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The NBA Playoffs Are Redefining the Future of Fan Engagement

As the 2026 NBA Playoffs dominate screens, streaming platforms and social conversations worldwide, the sports industry is witnessing a major shift: Fans now expect personalized, always-on experiences that extend far beyond the live game itself.

At NAB Show, the session “NBA League Pass: D2C Fan Engagement & The Future with AI” explored how the NBA has become a global benchmark for direct-to-consumer innovation. Central to that evolution is the league’s partnership with Evergent Technologies, which began in 2022 to help scale NBA League Pass internationally through advanced subscriber lifecycle management, cross-platform accessibility and personalization capabilities. The partnership recently deepened with a strategic NBA investment in Evergent, reinforcing a shared commitment to delivering tailored fan experiences worldwide.

“A lot of sports leagues and teams distributed their content through cable networks in the past, and now they have the opportunity to go direct to consumer,” said Evergent founder and CEO Vijay Sajja. “That’s enabling them to go global … live sports is different. It’s a digital stadium.”

But building that digital stadium on a global scale comes with growing complexity. NBA EVP of media operations and technology Ken DeGennaro pointed to the challenge of navigating region-by-region regulations, customer engagement requirements and evolving monetization models across international markets.

Together, the conversation underscored a defining shift in sports media: Success is no longer measured only by viewership, but by how effectively leagues can personalize experiences, reduce friction and use AI-driven insights to deepen fan loyalty worldwide.

Signal of the Week

Missed NAB Show’s Main Stage session with NBC Sports? Watch the full session here where Jon Miller, President of Acquisitions & Partnerships at NBC Sports, reflects on what it takes to deliver tentpole sports moments on a global scale.

Catch all NAB Show’s main stage sessions on our website or on YouTube!

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  NBC Sports Playbook: Rights, Partnerships, and What’s Next

  watch now: NBC Sports Playbook: Rights, Partnerships, and What’s Next

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The post The NBA Playoffs Are Redefining the Future of Fan Engagement appeared first on NAB Show.

The conversation examines how organizations are working together to meet rising expectations for quality, speed, and reliability across live production, venue operations, and viewer experience. Gain insight into what it takes to bring an event of this magnitude to life, and how the World Cup continues to push innovation across the sports media ecosystem.

Moderator: Lori H. Schwartz, CEO and Founder, StoryTech

Speakers:

Oscar Sanchez, Head of Host Broadcast Production, FIFA
Brian Gorney, Senior Director – Sports & Entertainment, Verizon Business
Kevin Callahan, VP, Field Operations & Engineering, FOX Sports

Location: Sports Theater

The post The World Cup: Broadcasting the Biggest Event in Sports appeared first on NAB Show.

The conversation explores how intelligent, secure data infrastructure supports speed, creativity, and long-term preservation as content volumes and resolutions continue to grow. Gain insight into how behind-the-scenes technology decisions directly shape what fans see on screen.

Speakers:

Matt Field, Regional Manager – Solutions Engineering, NetApp
Fran Camardella, Director of Post Production Engineering, NFL
Sandeep Singh, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Enterprise Storage, NetApp

Location: VideoNext Theater

The post From the Vault to the Future: NFL Films, NetApp, and Digital Workflows at Scale appeared first on NAB Show.

Speaker: Francois Legrand, Senior Director of Innovation, CBC/Radio Canada

Location: Tech Chat Theater

The post Real-world usage of DMF principles – Lessons learned during the MiCo 2026 games appeared first on NAB Show.

Discover the evolution of Thursday Night Football’s Prime Vision – from its groundbreaking debut to its latest innovations – and explore how Quick Suite empowers Prime Video Sports teams to unlock deeper insights and accelerate decision-making.

Learn how NFL IQ is changing how fans understand football teams’ draft strategy, how NBA statistical analysis is revealing new dimensions of basketball performance, and how NASCAR’s high-speed data challenges are being solved in real-time. We’ll also showcase AWS’s broader sports analytics partnerships, including transformative work with the PGA Tour’s shot-by-shot data visualization.

