Insights from Francesco Bruni
There are many business cases for sports organizations to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools; namely – as sport continues to digitalize – to drive internal operational efficiencies around their customer relationship management (CRM) and audience segmentation.
N3XT Sports Chief Information Officer (CIO) Motasem El Bawab recently discussed how customer-data service providers such as OpenAI are adapting their products to serve every stage of the user journey for their clients. While an “early concept for sports business analytics”, AI-powered solutions can “actually serve the rights holder at every stage of its data and digital development”, he explains, and “acts as an assistant” in sport’s continuous digital transformation.
Albeit a game-changer for the front office and how it handles data, AI is not an entirely new concept when it comes to an organization’s on-field and on-track pursuits. Speaking to N3XT Sports in May last year, Jonathan Lee, Intel’s then Director of Sports Performance Technology, detailed AI-powered athlete-tracking tools such as Intel’s 3DAT, which he says has been adopted by other sport properties, such as talent scouting, since its debut at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
“Whereas traditionally talent scouting involves a person going to a facility to check out a handful of players, aiScout, the talent identification platform, for example, changed how 3DAT democratizes this technology,” he continues. “Now, anyone with a mobile phone has the opportunity to be scouted by elite clubs [and] a developer might even use the technology to provide feedback to somebody training remotely.”
Elite sports teams are also adopting AI-generated analytics software to guide coaching decisions and enhance athlete performance. For example, the French Rugby Federation (FFR) has leveraged AI and analytics solutions provided by SAS Viya, on Microsoft Azure, since 2021, to help improve the performance of the men’s national team and deliver automated updates to players and coaches on “strategic aspects of the game”.
SAS Viya captures north of 360,000 unique data points per match. Julien Piscione, the FFR’s Head of Performance Support, says that the integration of “concrete statistical analyses related to our performance … or that of our opponents” has granted the team an “undeniable competitive advantage” during the team’s preparations for the France 2023 men’s Rugby World Cup.
ATHLETE ANALYTICS SERVES THE TEAM IN MORE WAYS THAN PERFORMANCE
By investing in AI and analytics tools that enhance an athlete’s performance, it’s important to note the other benefits this grants the wider business operations alongside the sport’s organization’s on-field success. Francesco Bruni, N3XT Sports Senior Consultant, says that athlete data can drive commercial opportunity and offers an added incentive for executive boards when it comes down to deciding whether to invest in performance-analytics systems.
“As part of the digitalization of performance, innovation and investment are key to remaining competitive – yet, however high you set your goals, it isn’t easy to know when and where digitalization will have the biggest impact,” Francesco says. “One of the best ways is to invest in people and find the right combination of expertise to leverage data. Another is to consult the wider business to better understand how the tools and technologies you adopt on the training ground will support the growth of the entire business.”
In addition, athlete data provides an added layer of knowledge across the organization, which can help raise the digital literacy of the workforce if an athlete’s or team’s data is managed correctly and doesn’t create data silos. One area where this can be of benefit is around fan engagement, through the integration of athlete metrics and performance data for broadcast production. This raises both the appeal of the sport’s property and the value of its media rights, while it also builds advocacy for athlete-performance data and investment in performance-analytics software.
“Data analytics has huge potential and we’re really only beginning to scratch the surface – whether that be for fan engagement strategies or athlete training and development,” explains Jonathan Lee, now Chief Product Officer at ai.io, a technology company focused on AI-driven talent identification. “How you quantify data can be the tool with which you power performance analytics, whereas for fans watching at home, they don’t necessarily want to see a bunch of numbers; they want to view something that makes the broadcast entertaining and helps them understand the sport that they are watching.”
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HELPING ORGANIZATIONS TO MANAGE ATHLETE DATA
Considering that AI-powered solutions make it easier for executives to assess and simplify complex datasets, machine-learning integration is a practical and affordable way in which sports properties can optimize the use of athlete data across all departments. “No matter the size or scope of the sports organization, the benefits of digitalization are much the same for all properties which invest in high-performance analytics and digital solutions,” Francesco says. “However, the challenges for digital integration and maximizing athlete data vary, and ultimately depend on the goals the organization wants to achieve and their digital maturity.”
Therefore, in order for athlete data to drive operational productivity, fan engagement, and commercial growth, an organization must ensure that its information is truly universal and accessible to everyone; an area which AI is in the position to assist. The principle of AI is to enhance the user experience (UX) and, in the case of sport’s digital transformation, to simplify the organization’s dataflows.
“Although performance analytics is naturally related to the development of the athlete and maximizing their potential, as the industry continues to digitize its operations, how we connect athlete data to other departments within the sports entity is just as important as its on-field benefits,” Francesco continues. “By generating more data, you generate more knowledge, and are therefore able to explore new ways to communicate with athletes. The more you understand the athlete, you can better integrate them into the organization and [use data] to align your operations with the culture of the athlete.”
WHAT’S N3XT?
Sports organizations that employ and/or work with athletes are implementing dedicated systems designed to centralize athlete data and make it easier to access across the entire ecosystem. By way of example, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the global governing body for cycling, is developing a new, scalable information system that consolidates all of the federation’s competition, athlete, and sport data with the support of N3XT Sports.
This will ultimately help the UCI optimize its internal data-management processes and provide greater value for its stakeholders, as outlined in our recently published Olympic Digital Transformation Report 2023. Understanding ways in which performance-analytics software and athlete-tracking tools can be implemented to serve other areas of the sports business helps organizations leverage athlete data to meet their corporate objectives, as well as their competition goals.
On the subject of data simplification, Mota says that, no matter how you utilize AI analytics, “there is a level of digital maturity that’s required” for AI to be an effective ally. “If we take a CRM system, for example, you can use AI to gain better analytics, optimize marketing campaigns, or tailor your editorial output,” he says. However, he also emphasizes that AI and machine learning models can be “applied to do much more”, including the personalization of data management.
“Sports properties are continually finding new ways to implement AI tools to increase productivity and engagement, such as the creation of personalized, generative video content and highlights, customer-service chatbots, push notification, as well as – of course – the distribution of real-time athlete data,” he continues – adding that “sports entities must first assess their digital maturity to discover where AI can prove effective”, or otherwise implement a data strategy that incorporates all data sets; whether it’s sourced from their athlete and on-field performance metrics, or fan and operational data obtained through their front-office activities.
Our team at N3XT Sports works tirelessly to develop and implement data and digital transformation strategies across a multitude of sports properties at federation level, competition level, and club level. To find out more about how N3XT Sports can serve your organization, fill out the form below, and we’ll be in touch. Our goal is to drive the digitalization of the sports industry and our clients.