Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship › Events › NFL Draft Pitch Competition

Powering the Future of Sports: Draft Week Showcase

Presented by Carnegie Mellon's Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship & AI Strike Team

Robotics Innovation Center, Hazelwood Green
Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Powering the Future of Sport: Draft Week Showcase brings global investors, founders, innovators and sports leaders to Pittsburgh—a city defined by grit, competition, and reinvention. Long a sports capital and now a global hub for AI, this invite-only gathering convenes the builders and backers driving the historic platform shift in how sport is trained, played, and experienced. From Physical AI to real-time performance, intelligent infrastructure and next-generation fan experiences, technologists and CEOs will showcase live systems moving from lab to field to market.

Hosted at Carnegie Mellon University ’s newly opened Robotics Innovation Center—the nation’s premier facility for next generation Physical AI research and commercialization — this NFL Draft Week event culminates in a Shark Tank–style $1.275 million pitch competition spotlighting the nation’s top AI companies ready to scale in sports.

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Pitch Competition Judging Panel

mark cuban

Mark Cuban
Entrepreneur & Investor

Mark Cuban is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, best known for disrupting industries from tech to sports and for his long-running role as a judge on Shark Tank. As a champion of bold ideas and founder-first thinking, he brings sharp insight, direct feedback, and real-world experience to every stage he steps onto.

ed stack

Ed Stack
Executive Chairman and Chief Merchant, DICK'S Sporting Goods; Foot Locker

Ed Stack is the Executive Chairman and Chief Merchant of DICK’S Sporting Goods and the visionary leader who transformed a small family bait-and-tackle shop into the nation’s largest sporting goods retailer. Known for pairing disciplined growth with values-driven leadership, he brings decades of retail expertise and a deep commitment to community impact to every conversation.

will

Will Allen
Founding Partner, Magarac Venture Partners, NFL Athlete

Will Allen is a founding partner at Magarac Venture Partners (MVP), an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in market-defining technology companies. Allen has over a decade of experience as a business leader, investor, nonprofit founder and professional athlete managing high-performing teams and producing outsized returns on investments. He has led investments, advised companies and up-starts on market-growth strategy, business analytics, facilitation of strategic partnerships and leadership development.

Pitch Competition: Rules, Eligibility, & Location Preference

WHO SHOULD APPLY

Pre-Series B startups building at the intersection of leading-edge technology and sport. We’re looking for founders building in and harnessing the power of AI, robotics, physical AI, computer vision, digital twins, and more to tackle:

Athlete performance, training, and athlete safety
Game and athlete analytics
Fan Engagement Platforms
Venue technology, broadcast
Health & Wellness

U.S. and international companies are eligible. While the Forge AI Pitch: Draft Edition is open to qualified applicants globally, preference will be given to companies that commit to establishing a substantial and sustained operating presence in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

A “substantial operating presence” may include, but is not limited to:

Establishing a headquarters or primary office
Opening a significant satellite office
Locating engineering, R&D, manufacturing, or deployment operations in the region
Hiring a meaningful number of employees based in Pennsylvania

Finalist Requirement:

As a condition of receiving prize funds, the winning company must enter into a Location Commitment Agreement confirming its intent to base or expand meaningful operations in Pittsburgh within a defined timeframe, subject to mutually agreed-upon terms.

Failure to satisfy the location commitment may result in delayed, reduced, or forfeited prize disbursement.

This competition is designed to accelerate real company formation, job creation, and Physical AI deployment in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania, not solely to award capital.

The awardees must undergo diligence to validate representations in their application and a background check.

Finalists are required to be in Pittsburgh, PA on April 22 to present in-person at the Pitch Competition.

Applications will remain open until 11:59PM, Wednesday, April 1, 2026.

Apply Today

The Prize

Total Prize: $1,275,000

$1,000,000 in compute credits powered by AWS
$275,000 investment

Plus founder-level advantages unavailable anywhere else:

Access to premier Physical AI workspace at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Innovation Center, subject to availability and standard CMU terms
Direct mentorship and advisory access to leading roboticists, AI researchers, and applied-AI operators from Pittsburgh’s Physical AI ecosystem
Founder and team access to Pittsburgh’s sports culture, including season passes to Pittsburgh Steelers games for founders or key employees, subject to availability and team policies
Warm introductions to league partners, healthcare systems, investors, and compute platforms operating in Pittsburgh

Sports Ecosystem Access

As part of the founder experience, winning companies may receive access to Pittsburgh’s professional sports ecosystem, which may include opportunities such as:

Attendance benefits for founders or employees at select Pittsburgh Steelers games, subject to availability and applicable team policies
Invitations to ecosystem events connecting sports, technology, and innovation leaders

Participation does not imply endorsement by the Pittsburgh Steelers or the National Football League. All benefits are non-transferable and provided at the discretion of event partners.

WHERE ‘SERIOUS AI’ GETS BUILT: AMERICA’S MOST AFFORDABLE TECH CITY

Build with the best

Unmatched access to mentorship from the world’s leading roboticists and AI researchers at Carnegie Mellon University—the global epicenter of robotics, autonomy, and real-world AI, and the birthplace of autonomous driving and embodied intelligence.

Deploy where it’s real

Direct access to the Robotics Innovation Center and Pittsburgh’s live deployment ecosystem—where founders test drones, train robots, simulate environments, integrate hardware and software, and move from prototype to field-ready faster than anywhere else.

Live where builders thrive

America’s most affordable major tech city—where founders can focus on building, not burning capital. A legendary sports town with real culture, great neighborhoods, and energy. Pittsburgh is livable, human, and built for people who want to stay.