EVENT DETAILS

Friday, November 13, 2026
Jon M. Huntsman Hall, 3730 Walnut Street
The Wharton School, Philadelphia

The experience economy is a shift from products and services toward value created through memorable, participatory, and increasingly connected customer journeys. Digital technologies have expanded how those journeys can be personalized, coordinated across channels, and measured. AI now introduces a further change: it can stage experiences through prediction, operations, content, and service design, while also appearing frontstage as an agent, companion, or conversational interface.

Sports and entertainment make these dynamics especially visible. Fan experiences are co-created not only with athletes and performers, but across an ecosystem of venues, media, ticketing, merchandise, food and beverage, mobility, digital platforms, and other partners. The managerial challenge is therefore to orchestrate a coherent experience across organizations and touchpoints while preserving authenticity, trust, privacy, inclusion, and human connection.

Philadelphia offers an unusually rich field setting. The city hosted six FIFA World Cup 2026 matches and a citywide fan experience in June and July. At the same time, local sports organizations are deploying AI-enabled fan tools and smart-venue technologies, while Comcast Spectacor and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment are developing a new South Philadelphia arena slated to open in 2031. Together, these initiatives allow the conference to connect recent lessons with decisions about future AI-enhanced customer experiences.

Conference Purpose and Outputs

• Extract practical lessons from the 2026 World Cup and otherPhiladelphia experiences.
• Identify where AI adds value backstage and frontstage, and where human interaction should remain central.
• Developideas forexperience roadmaps and pilots in the age of AI.
• Translate practitioner challenges into a focused research agenda for Wharton and conference partners.

Participating organizations include Comcast NBCUniversal, Fanatics, Live Nation Entertainment, Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Union, Aramark, UKG, AnyRoad, and Satisfi Labs.