America’s biggest sporting goods retailer doesn’t have a single store in India, and has no plans to open one. Yet it has just chosen Bengaluru to build the future of its technology. The Dick’s Sporting Goods Bengaluru centre is small today, but it says a lot about where the business of sport is heading, and about the role India’s tech capital could play in it.
What happened
DICK’S Sporting Goods is setting up an AI-native innovation centre in Bengaluru, named DK Sports, to build capabilities in AI engineering, data, product security and sports technology. It’s starting small but planning big: starting with about 10 employees, the centre is expected to grow to around 400 by 2029.
The centre won’t be a back office. Led by Kaushik Das, Managing Director at DKS Sports ACC, it will function as a microcosm of the company’s US technology organisation, with workstreams jointly owned with the global tech team.
In his own words, Das is focused on “building an AI-native global capability center that accelerates Data & AI transformation and creates measurable enterprise value.”
A $17 billion retailer with three businesses to run
Dick’s is a giant of American sport. Founded in 1948 by Richard “Dick” Stack, it is the largest sporting goods retailer in the United States and is listed on the Fortune 500. The US retailer, which reported FY26 revenue of $17.2 billion, picked Bengaluru for its technology ecosystem and engineering talent.
It’s also now more than one business. The hub will support the group’s three businesses — Dick’s Sporting Goods, Foot Locker and GameChanger — and work on intelligent AI agents, automation and enterprise-grade capabilities deployable across the global organisation.
That’s the key to the story. Running a sports retailer, a global sneaker chain and a youth-sports app at the same time creates a huge data and technology challenge. In our view, the Bengaluru centre is how Dick’s plans to build one shared set of AI tools for all three, rather than three separate ones.
What the Bengaluru team will actually build
1. Smarter shopping. The company is also exploring AI for inventory allocation, product recommendations and personalisation, and to automate repetitive tasks. For a retailer, getting the right shoe to the right store at the right time is worth millions. linkedin
2. AI that knows sport. Coach by Dick’s brings the company’s expertise into digital customer experiences, while GameChanger helps coaches plan and analyse game footage. That’s sports knowledge, turned into software. linkedin
3. Sports performance technology. Alongside retail tools, the centre’s goals include supporting data engineering and analytics, product development and security, and sports performance technology. sgbonline
Why Bengaluru?
The talent. The official answer is simple: talent and ecosystem. Bengaluru is where global companies already build their most important technology, from banks to carmakers. A global capability centre (GCC) here gives Dick’s access to thousands of experienced AI and data engineers.
The sports-tech scene. Bengaluru isn’t just an IT city anymore. As we’ve written, it has become India’s sports-tech capital, with a growing cluster of startups building apps, analytics and fitness platforms. That makes it easier to hire people who understand both technology and sport.
The timing. AI is changing retail fast, and companies that build their own capabilities early have an edge. A Bengaluru team that grows from 10 to 400 in three years lets Dick’s scale up quickly, at a cost that would be hard to match in the US.
The bigger picture: global sport is building in Bengaluru
Dick’s isn’t alone. Global sports and lifestyle brands are increasingly treating India not just as a market to sell into, but as a place to build: technology, design and data. Nike, for example, has also stepped up its India plans this year.
For Bengaluru, that creates a new kind of sports job: not playing, coaching or broadcasting, but engineering the software behind how sport is bought, coached and watched.
What it means for Indian sport
New careers in sports tech: 400 roles by 2029 means more Indian engineers working on sport-specific AI, skills that could later power Indian startups.
A boost for the ecosystem: global centres often become talent schools. People trained at DK Sports may go on to found or join Indian sports-tech companies.
Competition for talent: local startups will be competing with a deep-pocketed global brand for the same engineers.
A signal to investors: when a $17 billion sports retailer bets on Bengaluru’s sports-tech talent, it validates the city’s ambitions.
The question that matters
Will Bengaluru only build technology for global sports brands, or will it also build India’s own? Dick’s has made its choice. The opportunity now is for Indian sports-tech founders to use the same talent, and the experience it gains, to build global companies of their own.
At The Sports Columnist, we cover the deals, the money and the decisions behind sport. Every game has a second scoreboard, and more and more of it is being built in Bengaluru.
Sources: company and executive statements, and reporting on DKS Sports ACC, 2026.
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