Written by Marcos Valeta – São Paulo
October 08, 2025, 4:03 PM
SF Tech Week kicked off today. It’s a decentralized week with events across the city and multiple partners. This was the first one on my agenda and it focused on what’s creating real value right now.
The core idea was simple and powerful: great tech is almost invisible. As Vickie Saunders emphasized, innovation should empower athletes and give them time back to focus on what matters most — training, recovery and performance. That looks like automating admin tasks, consolidating wearable data into truly actionable dashboards and building medical data flows with privacy and consent at the center. On the brand side, avatars and contract-aware tools help activate partnerships without overloading athletes.
On the fan side, innovation is moving fastest. In-stadium, the focus is a smooth journey from gate to seat, mobile ordering, real-time wayfinding and security that works without getting in the way. At home, live data layers, AR and VR make the broadcast more immersive and interactive. There are ongoing tests with facial recognition and ball or asset tracking that can improve access and analysis when paired with responsible data governance.
Media rights and betting surfaced as important frontiers. The opportunity is real when technology, competitive integrity and brand safety move together. Sustainability via IoT in venues and community initiatives help attract new audiences and make the experience more inclusive.
Bottom line: the best innovation is human. It brings fans closer, protects athletes, tells the story better and quietly returns the scarcest asset in high performance — time.
#waymakerprojects #sftechweek #techweek #sportstech #athleteempowerment #athleteperformance #fanexperience #stadiumTech #wearables #dataprivacy #brandsafety #aiinsports
