The Hidden Sports Play in the Data-Center Boom
Who’s building it, where the money is flowing, and how to seize the cross-industry opportunity.
Profluence Sports Weekly Updates
📅 Upcoming Member Events
9/26 - Q&A with sports investor Chris Russo
9/30 - Fundraising Camp Session #2
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We’re excited to partner with Citrin Cooperman to develop more resources for sports founders, which also unlocks major discounts on their tax/accounting services for members.
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Data Centers and Sports
I love paying attention to tech news and then applying it back to sports.
And one of the core trends has left me with the conclusion that…
The most valuable sports assets of the next decade may be invisible from the field of play.
This is an opportunity in itself (but also ties back to sports tech and what many of you are building).
Let’s Dive In 👇
What’s Happening?
AI is fueling one of the biggest infrastructure booms in modern history.
Massive data centers are being built to meet the computing demands of large language models, generative video, and real-time analytics.
And interestingly…
Sports is becoming a direct beneficiary (and participant) in this global data-center arms race.
But first, let’s look at what data centers actually are and the broader macro ecosystem as a whole.
History + Explanation of Data Centers
Today, there are multiple types of data centers:
Enterprise (on-premises) data centers
Managed data centers and colocation facilities
Public cloud data centers and hyperscale data centers
Data centers date back to the 1940s, when they were used exclusively for the military.
In the 1990s, microcomputers came on the scene, drastically reducing the amount of space needed for IT operations (going from servers to data centers).