The AI Future of Sports Fandom

Goal!

The notification pops up on your phone, your pulse races, and you know you have to check it out. At least if you’re one of the half-million die-hard soccer fans around the world who use the official Bundesliga app every month. A tap brings you all the player insights and context on the match and the entire season that you need to sate your curiosity on the spot—from anywhere, anytime.

“We’re trying to provide the fan with something that they’ve never been able to consume in this way before,” says Luccas Roznowicz, head of strategic cooperations at DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga, responsible for the governance of Germany’s top two leagues, the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2. “It’s very important to create content that is relevant for individual fans, but it has to be in real time, because it is competing with other entertainment outlets.”

That’s where AI comes in. Its tremendous synthetic power promises to transform sports, providing fans with personalized, real-time updates, and content tailored to their preferences. The Bundesliga, through a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), deploys data-driven insights to enhance the fan experience, offering deeper, more immersive connections to the game.

Enormous amounts of data power this incredibly engaging experience for fans. Dual systems collect 3.6 million data points in each game through cameras located around the stadium—computer vision—and humans who report on plays from the stands. AWS combines this data from the field, then uses AI to help the Bundesliga select the most relevant images, craft contextual narratives about plays, and seamlessly deliver this information to fans.

Together with AWS, the league is working with generative AI to customize its content to deliver it not just in the language, but in the tone and style each fan prefers. “Not only does this data let us generate advanced statistics to ensure better storytelling, but we can harness AI to generate commentaries in multiple languages and styles that attract and engage new fans, as well as add value for those football fans who are already invested in the Bundesliga,” says Elif Dogan, principal engagement manager, sports, media, and entertainment at AWS.

Roznowicz underscores the magnitude of these advances, which will fundamentally redefine the way fans experience the game. “It is really exciting. We have just scratched the surface,” he says. “AI is the transformative technology that is going to enable us to bring sports content, personalized to millions of global Bundesliga fans worldwide.”