THE NFL AND MICROSOFT have announced a multi-year strategic partnership extension to “help usher in a new era of AI innovation throughout the league”.
Microsoft Copilot and Azure AI will help enhance the way coaches and players connect insights from the sideline to play on the field. It will also transform the workplace experience for football and business operations staff off the field.
The NFL is one of the world’s most popular sports leagues, with 335 events each season and hundreds of millions of fans across the globe. Incorporating the new Microsoft solutions will help drive innovation and enhance the game day experience leaguewide from the sideline to team headquarters to the league office.
“We are entering a new era of innovation at the NFL through our collaboration with Microsoft to deploy AI across key areas of the business,” says NFL CIO Gary Brantley. “Enhancing the league is a responsibility we take seriously, and Microsoft has been a trusted sideline technology partner for over a decade. With Microsoft’s AI technologies, including Copilot, there are tremendous opportunities to elevate the game day experience for our clubs and deliver an even more compelling product to our fans.”
AI on the sideline
From game day insights to strategic decision-making, utilizing tools like the Sideline Viewing System (SVS) powered by Copilot will enable coaches and players to access and analyze data in real-time to help make more informed decisions in a more efficient and customized way.
For example, in what formation was the defense when it forced a turnover? An offensive unit can use the SVS and Copilot to filter game-changing moments like that to help gain some insight on why a play turned out the way it did.
Security is also paramount. The SVS system is connected to NFL-managed Windows servers that enable teams to use the devices without any concern of outside interference.
“What does it mean to roll out technology in our environment?” says NFL’s deputy chief information officer Aaron Amendolia. “The elements are super important. We play in all different types of stadiums. There’re covered domes. There’s weather exposure. The device has to work in all these conditions. The battery has to be reliable. And it also has to have connectivity across all regions of the world.
“You’ve got 2,500 devices in play here. There’s a partnership (with Microsoft) to make sure these devices have all the right patches for security, that the device itself is robust, that we’ve built security into the designs of our applications, and that the AI has governance and security and trust around it. Because this is our most sensitive data around the game.”
Beyond the sideline
While AI on the sidelines allows teams to make decisions with speed and confidence, there are other scenarios where technology helps teams push for an edge on the road to game day. In addition to upgrading the SVS, this year the NFL is deploying an upgraded dashboard created with Excel and paired with Microsoft 365 Copilot to assist team data analysts – one of the fastest-growing staff positions in the NFL as more teams utilize this unique role to help pull data insights to bolster game strategies.
The new dashboard can help with formula building, data visualization and improved data types. The dashboard is found on a Surface Laptop 7 that is connected to each team’s analyst and can’t be used outside of game day. The analyst gains control of the spreadsheet 30 minutes before kickoff in the coaches’ booth.
