The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), the players' union for American football’s National Football League (NFL), has announced a partnership with sports-based technology company Infinite Athlete.
The partnership will see the NFLPA granted access to Infinite Athlete’s proprietary 'FusionFeed' technology, which helps to aggregate data collated by sources at live events and display it in one single interface.
As part of the deal, the NFLPA will grant Infinite Athlete access to its full complement of player licensing rights to maximize the value of FusionFeed’s capabilities.
Infinite Athlete said it will use its “data-driven approach” to mitigating injuries in aid of NFL players to help improve on-field safety.
The two partners said the partnership will also herald new commercial opportunities for the NFLPA by allowing athletes ownership over and the ability to monetize their data.
NFL Icon Larry Fitzgerald Jr., an Infinite Athlete board member, stated: “By giving the NFLPA access to Infinite Athlete’s technology, it opens up new and previously unimagined opportunities for athlete performance and fan engagement.
"I believe it will also provide stronger brand alignment and more economic opportunities for the players.”
Infinite Athlete is the parent company of Tempus Ex, the creator of the FusionFeed tech, which already partners with the NFL itself and the Pac-12 collegiate American football conference.
The deal comes less than a month after Infinite Athlete was confirmed as the new front-of-shirt sponsor of English soccer side Chelsea.
As a part of that deal, Chelsea’s men’s and women’s teams will also both have access to Infinite Athlete’s player AI tracking.
Tempus Ex has deep ties with Chelsea’s ownership group. The company is partnered with private equity firm Silver Lake, which is an investor in sports e-commerce company Fanatics. Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly (vis his company Eldridge), both a part of Chelsea’s ownership group, are also major investors in Fanatics.