a business, what sports still misunderstands about consumer behavior, and how technology can transform fan engagement. She also explains why strategic communications has become a business function, and why relationships are the most valuable investment you'll make in your career.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How college athletics is trying to "pro up" and why every athletic department is chasing new revenue
• What sports can learn from technology companies that start every product decision with the consumer
• Why Alden thinks sports venues should be designed more like airports than one-size-fits-all stadiums
• What prediction markets reveal about the future of sports, media, and decision-making
• Why Alden thinks the "GM model" is the structural fix college sports actually needs

Resources and Links:

Connect with Alden Mitchell on LinkedIn and learn more about TrailRunner Sports on their website.

Learn more about Next League on our website and LinkedIn. We are leading sports organizations into the digital future.

Dave’s book is available now! Get your copy of The Business of Sports Technology: How To Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.

The company that invented the first VR headset in 1968 is now powering one of the most talked about venues in sports. In this Best Of episode, we’re revisiting conversations with Cosm President Jeb Terry and Chief Product & Technology Officer Devin Poolman on how a 60-year-old planetarium heritage, an LED dome bigger than anything in the market, and 425 live sports productions a year add up to a category nobody else is building.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How Cosm produces more than 425 live sporting events every year
• The prototype that convinced Jeb to build Cosm, and why it rivaled walking onto an NFL field
• Why acquiring a 60-year-old planetarium company was the foundation for everything Cosm has built 
• What Jeb learned about entrepreneurship, and why "will to win" is different from "wanting to win"

Resources and Links:

Connect with Jeb Terry on LinkedIn.

Connect with Devin Poolman on LinkedIn.

Learn more about Cosm on their website.

Learn more about Next League on our website and LinkedIn. We are leading sports organizations into the digital future.

Dave’s book is available now! Get your copy of The Business of Sports Technology: How To Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.

From record participation among women and junior golfers to new technology platforms, major investments in player development, and a reimagined fan experience, the USGA is helping shape what the next generation of golf looks like.

In this episode, we’re talking to Chief Commercial Officer Jon Podany and Managing Director of Global Ticketing & Media Amanda Weiner about the Women's Open's rapid rise and the U.S. National Development Program to ShotLink, ticketing innovation, and the technology strategies designed to make golf more engaging and inclusive.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How the U.S. Women's Open more than doubled its purse in 3 years and received prime-time network coverage
• Why the USGA is investing in a national development pipeline 
• How the USGA is building a 360-degree view of every fan through ticketing, media, and engagement data
• Why the future of golf depends on Topgolf, TGL, and off-course participation as it does on traditional rounds 
• What it means to stage men's and women's championships on the same iconic courses

Resources and Links:

Connect with Jon Podany on LinkedIn.

Connect with Amanda Weiner on LinkedIn.

Learn more about Next League on our website and LinkedIn. We are leading sports organizations into the digital future.

Dave’s book is available now! Get your copy of The Business of Sports Technology: How To Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.

Most sports technology companies spend years trying to get access to a live game environment. The UFL can put them in front of 600 players, coaches, officials, and broadcast operators in a matter of weeks.

As SVP of Innovation and Media, Scott Harniman oversees the technology, broadcast, and football systems that make the UFL's innovation model possible.

Scott explains how the UFL's FAST program works, why ESPN and Fox are active participants in the league's tech incubation process, and how a centralized football operation allows the league to test emerging technologies at a scale that would be difficult to replicate elsewhere.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• How the UFL's FAST program gets emerging tech companies into live football environments
• Why ESPN and Fox play an active role in the league's innovation process
• What Scott is watching in AI-powered officiating after Adam Silver's announcement
• Why a ball-tracking partnership with Sportable became their most compelling fan-facing data experience
• What happened when the UFL moved 3 franchises into smaller soccer stadiums 

Resources and Links:

Connect with Scott Harniman on LinkedIn.

Learn more about Next League on our website and LinkedIn. We are leading sports organizations into the digital future.

Dave’s book is available now! Get your copy of The Business of Sports Technology: How To Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.

What patterns start to emerge when you put 10 sports tech leaders in front of a microphone at SBJ Tech Week and ask them what's next?

While AI was a common thread, the discussions expanded into operational scale, fan engagement, accessibility, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and the leadership challenges that come with adopting new technology.

This episode features the following guests:

• Michael Zeto, Boingo Wireless
• Diana Lovati, AEG Worldwide
• Antyush Bollini, OneCourt
• Jess Smith, Golden State Valkyries
• Andrew Macaulay, TMRW Sports
• Darolyn Pierce, Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment
• Scott Harniman, United Football League
• Peter DelGiacco, National Hockey League
• John Spade, Athletes Unlimited

Resources and Links:

Learn more about Next League on our website and LinkedIn. We are leading sports organizations into the digital future.

Dave’s book is available now! Get your copy of The Business of Sports Technology: How To Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.

Learn more about Next League on our website and LinkedIn. We are leading sports organizations into the digital future.

Dave’s book is available now! Get your copy of The Business of Sports Technology: How To Make Smart Decisions That Drive Your Organization Forward.