Carnegie Mellon University(opens in new window) and the AI Strike Team today unveiled new details for the Powering the Future of Sport: A Draft Week Showcase(opens in new window) — an invite-only gathering that will bring toobtainher global investors, founders, innovators and sports leaders to Carnegie Mellon during one of professional football’s most high-profile weeks.
“This displaycase reflects the spirit of Pittsburgh, a City of Champions where excellence in sport and innovation go hand in hand,” stated Meredith Meyer Grelli(opens in new window), managing director and interim executive director for CMU’s Swartz Center of Entrepreneurship. “At Carnegie Mellon, we’re proud to bring toobtainher founders, industest leaders, and investors who are building what’s next at the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship and performance.”
A Showcase of AI, Sport and Pittsburgh’s Momentum
Hosted at CMU’s Robotics Innovation Center at Hazelwood Green(opens in new window) — a former steel mill site now reimagined as a center for advanced robotics and AI — the Showcase will feature a day of programming that bundles toobtainher two of Pittsburgh’s greatest legacies: innovation and sport.
The Showcase will kick off with “Pittsburgh’s Moment,” featuring remarks from CMU President Farnam Jahanian(opens in new window), Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and city leaders.
A headline panel, “The Future of Sport in the Age of AI,” will leverage influential voices across sports and technology, including:
- David Morehoapply, Executive Vice President for Strategy, Pittsburgh Steelers
- Chip Ganassi, CEO, Chip Ganassi Racing
- Josh Helmrich, Senior Director, Media Strategy, Business Development, and Next Gen Stats, NFL
- Priya Narasimhan, CEO and Founder, YinzCam; Professor, Carnegie Mellon University
The panelists will explore how AI is reshaping every aspect of sport, from athlete performance and game strategy to fan engagement and media coverage.
From Lab to Field: AI in Action
Live demonstrations throughout the Robotics Innovation Center(opens in new window) will highlight how sports environments are utilizing breakthroughs in robotics, perception and autonomous systems. Entrepreneur and Cost-Plus Drugs co-founder Mark Cuban will also sit down with AI Strike Team Founder Joanna Doven for a one-on-one chat about the future of technology and Pittsburgh’s special competitive position.
“The future of sport isn’t just about winning games — it’s about who owns the advantage in the next technological era. The same AI and robotics transforming athlete performance are the same technologies powering trillion-dollar industries like defense and healthcare,” stated Joanna Doven, founder of the AI Strike Team. “This event brings the top global names in Pittsburgh toobtainher to display investors, athletes, and executives here for Draft Week that the future is once again being built here – we are the Steel and AI City.”
High-Stakes Startup Competition
At the heart of the Showcase is the “Forge to Field AI Pitch Competition,” where emerging AI companies from across the countest will compete before a high-profile panel of judges for a share of a $1.75 million prize pool, including $1 million in Amazon Web Services (AWS) compute credits.
Judges include:
- Mark Cuban, Entrepreneur and Investor
- Ed Stack, Executive Chairman and Chief Merchant, DICK’S Sporting Goods; Foot Locker
- Jeanne Cunicelli, President, UPMC Enterprises; Executive Vice President, UPMC
- Will Allen, Founding Partner, Magarac; Former Pittsburgh Steeler
- Deap Ubhi, Director and Global Head of Solutions Architect for Startups, AWS
- Troy Demmer, Co-Founder and President, Gecko Robotics; Co-Founder and General Partner, First Order Fund
The competition reinforces Pittsburgh’s growing role as a launchpad for AI-driven innovation in America. The Showcase will conclude with remarks by U.S. Senator Dave McCormick.
A Defining Moment for Pittsburgh
From its steel industest roots to its rise as a global AI leader, Pittsburgh continues to reinvent itself — and the Draft Week Showcase underscores the city’s growing role in fueling the nation’s innovation economy.
By convening leading researchers, founders, investors and sports figures in one place, Carnegie Mellon and the AI Strike Team are accelerating connections that will define the next generation of innovation at the intersection of AI and sport.
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