AI is coming to Olympic judging: what makes it a game changer? As the International Olympic Committee (IOC) embraces AI-assisted judging, this technology promises greater consistency and improved transparency. Yet research suggests that trust, legitimacy, and cultural values may matter just as much as technical accuracy. In 2024, the IOC unveiled its Olympic AI Agenda, positioning artificial intelligence as a central pillar of future Olympic Games. This vision was reinforced at the very first Olympic AI Forum, held in November 2025, where athletes, federations, technology partners, and policymakers discussed how AI could support judging, athlete preparation, and the fan experience.

From predictive analytics to personalized fan experiences, data and AI are powering the next generation of motorsport, says Rohit Agnihotri, principal technologist at Infosys, and Dan Cherowbrier, CTIO of Formula E. When the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship launched its first race through Beijing's Olympic Park in 2014, the idea of all-electric motorsport still bordered on experimental. Batteries couldn't yet last a full race, and drivers had to switch cars mid-competition. Just over a decade later, Formula E has evolved into a global entertainment brand broadcast in 150 countries, driving both technological innovation and cultural change in sport. Gen4, that's to come next year, says Dan Cherowbrier, Formula E's chief technology and information officer. You will see a really quite impressive car that starts us to question whether EV is there. Formula E's digital transformation, powered by its partnership with Infosys, is redefining what it means to be a fan. "It's a movement to make motor sport accessible and exciting for the new generation," says principal technologist at Infosys, Rohit Agnihotri. From real-time leaderboards and predictive tools to personalized storylines that adapt to what individual fans care most about--whether it's a driver rivalry or battery performance--Formula E and Infosys are using AI-powered platforms to create fan experiences as dynamic as the races themselves. Technology is not just about meeting expectations; it's elevating the entire fan experience and making the sport more inclusive, says Agnihotri. AI is also transforming how the organization itself operates. Historically, we would be going around the company, banging on everyone's doors and dragging them towards technology, making them use systems, making them move things to the cloud, Cherowbrier notes.

Fox News Flash top sports headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Whether it's your 10th time playing or your first, the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club is a daunting task for every golfer. It's the only major of the golfing season that's continuously played at the same course, yet golfers sometimes take weeks off between tournaments just to prepare for it. Like any sport, analytics factor into a golfer's preparation, with statisticians used by almost everyone on Tour, helping them track previous rounds on any given course to figure out a game plan each week.

Topgolf, which has plans to expand to 81 locations world-wide, has broken ground on its latest facility in the greater Boston area. Located in Canton, Mass., roughly 20 miles southwest of Boston, the venue is slated to open in late 2023 and will be the Topgolf's first foray into the state of Massachusetts. The facility will have 90 separate hitting bays that each contain heaters, fans and Topgolf's standard Toptracer technology that tracks ball speed, distance and powers gamification by inserting RFID chips into the golf ball. Customers, for instance, will be able to play an AR golf version of Angry Birds or a new digital spinoff called Shankstars where mythical characters such as a T-Rex skeleton play metaverse-styled courses that have unorthodox hazards. The Callaway-owned company currently has 70 sites up and operating, with others coming soon in locations such as San Diego.

Video games are not just for fun anymore, thanks to esports (electronic sports), also known as live-streamed professional gaming. In a typical esports competition, teams of expert game players face off against each other in a range of popular titles, like League of Legends and Dota 2. Their every move is watched, scrutinized, and analyzed by millions of viewers digitally logging into live streams, attending live events, or watching match recaps. The top players in the world, often known better by their on-screen handles than their real names, get paid a fortune in prize money. Esports teams play live events in the actual arenas used for traditional sports and rock concerts, like the Crypto.com If this all sounds a little serious for playing games, that is because it is.

Company Overview Fanatics is the global leader in licensed sports merchandise and changing the way fans purchase their favorite team apparel and jerseys. Through an innovative, tech-infused approach to making and selling fan gear in today's on-demand culture, Fanatics operates more than 300 online and offline stores, including the e-commerce business for all major professional sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, MLS, PGA), and more than 200 collegiate and professional team properties, which include several of the biggest global soccer clubs (Manchester United, Real Madrid, Chelsea). Fanatics offers the largest collection of timeless and timely merchandise whether shopping online, on your phone, in stores, in stadiums or on-site at the world's biggest sporting events. At Fanatics, we're a diverse, passionate group of employees aiming to ignite pride and passion in the fans we outfit, celebrate and support. We recognize that diversity helps drive and foster innovation, and through our IDEA program (inclusion, diversity, equality and advocacy) at Fanatics we provide employees with tools and resources to feel connected and engaged in who they are and what they do to support the ultimate fan experience.

Years ago, the LA Kings invested in SAS advanced analytics to replace their manual data processing. This enabled the analytics team to stop emailing spreadsheets, for example, and give decision makers real-time dashboards to make better, faster decisions. "Prior to using advanced analytics, we were doing labor-intensive data analysis in Excel spreadsheets," says Aaron LeValley, Senior Vice President of Business Operations and Strategy at AEG Sports. "It would take weeks, if not months, to provide insights to our internal stakeholders. With SAS we can move very quickly, be it through our ticketing group, our partnerships group or our marketing group."

From transforming marketing strategies to delivering thrilling and engaging digital fan experiences, find out how sports organisations can adjust to a digital-first future. Explore what’s possible now and how the AI ladder can help you develop the enterprise capabilities required to bring technology-driven initiatives to life. The world is undergoing tremendous change that impacts all industries, and the sports ecosystem is no different. The current health crisis caused training sessions, matches and sports competitions to be postponed or even cancelled entirely, disrupting all the stakeholders in the industry and leaving fans everywhere disconnected from the teams and the sportspeople they love. Now, organisations are left to navigate the implications of these extreme measures, while planning for a future that may look very different from the past. When technology meets sport Sport, in all its forms, is driven by – and produces, in turn – copious amounts of data. Purposefully exploiting that abundance of data can enable sports…

The use of technology and statistics in the sports industry is nothing new. In fact, for some decades now, professionals in the field have used the data generated during these activities to help athletes perform better. However, in the last several years, there was a revolution. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) became part of some of the main sports and sports leagues in the world, such as soccer, Formula 1, and football. The emergence of these technologies has taken the use of statistics generated through sports to a new level in the industry because they provide an almost infinite amount of information.

The decision led to sweeping changes to almost every aspect of the competition, from playing matches with electronic line calling to having athletes use food-ordering apps for meal deliveries to their hospitality suites at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. However, the absence of fans immediately presented a problem for some of the USTA's recent AI projects. Last year, for instance, the USTA worked with International Business Machines Corp. to introduce a number of AI-powered additions to the tournament, including machine learning algorithms that rapidly compose broadcast highlight reels based on crowd reaction. "June 17th was really a pivotal moment, a lot of the solutions that we had in the pipeline were no longer going to be viable," said Kristi Kolski, marketing program director for IBM's sports and entertainment partnerships unit. "No crowd, no roar, no AI highlights."