Ten Companies Secure Spot in 2024 Class of the Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Accelerator
PHILADELPHIA, February 22, 2024 —Today, 10 companies were accepted into the fourth class of the Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech Accelerator, powered by Boomtown. The immersive six-month program will kick off in March.
The exciting opportunities and impactful outcomes of the SportsTech program have continued to fuel interest and demand with more than 1,500 applicants for this year’s class, from across 52 countries. The 10 companies selected will have a chance to engage with some of the top sports and tech brands from around the world, including the Premier League, who just joined the SportsTech partner consortium last summer, along with NBC Sports, NBC Sports Next, Sky Sports, Comcast Spectacor, Golf, NASCAR, and PGA TOUR; and three US Olympic sports organizations: U.S. Ski & Snowboard, USA Swimming, and USA Cycling. Since the first class in 2021, SportsTech alumni have achieved 132 pilots, partnerships, and commercial deals with consortium partners.
This unique access to decision-makers at leading sports brands and organizations and across Comcast will provide valuable insights on enhancing their products and services and prepare for accelerated commercial success through strategic collaborations with program partners and within the broader sports industry.
“When it comes to constructing and curating our SportsTech portfolio, every facet of our decision-making process aims to unlock startups that can become ‘scale-ups’ ready to impact the world of sports,” said Jenna Kurath, Vice President, Startup Partnerships and Head of Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech. “The SportsTech program focuses not only on tackling complex business challenges for a vast cross-section of some of the world’s most recognized sports brands, but it additionally prepares founders to build sustainable businesses.”
Entrepreneurs will work one-on-one with SportsTech advisors and participate in customized programming focused on refining go-to-market strategy, commercial business alignment, and adaptive business modeling, with an emphasis on direct business outcomes for enterprise-ready scale.
SportsTech participants will also benefit from a series of unique excursions and working retreats structured around partner events that will bring founders behind-the-scenes to give them a better understanding of the organizations’ operational needs.
The 2024 program will begin on March 4 in Florida with a roadshow of partner events and immersion experiences designed to deepen customer discovery—taking founders behind-the-scenes at Universal Studios Florida and NASCAR’s Daytona International Speedway and showcasing how PGA TOUR and NBC Sports’ Golf produce professional sporting events, like the Arnold Palmer Invitational—allowing founders to identify how to align their technology solutions to the business and operational needs of partners.
Mentors will include industry leaders from Comcast NBCUniversal as well as strategic advisors from the Boomtown network and the partner consortium, including: Will McIntosh, President, NBC Sports NEXT and Fandango; Lora Dennis, Executive Vice President, NBCUniversal Local; Jim Denney, Chief Product Officer, Peacock; Alexandra Willis, Director of Digital Media and Audience Development, the Premier League; Wyatt Hicks, NASCAR Digital Vice President; and Scott Gutterman, Senior Vice President, Digital Operations, PGA TOUR, among others.
The capstone of the program will take place at Rally Innovation in Indianapolis on August 27-28, 2024, where this year’s founders will showcase their tech innovations, putting a spotlight on their scale-up traction during the program to garner new business opportunities across the broader sports industry.