This week, numerous sports executives are meeting in Atlanta with entrepreneurs and startup founders for the start of the Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech program. The accelerator, now in its fifth year, features 10 early-stage companies focused on sports and technology that over the next six months will receive tutelage from experienced business operators, test their concepts and ideas and look to raise additional funding or seek partnerships and commercial deals.

As in previous years, the startups selected for the program receive a total of $50,000 from NBCUniversal and Boomtown, a company that works with and identifies startups and operates the accelerator. Comcast and Boomtown receive an equity stake in each of the companies.

A program-record of more than 1,600 companies applied for the accelerator, and they ran the gamut in terms of experience, country of origin and target market. But of the 10 startups selected, several are utilizing artificial intelligence in developing their products, a theme that is consistent across early-stage companies these days.

“AI is just finding its way into every sort of nook and cranny of industries,” said Jenna Kurath, Comcast’s vice president of startup partnerships and head of Comcast NBCUniversal SportsTech. “We see it as really bringing incredible cost savings and efficiencies. AI can be a phenomenal tool.”

Orreco, a Galway, Ireland-based software company with an AI-powered sports analytics platform, is among the members of the SportsTech program. Orreco has been around for several years and worked with the Atlanta Hawks, the National Basketball Players Association and other teams and athletes to help them make informed decisions about their sleep, recovery, training and other areas.

Camb.AI is another AI-focused company in the accelerator. The firm, based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, translates people’s speech into more than 140 languages. The company has struck partnerships with several entities, including Major League Soccer, with the league using Camb.AI’s technology to translate a match into French, Spanish and Portuguese at the same time as it was broadcast in English.

OZ Sports is the other company based outside the U.S. selected for this year’s SportsTech program. The Iceland-based firm uses AI to power cameras and help sports broadcasters in remote productions.

The other companies in the latest SportsTech cohort are Diddo, a technology company that enables viewers to click on and buy products they see on the television, computer or mobile device screen; Ekkobar, a company that helps analyze social media posts and trends; Liminal Space, a company that manufactures LED display systems; LiveLike, an audience engagement platform; PAM, a navigation platform; Satisfi Labs, an AI software company with clients in sports, entertainment and other industries; and Transmit, a company that allows streaming platforms to insert advertisements into their programs.

Transmit two years ago raised money from an investor group led by a fund managed by LionTree and SC Holdings at a $350 million valuation, making it on paper one of the most valuable companies selected for the SportsTech program since the accelerator launched in 2021. While some of the others are in much earlier stages, Kurath said the companies are “enterprise ready” and looking to take the next step in their business plan. She added that Comcast and the other partners involved in the program can provide business development ideas and advice.

The partners in the program are NBC Sports, NBC Sports Next, Sky Sports, Comcast Spectacor, the Golf Channel, NASCAR, Premier League, PGA Tour, University of Notre Dame, U.S. Ski & Snowboard, USA Swimming, and USA Cycling. Those companies/entities are all owned by Comcast or have a media rights deal with NBC. They can invest in or strike commercial deals with the startups in the SportsTech program, and executives from each partner serve as mentors for the SportsTech founders.

“We’re very much invested in going out there and finding the best startups in the world that have relevance for the business, and then testing in that six months,” Kurath said. “Think of it as an R&D (research and development) program. It really kind of keeps that innovation muscle humming within a company of our size and scale. We need to be working alongside entrepreneurs, rolling up our sleeves and pushing beyond the status quo.”

In Atlanta this week, the SportsTech founders are starting to develop relationships with representatives from Comcast and the other partner companies. They attended Sunday’s NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and they are scheduled to meet with NASCAR driver Tyler Reddick and listen to a fireside chat with members of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream organization.

Although NBC recently signed a deal to televise NBA and WNBA games starting next season, Kurath said the leagues are not yet formally part of the SportsTech program. However, she noted the NBA embraces young companies and the latest technology via the NBA Launchpad program, which recently announced its fourth cohort of sports technology startups.

“We’re both very much focused on R&D, really testing and piloting technology and seeing what is relevant to license (and) integrate into the business,” Kurath said. “We’re always looking for cost savings, operational efficiencies, unlocking new revenue. We very much share that ethos with the NBA in terms of we’ve got to stay on the forefront of all of these emerging new technologies so that we can really shape the future of sports.”