Bilt CEO Ankur Jain is betting AI and sports fandom can drive local spending - starting with free beers when the home team wins

Sports has never been bigger—team valuations are skyrocketing , fanbases are diehard , and the money in the industry is growing faster than it has before. Now Bilt, the online rewards platform, wants to make going to a sporting event about more than just what happens in the stadium.

The company is expanding what it calls a “neighborhood operating system,” allowing teams and local businesses to connect with fans through personalized rewards, loyalty programs, and AI according to a press release Tuesday.

The expansion is another step in Bilt’s effort to move beyond its origins as a rent-rewards platform and become an operating system for local commerce—under the proposed system, local restaurants and small businesses can use Bilt’s platform to pair with sports teams and drive local traffic through personalized rewards. The company has already partnered with multiple professional sports teams to make it happen—including the Phoenix Mercury, Phoenix Suns, Houston Comets, Houston Rockets, Houston Texans, Sacramento Kings, and Chicago Bears.

“We think of it as expanding game day into the neighborhood,” Bilt founder and CEO Ankur Jain told Fortune . Teams could offer fans restaurant reservations before games, transportation to stadiums and watch parties at nearby businesses—alongside exclusive discounts and other benefits, he said.

Bilt is also bringing sponsors into the equation. Jain described an arrangement with Constellation Brands , the company behind Corona, in which fans participating in a team’s loyalty program could receive a complimentary round of the beer at a local bar if their team wins. The sponsor would fund the offer directly through Bilt and the bar’s point-of-sale system without needing access to individual customers’ private information, Jain explained.

As pro sports have expanded past television screens in the modern day, they’ve become a source of community: fans congregating at sports bars, stadium tailgates, and camaraderie.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence’s 2026 Consumer Insights survey in July, approximately 74% of Americans watch live sports. Of those fans, 53% of Americans watch the NFL or college football, 36% watch baseball or basketball, and 20% watch hockey.

And that large fanbase means larger commercial opportunities that can extend past ticket sales. Sports teams have created opportunities to monetize their audiences through merchandise, sponsorships, memberships, and experiences past game day.