Blog
We’re glad you’re here!
Breathe deeply, grab your preferred coffee mug, and look through our blog.
Big Techs Are Eyeing Sports as a Strategic Area
Dante Bui
November 13, 2025
The world of sports is no longer just about athletes, stadiums, and fans — it’s increasingly about data, platforms, cloud, AI, and business models. Major technology companies are treating sports as a strategic frontier. Here’s how and why.
The Opportunity at a Glance
- A recent global “Sports Tech Ecosystem Report 2025” estimated US$58 billion in deal-flow from 2020-2024, with about US$9.6 billion invested in 2024 alone.
- In the first half of 2025 alone, over US$32.2 billion in M&A deals and US$6.6 billion in private financing were recorded for sports‐tech companies.
- Startup accelerators, hackathons, and global programmes are being launched to feed into this growth.
- Technology companies are positioning sports not just as another customer vertical but as a platform ecosystem: athlete performance, fan engagement, venue operations, content distribution, and more.
In short: big tech sees sports as a place where their technologies (AI, cloud, analytics, media) can be leveraged, scaled, monetised — and sports stakeholders are increasingly open to it.
Key Moves by Big Tech & Global Players
1. IBM & Web Summit: A Global Challenge for Sports Tech
IBM and Web Summit announced the Sports Tech Startup Challenge, designed to attract AI/ML startups that target sports: from athlete performance to stadium operations and fan experience.
- Regional competitions in Qatar, Vancouver, Rio, leading to a global finale at Web Summit Lisbon 2026.
- Winners may receive a Proof of Concept (POC) with IBM (up to US$100,000), mentorship, evaluation for venture funding.
- This indicates IBM views sports as a strategic area within its AI & Cloud portfolio.
2. Google Cloud & the 2028 Olympics
Google has been named the Official Cloud Provider for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games (LA28) — covering enterprise and consumer tech solutions, including AI & cloud.
This is more than sponsorship: it positions Google as the infrastructure and services layer for one of the world’s biggest sporting events, meaning huge data volumes, fan experiences, athlete services, live operations. It shows how big tech is embedding itself into the sports ecosystem at the highest level.
3. Startup Ecosystem and Innovation Programmes
Apart from the big players, other initiatives reflect how sports tech is now mainstream for technology innovation:
- The upcoming SportHack 2025 (in Riga / hybrid) focuses on AI in sports, fan experience (XR, gamification), and sustainable sport.
- Investment trends show VC and corporate funds prioritising startups with sports data, analytics, fan behaviour modelling.
- The hackathon / challenge culture indicates sports tech is no longer niche — accelerators, open innovation, enterprise-customer models are forming.
Why Big Tech is Betting on Sports
a) Convergence of Fan Engagement + Data + Media
Sports bring live, passionate audiences, massive viewership, and huge media rights. Data about fans, viewership, in-stadium experiences, training, performance is increasingly rich. Big tech’s tools (cloud, streaming, analytics, AI) match well with what sports organisations need.
b) New Revenue Streams & Business Models
Beyond ticket sales or traditional broadcasting, there’s monetisation via:
- Fan-experience apps and platforms
- Real-time performance analytics sold to teams/athletes
- Smart stadium infrastructure (IoT, connectivity, AR/VR)
- Personalisation of content, sponsorship, data monetisation. Big tech with global scale can help deploy these models.
c) Technology Showcases & Branding
Large sports events and leagues serve as showcases for new technologies (5G, XR, AI). For example, being a cloud partner of an Olympics or running a global startup challenge gives brand credibility and signals leadership in innovation.
d) Global Reach & Localised Execution
Sports are global, but with vast local fandoms. Big tech can scale infrastructure globally but tailor local experiences, which fits their model. Also, growth in APAC and emerging markets shows further upside.
What This Means for the Ecosystem & Your Sector
As someone working in marketing, education, entertainment, or tech, the implications are rich:
- For startups/service providers: If you build technology applied to sports (analytics, fan-apps, venue tech, performance tech), the big companies are actively looking for partners, acquisitions, collaborations.
- For sports organisations: You can engage with major tech platforms, not just as customers, but as co-innovators or pilots for new tech.
- For marketing & brand strategists: Big tech + sports = big stories. You can leverage athlete/asset partnerships, tech demonstrations, interactive fan experiences.
- Geographically (e.g., SEA, Vietnam): The ecosystem is opening globally. Big tech’s interest can bring investment, innovation transfer, localisation. If you’re in the region, this is a chance to align early.
Key Takeaways & Strategic Questions
- Take sports seriously as a tech vertical: Don’t treat sports as “just entertainment”. It’s now a strategic vertical for big tech.
- Align tech + sport capabilities: If you have a tech solution (AI, analytics, cloud, fan-app) ask: how does this apply in a sports context (teams, leagues, events, venues)?
- Think ecosystem, not just product: Big tech is offering platforms, challenges, startup pipelines — there’s openness, but also scale expectations.
- Beyond performance: fan + venue + sustainability: Many innovations are not just about athlete performance but fan engagement, stadium operations, sustainability. For example, the SportHack hackathon includes “sustainable sport” as a key track.
- Global/local balance: While big tech are global, the real opportunities may be localised sports markets: regional leagues, emerging markets, fan bases in Asia, SEA etc. The investment data show the rise of APAC.
- Partnerships matter: If your company (or your clients) work in adjacent fields (e.g., education + sport tech, marketing + fan engagement, venue services), aligning with big tech or sports organisations opens doors.
Example Headlines to Watch
- Big tech companies launching startup challenges or innovation programmes specifically for sports (e.g., IBM & Web Summit)
- Media/cloud providers signing official partnerships with major sporting events (e.g., Google Cloud + LA28)
- Investment surges in sports tech startups, data and analytics, smart venues, fan-experience platforms
- Hackathons and open innovation forums focusing on sports tech, sustainability, XR/fan platforms (e.g., SportHack 2025)
- Expansion of sports tech funding in Asia/SEA: as the global investment numbers show increases and emerging markets catch up.
What to Watch For
- Which other major tech companies follow Google and IBM into exclusive sports partnerships? (e.g., Amazon, Microsoft, Meta)
- How sports leagues, teams, venues will monetise technology: will fan platforms, data analytics, venue services become core revenue streams?
- Changes in business models: e-sports, hybrid events, immersive fan experiences — how will big tech enable/monetise these?
- Local/regional sports tech ecosystems (Asia, SEA, Vietnam): how will they integrate with global platforms or adapt big-tech models to regional context?
- Sustainability and social impact in sports tech: the “smart stadium” and “green sport” angle is gaining traction as part of big-tech-enabled innovation.
The message is clear: sports is no longer a passive, ancillary domain for tech companies. It is a strategic area — rich in data, engagement, infrastructure, media, brand value — and big tech is moving in accordingly.
For companies operating in marketing, education, entertainment, venue services, or tech (especially in Asia/SEA region), this trend opens major opportunities. The question is: will you position yourself on the front-foot?
Vitex is operated by serial founders ourselves. We have proven records in building and scaling our own award winning sport products – such as VFantasy, MyLeague, dFantasy, etc – then applied the same successful mantra to our partners globally. If you are a founder who needs helping hands to start building, talk to us! Our colleagues Tony Bui , Lars van den Bos , Annie Nguyen are here to support you!
WRITE A COMMENT