Microsoft executives and tech partners at the NAB Show’s Sports Business Hub (W1867) offered a host of demos showing how advances in artificial intelligence are already producing solutions and deployments that promise to transform the sports industry.
Taken together, the demos and use cases on display at the “Reimagining Sports Media Through AI-Powered Transformation” activation illustrate how far AI applications for the media and entertainment industries have come in just two years.
“AI is powering technologies that are definitely transforming media,” Simon Crownshaw, worldwide strategy director for Media & Entertainment at Microsoft, said. “In 2023 when all of these things start to explode, the reaction was like, ‘Wow.’ Then in 2024 it was more like, ‘how.’ And I’d say 2025 is more like ‘now.’ It’s all about finding the right solutions and making them available very quickly.”
AI technologies are coming of age at a pivotal moment for sports media, Crownshaw said. While sports has become a programming bulwark of broadcast and streaming media as a prime driver of audiences and revenue, players in the sports media ecosystem also face audience fragmentation, rising costs, the need to streamline productions and consumer demands for the kind of interactive experiences, personalization and immediate access to content they’ve grown to expect from social and digital media.
“Sports is a real differentiator,” Crownshaw said. “It drives user behavior; it drives advertising and true commercialization. But there is a real need to modernize how audiences engage with live sports.”
Big-League Demos
The demos, which aim to provide a guided tour of AI’s potential in sports operations and fan engagement, involve such major players as the NBA, Major League Soccer, the NFL, the Intuit Dome (home of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers), the Premier League and others. They highlight technologies from Microsoft and a variety of partners and support partners like Bria.AI, Confiz, Globant, Harmonic, MediaKind, Rezzil, Southworks, UICDigital, Bravent, EZDRM and Typeface.
In one demo, Microsoft worked with the NBA to create a real-time AI experience that used generative AI to deliver a personal and realistic commentator for on-the-fly viewing experiences. Another showcases the Major League Soccer (MLS) Sidekick, which provides fans an interactive and immersive platform offering match video highlights, game schedules, scores and advanced player stats.
On-Field Uses
Two others illustrate how new technologies can help professional teams improve their data analytics and play. In a well-known example, Microsoft created the NFL Sideline Viewing System (SVS) that provides coaches and players with real-time data and analytics. In another, Microsoft and Rezzel created data-powered replays for Premier League teams and coaches.
Crownshaw also stressed that these demos show how AI and their other solutions can streamline workflows now and in the future.
“Solutions like the MLS Sidekick aren’t simply for consumer experiences,” he added. “As we automate and make things available like the MLS Sidekick, which is amazing on the consumer side, you get a chatbot experience that will enable users to ask questions about their operations on the back end. They will allow you to interrogate and ask questions about workflows. Where’s the problem? When did it go down? How do I automate certain things or fix problems? Those are examples of the things we’re looking at.”
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