Co-Developing Ventures
We partner with rights holders, athletes, and sponsors to design and scale AI-powered solutions
Athlete & Performance Pathways
AI-enhanced academies, digital twins, predictive training.
Community & Participation
Grassroots tools to grow membership, simplify management, strengthen connection.
Lifestyle & Commercial Extensions
Fan-focused platforms that save money, build affinity, and open new revenue streams.
ABOUT the founders
Justin Ricketts and Tim Hodgson are long-time collaborators who have built some of the most iconic programs for brands in Australian sport. At Octagon and then Ensemble, an agency they co-founded, they created the XXXX Gold International Beach Cricket Series, Rexona’s Greatest Athlete, and KFC’s decade-long cricket sponsorship strategy - ventures that proved their ability to fuse creativity, commercial value, and sporting inspiration.
Together, they bring a rare combination: Justin’s expertise in sports technology, AI, and commercial partnerships; Tim’s strength in impact ventures, storytelling, behaviour change and strategic partnerships. With NextPlay AI, they are uniting once more to harness sport’s unmatched trust and reach, amplified by artificial intelligence, to build ventures that grow commercially while tackling some of sports, and the world’s biggest challenges.
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Meet THE FOUNDERS
JUstin ricketts
Justin brings 30+ years of entrepreneurial leadership in sport, entertainment, and technology. He founded and sold Playsport New Media, orchestrated landmark events like the Man vs Machine Chess Challenge, and today leads global AI-driven transformation at Hogarth (WPP), working with the world’s largest brands.
Tim Hodgson
Tim’s career spans professional cricket, sports marketing, and impact-led ventures. He co-wrote the winning bid for the Invictus Games Sydney 2018, founded and sold My Net Zero to help businesses engage employees in climate action, and has led major social impact initiatives such as Gotcha4Life and the AI focused Impact GPT. His focus is on building authentic, impact-driven commercial ventures that inspire action and deliver measurable results.
Whether you’re a governing body, sponsor, athlete, or investor, NextPlay AI is your partner in co-developing AI-powered ventures that unlock new commercial value and deeper engagement.