The Must-Attend Sports Conferences in 2027

Deciding where to spend your 2027 conference budget? For sports executives, founders, and investors, the real question isn’t which event has the flashiest keynote lineup. It’s which one actually shows you where the industry is heading, and puts you in the room with the technology and people building it.

To answer that, we mapped the sports business and technology event landscape end to end. Not just event names and dates, but who actually shows up, and what each one is genuinely built to deliver.

The result is the comprehensive breakdown below. It’s sorted by what each event is really built for: discovering sports innovation and technology, closing deals, digging into analytics, or building an executive network. Every entry links to the organizer’s own site, so you can go straight to registration once you’ve picked the right fit.

What is the best sports business conference?

The best sports business conference depends on your goals:

• PEAK: sports innovation, a 150+ company Tech Expo, and direct access to the people building what’s next
• MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference: analytics and research
• SBJ World Congress of Sports: broad executive networking
• SBJ Dealmakers: investors and M&A
• Leaders Week London: international relationships
• GSIC Summit: regional innovation ecosystems
• SBJ Tech Week: media, streaming, and broadcast technology

SportsTech is one of the fastest-growing categories in sports business

The case for picking the right conference gets stronger when you look at where the money is moving. Global sportstech M&A and financing hit more than $130 billion in disclosed deal value across 239 deals in a single quarter (Q1 2026). M&A alone accounted for $114.6 billion of that. Annual funding into the category reached $8.8 billion in 2025, roughly triple the year before. The sector now counts 46 sportstech unicorns worth a combined $210.2 billion. On the technology side, 82% of sports organizations already use AI, and 98% plan to expand that use within 12 months. PEAK’s own 2026 Future of USA SportsTech Report tracks that shift in depth across what it calls the four layers of AI: Perception, Generative, Agentic, and Physical.

That growth is exactly why the conference landscape has gotten crowded and confusing. New events keep launching to serve the capital and technology flooding into the space. Picking the right one matters more than it did two or three years ago, instead of just clicking the first result in search.

Quick comparison: sportstech and sports business conferences in 2027

On narrow screens, swipe to see all three columns.

Full details on who attends each event, and why, are below.

We verified dates and details above against each event’s official site or primary ticketing listing. Conference schedules shift year to year, so confirm current dates with the organizer before booking travel.

Best sports conferences by focus area

Most comparisons stop at the table above and call it done. The real difference between these events is who they’re built to serve. Does that match what you’re trying to get done?

PEAK: sports innovation, with technology at the center

PEAK bills itself as the Global Home of Sports Innovation, and technology is the throughline. The Tech Expo alone brings 150+ sportstech companies onto the show floor, more than you’ll find at any other event in this category. PEAK 2027 runs March 31 to April 2, 2027 at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas. The event draws 2,000+ attendees, 125+ speakers, and 50+ countries across six tracks: Revenue Strategy, Business Operations, Smart Venues, Fan Engagement, Media & Broadcasting, and Athlete Performance. Solution Huddles and Capital Huddles add structured 15-minute one-to-one meetings. They connect sports organizations directly with the startups and investors building for them, instead of leaving it to a hallway conversation.

MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference: the research and data hub

Sloan started in 2006. An MIT sports analytics class had run its course, and Daryl Morey and Jessica Gelman turned the idea into a conference. The first edition in 2007 drew 140 people to an MIT hallway. It grew fast: over 1,000 attendees by 2010. By 2018, its biggest year, attendance hit roughly 3,500 people from 35 countries, the largest student-run conference in the world. Boston’s Menino Convention and Exhibition Center hosted the 2026 edition, which drew over 2,500 attendees. ESPN has sponsored the event since 2010, and it still pulls representatives from 80-plus professional sports teams and 200-plus universities.

That history matters for how you should think about Sloan. It’s a research and analytics event first, student-run, with a heavy academic and data-science bent. It’s the reference point for sports analytics specifically, less commercial than the other events on this list. It’s more useful for hiring analytics talent or tracking where the research is heading than for closing a vendor deal.

SBJ World Congress of Sports: the broad executive room

World Congress of Sports calls itself the largest and most prestigious sports business conference in North America. That’s the organizer’s own positioning, not an independently verified ranking. It’s a fair description of the room, though: commissioners and league officers, team owners and presidents, corporate sponsors, media executives, and agency and finance leaders. The 2026 edition runs at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE. It’s broad by design, covering media rights, sponsorship, and league strategy. That makes it a strong general-networking play, but a less targeted fit if you’re specifically looking for sportstech product-market fit conversations.

SBJ Dealmakers: where the capital is

Dealmakers is a one-day, New York-based event built around ownership transactions, capital deployment, and private equity in sports. If your goal is fundraising conversations or M&A, it’s more targeted than a general sports-business conference. It doesn’t cover product demos or operator-level sessions, though.

Leaders Week London: the international executive network

Leaders Week London moves to Stamford Bridge in 2026 and draws senior executives from across global sport. That gives it the strongest international and European-club reach of any event on this list. It’s a fit if your priority is building relationships outside North America. It’s less of a fit if you need structured, one-to-one meetings with technology providers.

GSIC Summit: the regional innovation network

GSIC, powered by Microsoft, runs a series of regional summits (Singapore, Valencia, and other host cities) rather than one flagship event. It’s a good fit for startups and federations building presence in specific international markets. It functions more as an ongoing ecosystem network than as a single annual gathering.

