American football’s elite National Football League (NFL) has announced the extension of its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the e-commerce giant’s major internet services business.
Primarily, the NFL will continue to leverage AWS to seek gains in operational efficiency through the use of its data analytics and AI-powered machine learning services.
Having first partnered in 2017, the renewed deal will see AWS continue to apply its AI-powered statistics modeling platform to the league in order to develop statistical understanding.
AWS will also introduce Tackle Probability, a new performance metric, to its “Next Gen Statistics” modeling for access by the league.
The NFL uses this, along with over 500 million data points collected by AWS each season, in a multitude of sectors - including growing fan engagement through the presentation of these advanced statistics, as well as in broadcast innovation by using stats to augment game coverage.
Speaking on the renewed deal, NFL chief information officer Gary Brantley stated: “By harnessing the power of data and advanced technologies like generative AI, together we are accelerating the pace of innovation in important areas such as player safety, fan engagement, and content production.
“This season we’ll see an increase in operational efficiency as we begin to leverage AWS’s generative AI capabilities at NFL Media.”
NFL Media, the league’s in-house media business, has leveraged AWS’ Amazon Q Business generative AI assistant to power the business’ self-service help-desk and facilitate consumer engagement.
AWS’ partnership with the NFL was last renewed in 2019 on a five-year deal that ran through the 2023 NFL season.
GlobalData Sport estimated the value of that partnership to be worth $22.5 million annually.
AWS global head of sports Julie Souza added: “As we look ahead, this partnership represents an opportunity for the NFL and AWS to reimagine the future of football in a world of quickly evolving technology.
“By leveraging AWS's cutting-edge capabilities, the NFL will unlock new levels of operational efficiency, further advance player health and safety and deliver unparalleled viewing experiences for fans worldwide."
