For years, North Texas has been attracting companies looking to relocate, expand and tap into the region’s growing workforce. On May 20, that conversation landed in McKinney as Plug and Play, the McKinney Economic Development Corporation, SEICon and NTT DATA hosted the Batch 5 Expo at The Clubs of Stonebridge Ranch.

Artificial intelligence leaders, startup founders and corporate executives gathered Tuesday at The Clubs of Stonebridge Ranch as McKinney positioned itself as a growing hub for innovation and emerging technology. The Batch 5 Expo, hosted by Plug and Play McKinney, the McKinney Economic Development Corporation, NTT DATA and the Sports, Entertainment and Innovation Conference, featured startup pitches and discussions focused on AI-driven business growth and the expanding role of artificial intelligence across industries. The full-day event explored enterprise AI, travel, hospitality and emerging technologies through keynotes, fireside chats and live pitch sessions designed to connect founders with investors and strategic partners.

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) keep breaking attendance records – by a lot. Eight new professional leagues have launched since 2020, including softball, volleyball, and lacrosse. The optimism around women’s pro sports is so high that accounting firm Deloitte predicts the global women’s sports industry will surpass $3 billion in revenues this year – an increase of 340% since 2022. By all accounts, it’s not a fluke or a fad. And that’s largely because of one key reason: venture capitalists are pouring money into the burgeoning business of women’s sports for the long haul. Notably, many of them are women investors with decades of experience and capital to spend.

Las Vegas is set to host another Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium, with the NFL naming the city the site of Super Bowl 63 in 2029 — a return that comes on a relatively short timeline by Super Bowl standards.

Las Vegas is shedding its "Sin City" moniker as it transforms into a major sports hub, boosting tourism and the local economy.

UNLV’s Sports Innovation Institute has signed a memorandum of understanding for a research partnership with the Enhanced Games, an Olympic-style sports competition coming to Las Vegas in May with a major twist: The athletes’ use of many performance-enhancing drugs is legal.

Let’s agree to skip the pleasantries and fast-forward through the classic buzzwords and information everyone knows. Artificial intelligence is here, and it reaches its tendrils into every area of modern life, including—of course—gambling.

According to UNLV, over 900 professional athletes — women and men ­— have participated in the study that is approaching its 15th year with Bernick as the other co-primary investigator. The partnership was most recently extended again for five years in 2021. To this day, UFC has committed over $2 million to the efforts.

There’s no better place in the country than Las Vegas to bring together high–level sports executives from around the country for a meeting of the minds, as was the case last week when the second annual SEICon came to the Bellagio offering a wide variety of programming with some of the biggest names in the sports industry.

Las Vegas is chasing its next round of professional sports milestones: an NBA team, a World Series and a year-round slate of major sporting events that could make the Strip and its environs the busiest sports corridor in America. The Sports and Entertainment Innovation Convention is a partnership between UNLV’s Sports Innovation Institute, Syracuse University’s David B. Falk College of Sport and Las Vegas-based guest experience agency Circle. The convention brings together hundreds of experts to discuss innovations in the sports and entertainment industries.

With multiple professional sports teams calling Las Vegas home, the city is quickly becoming a major sports destination. This growing industry needs a variety of jobs to support it. We look at programs training people to take on these roles and how Southern Nevada is continuing to innovate its economy.

As the data rolls in, a team of sports medicine professionals analyzes the results of an athlete’s jump—it’s the beginning of a whole different ball game. During a Las Vegas Desert Dogs practice, a team from UNLV’s Sports Performance Education Economic Development Lab, otherwise known as SPEED, set up their high-tech floor monitor for players’ leaps.