This session demonstrates how the combination of Prime Video’s sports expertise and AWS’s cloud infrastructure and AI capabilities is creating unprecedented opportunities for broadcasters, leagues, and fans alike.

Speakers:

Sam Schwartzstein, Thursday Night Football Analytics Expert, Prime Video
Ari Entin, Principal, Sports Marketing, Amazon Web Services
Rachel Kelley, Principal Tech Business Development Leader, Amazon Web Services

Location: AWS Theater

The post Winning with Data: How AWS and Prime Video Are Redefining Sports Engagement appeared first on NAB Show.

Speakers:

Lucas Johnson, Sr Technical Media Specialist, Amazon Web Services
Ethan Folz, Associate Vice President of Digital Operations, National Basketball Association
Keith Cafferty, Associate Vice President – DTC Product, Technology & Operations, National Basketball Association
Patrick Lok, Senior Technical Account Manager, Amazon Web Services

Location: AWS Theater

The post Game On: How the NBA Transformed Digital Streaming at Scale with AWS appeared first on NAB Show.

AWS Elemental Inference solves this problem. By applying AI in parallel with live video encoding — not after — it enables broadcasters and their technology partners to automatically generate vertical video outputs and highlight clips in real-time, with latency as low as 3–10 seconds and no AI expertise required.

In this session, an AWS Elemental product leader joins leaders from three pioneering AWS partners — ScorePlay, Tagboard, and Grabyo — to explore how they are embedding Elemental Inference directly into their products to unlock new value for their customers. From sports highlight automation to amplification and social media distribution, these innovators are demonstrating what becomes possible when AI is built into the video workflow itself. Together, they’ll share how the service’s “process once, optimize everywhere” model is helping their customers reach new audiences, reduce production costs, and compete in an AI-first media landscape — without rebuilding the systems they already rely on.

Speakers:

Regina Rossi, Head of Product, AWS Elemental Media Services, Amazon Web Services
Christine Chalk, Chief Product Officer, Tagboard
Charlie Prichard, VP of Commercial, Grabyo
Xavier Green, Co-founder and CTO, ScorePlay

Location: AWS Theater

The post From Broadcast to Every Screen: How AWS Partners Are Redefining Vertical Video with AI appeared first on NAB Show.

Speakers:

Brad Boim, Head of Media Operations, Amazon Prime Video Live Sports
Tulip Gupta, Principal Solutions Architect, Strategic Accounts, Amazon Web Services

Location: AWS Theater

The post AI-Native Prime Video: Transforming Live Operations, Media Management, and Broadcast Scheduling with Amazon Quick Suite and Kiro appeared first on NAB Show.

Panelists explore how properties are balancing scale with monetization, unlocking new revenue streams, and navigating cross-border partnerships and platform strategies. From evolving rights structures to the role of emerging technologies and distribution models, this conversation defines how the next era of sports media is being built at a global level.

Moderator: Sara Fischer, Media Correspondent, Axios

Speakers:

Ameeth Sankaran, CEO, Religion of Sports
Werner Brell, CEO, Motorsport Network
Sanjog Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, International Cricket Council, ICC

Location: Sports Theater

The post The State of Sports Media: Rights, Reach & Revenue appeared first on NAB Show.

Moderator: Kristian Hernandez, Senior Editor, SVG

Speakers:

Scott Sullivan, Vice President, Strategy & Innovation, Shure
Laura Johnson, Sr. Director, Game Presentation & Live Events, San Francisco 49ers
Ryan Cole, VP of Video Technology, COSM
Rick Gibson, Vice President, Media and Entertainment/Vyvx Broadcast Solutions, Lumen

Location: Sports Theater

The post Stadiums of the Future: Tech-Driven Venue Experiences appeared first on NAB Show.