SBJ's Tech Awards: Winners Span Data, Performance, Fan Access

Awards cover a range of sports technology categories

Sports Business Journal held its fourth annual SBA: Tech awards in May 2026 at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York, according to SBJ's coverage of the event. The publication reported winners across categories including artificial intelligence, athlete performance, fan experience, immersive technology and venue operations.

SBJ reported that Elevate won Best in AI for its Elevate Performance & Insights Cloud (EPIC), a data platform the agency launched in early 2025 that SBJ said is used by more than 230 of Elevate's clients, with applications touching consumer insights, ticketing management and property analytics, built on data SBJ said spans more than 450 million individuals and 1.7 billion devices.

Plantiga won Best in Athlete Performance Technology, per SBJ, for insole sensors paired with AI that capture movement data used for rehabilitation and load management. SBJ reported the technology is approved for in-competition use by the NBA, NFL and FIFA.

OneCourt won Best in Fan Experience Technology, according to SBJ, for a haptic tablet that converts live game-tracking data into vibrations for blind and low-vision fans. SBJ reported the devices are used by multiple NBA teams and MLB's Diamondbacks, with a pilot involving four NFL teams for football capabilities. SBJ also reported OneCourt went on to win the night's top prize, Sports Technology of the Year.

Venue operations and collaboration awards

Retailcloud won Best in Venue & Franchise Operations Technology, per SBJ, for a new inventory tracking system called Inventory360 that SBJ reported is live at AT&T Stadium and the United Center.

SBJ also reported that a group of 11 companies tied to TGL, the golf league backed by TMRW Sports, won Best Technology Collaboration for a combined tech stack covering swing simulators, ball- and shot-tracking, virtual hole designs and an adaptable putting surface. The MLB App in XR won Best in Immersive Technology, according to SBJ, and NBA executive Chris Benyarko was named Technology Executive of the Year.

A separate media note: SportTechie's 2021 sale

Separately, Sportico reported in August 2021 that Leaders Group, an arm of Advance that includes Sports Business Journal, was close to an agreement to acquire the sports technology news outlet SportTechie. Sportico reported financial terms were not announced and that SportTechie listed a team of 10 employees at the time. That transaction is unrelated to the 2026 SBA: Tech awards and is included here only as background on the ownership structure of SBJ's parent company.