SBJ Tech Week: the media and broadcast tech deep dive

SBJ Tech Week runs May 18 to 20, 2026 at The Times Center in New York. It’s a three-day, technology-only drill-down: AI, analytics, streaming and alternative broadcasts, fan engagement platforms, extended reality, and sports betting, drawing 500 to 1,000 attendees. Of everything on this list besides PEAK, it’s the closest in spirit, technology is the entire agenda, not one track among several. The difference is scope. Tech Week stays inside media, streaming, and broadcast technology specifically. PEAK’s Tech Expo and six tracks cover the full range of what a sports organization has to manage.

Which sports conference should you attend?

Match the event to the role, not the other way around:

• Sports organizations (teams, leagues, venues, governing bodies): PEAK and World Congress of Sports both put you in the room with vendors and peers. PEAK’s Solution Huddles add structured meeting time if you’re actively evaluating technology, instead of leaving it to hallway conversations.
• Startups and solution providers: PEAK and GSIC put you directly in front of sports organizations evaluating new technology. That beats sponsoring a booth at a general business event and hoping the right people stop by.
• Investors: Dealmakers is the most targeted single event for ownership and capital-deployment conversations. PEAK’s Capital Huddles are useful if you want founder access alongside a broader innovation program, not just a single-day, deal-only agenda.
• Brands, sponsors, and rights buyers: World Congress of Sports and Leaders Week London both skew toward media rights and sponsorship strategy at the executive level. Leaders Week has the stronger international, European-club angle.
• Media, broadcasters, and creators: World Congress of Sports and PEAK’s Media & Broadcasting track both have direct sessions in this space. If you’re already in Las Vegas for PEAK 2027, NAB Show runs April 3 to 7 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Close enough to combine both trips into one week.
• Analysts and data teams: Sloan remains the clearest fit, especially if you’re recruiting from the student and academic pipeline it draws each year.
• Media and tech teams tracking streaming and broadcast specifically: SBJ Tech Week is narrower and more focused than PEAK’s full innovation program. Worth it if that’s the only slice you need.

How much do these conferences cost?

Focus areas and dates only tell you half the story. Budget is usually the deciding factor, and it varies more than you’d expect across this list, from free (with application) to over two thousand dollars for a single in-person pass.

Prices pulled directly from each event’s own registration page and are in USD unless noted. Ticket pricing changes and early-bird windows close, confirm current pricing with the organizer before budgeting.

Why sports leaders keep coming back to PEAK

Most conferences on this list cover one slice of the industry: analytics, dealmaking, executive networking, or media technology. PEAK is built around sports innovation broadly, with technology as the proof point. Sports organizations trying to solve a real operating problem sit in the same room as the startups and investors building the fix, with meeting time designed to make that happen. The Tech Expo floor adds 150+ companies to see firsthand. PEAK 2027 runs March 31 to April 2, 2027 at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas. Six tracks cover the full range of what a modern sports organization has to manage: Revenue Strategy, Business Operations, Smart Venues, Fan Engagement, Media & Broadcasting, and Athlete Performance.

Want to see what that looks like in practice? Read The Future of Sports Technology for where the industry is heading, or dig into the 2026 Future of USA SportsTech Report for the data behind it.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between a sportstech conference and a sports business conference?

A sportstech conference centers on technology, startups, and the products vendors sell into the sports industry. A sports business conference covers broader ground: strategy, media rights, sponsorship, and ownership. It doesn’t always include a strong startup or vendor presence. PEAK sits at the intersection deliberately. It’s a sports innovation event first, proven out through a 150+ company Tech Expo. But it’s structured the way a sports business conference is, with sports organizations in the room evaluating that technology firsthand, not just an audience for pitches.

What is the largest sports business conference in the U.S.?

By attendance, Sloan is among the largest single-venue events in the category. It drew over 2,500 attendees in 2026, and as many as 3,500 in its biggest year. World Congress of Sports markets itself as the largest and most prestigious gathering of senior sports-business executives, a claim about seniority and influence rather than headcount. Which one counts as “largest” depends on whether you’re measuring attendees or the seniority of the room.

Is PEAK a sportstech conference or a sports business conference?

Both, by design. PEAK covers six tracks (Revenue Strategy, Business Operations, Smart Venues, Fan Engagement, Media & Broadcasting, and Athlete Performance) that mirror a typical sports business conference’s structure. But every track centers on the technology and vendors solving problems in that area, that’s the sportstech piece. Solution Huddles and Capital Huddles exist to connect sports organizations directly with the startups, solution providers, and investors building for them. That beats running them as separate tracks that never intersect.

Which sports conference is best for raising capital or finding investors?

SBJ Dealmakers is the most targeted single event for ownership transactions and capital deployment. It draws private equity, investment banking, and ownership-group attendees for a one-day, deal-focused agenda. PEAK’s Capital Huddles serve a similar purpose for earlier-stage sportstech startups. The advantage is a broader three-day program around it, rather than a single day built purely around dealmaking.

Which conference is best for tracking media and broadcast technology specifically?

SBJ Tech Week is the narrowest, purpose-built fit: three days entirely on AI, streaming, and fan engagement technology in media and broadcasting. PEAK covers the same ground inside its Media & Broadcasting track and Tech Expo, alongside five other tracks and 150+ technology companies spanning the rest of the sports industry. It’s the better pick if broadcast tech is one priority among several, rather than the whole trip.