Sports + Tech Are Transforming Talent Discovery (and at a rapid pace)

It’s no secret that the world’s best-performing organizations are built on finding, recruiting, and retaining top talent.

This is most clear in sports.

It’s why:

• prep schools aggregate local players
• colleges spend millions on recruiting
• pro teams have massive scouting teams

But things are changing…

1. Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) is putting the power back in the hands of the athletes.
2. AI and big data are helping to globalize recruiting through digital means.

Let’s Dive In ????

Sports Produces Top Talent

A stat that floats around and is accepted as truth…

Is that ~90% of Fortune 500 female executives played sports growing up.

The value of former athletes is clear.

The Role of Organizations

Organizations inside and outside of sports are adapting to this new dynamic.

• Colleges: With NIL, they’re investing more in programs to develop athletes’ personal brands and provide resources for visibility.
• Professional Teams: Expanding scouting budgets to include AI and tech-driven evaluation.
• Corporate Partners: The US Military and Fortune 500 firms increasingly turn to sports to identify high-potential talent for leadership roles.

This overlap between industries is creating exciting crossovers that didn’t exist before.

Here’s how recruiting works across most industries today:

1. Word of Mouth or Referral is still most common, as when people trust others, they’ll make the hire.
2. Then it goes to in-person, where you might meet someone or see potential from your own judgment.
3. And now we’re getting better technology to help evaluate digitally.

Let’s take a deeper look at this within sports…

The Athlete’s Perspective

The shift in talent discovery isn’t just changing how organizations recruit; it’s also reshaping the athlete’s journey.

Before NIL, most athletes relied heavily on schools, teams, and traditional scouting to gain exposure.

Now, with social media platforms and personal branding, athletes control their narrative.

Case in Point:
Consider a high school athlete with limited access to elite programs. They can now upload highlight reels, engage with recruiters digitally, and showcase their potential without needing to be in the “right place at the right time.”

This democratization means talent can surface from anywhere—regardless of geography or resources.

Technology is Changing the Game

AI and big data are revolutionizing every stage of the talent discovery process.

How it’s transforming scouting:

• Video Analysis: Platforms can break down hours of gameplay into actionable insights.
• Predictive Analytics: Tools now forecast an athlete’s potential, helping organizations make smarter decisions.
• Global Reach: Scouts can evaluate athletes from remote locations without stepping foot on a plane.

*I fit in as many companies as possible, but this is far from a complete market map as hundreds of firms are across these verticals.

Here’s the typical process:

1. Event Operator hires a Capture Service to livestream games, and then they split revenue on highlight packages.
2. Capture Service has bought someone’s camera, and every captured game goes into the cloud.
3. When the Capture Company pulls down a game, it costs ~$23/game.
4. Video Company pulls highlights from that game, although over 90% of them are never used.
5. Athletes will then take highlights and post on Recruiting Platforms.
6. Analytic Firms provide deeper data and insights for consumers and/or teams.

Keep in mind every sport is slightly different, and travel/club differs from high school.

The Athlete Opportunity App

A company doing some fascinating things in the space is GMTM — pronounced Game Time. They are bridging the gap between talent discovery and opportunities for athletes.

I met the founder, Joey Grant, in Florida at one of his events with former NFL player Shaqueim Griffin.

While most of their business is rooted in sports — doing work for clubs, leagues, and NGOs to evaluate talent…

GMTM recently signed a massive contract with the Air Force to help identify top candidates for the military.

This opened their eyes to the increasing need for organizations to find talent, with sports being a hotbed of the perfect characteristics.

Joey also said a few things in our podcast that stood out to me: ????

1. As sports evolve, they usually evolve and adapt around the athlete.
2. Technology has democratized access and how the world interacts, but it hasn’t fully been utilized in sports yet.
3. As an athlete, the name of the game is developing and finding the best exit path for you, which might be college, pro, or eventually into the secondary market.
4. NIL has smashed the world of free recruiting and put a true value on athletes in which payment is now required to recruit and retain them.
5. AI tools are only as good as the data they’re trained on. If biases exist, they could reinforce systemic inequalities.

Looking Ahead

Talent discovery is rapidly transforming across many different industries, but especially sports.

The gap between in-person and digital evaluation is shrinking at an accelerated pace.

And other industries are looking to sports for top talent.

The “needle in the haystack” player/person will start to be discovered at rates never before seen.

Exciting times are ahead!