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The Super Bowl is one of the largest sports entertainment events on the planet, bringing in more than a hundred million viewers and a billion in revenue.
But for NFL teams and sports entertainment in general, there is a long road to championship as franchises aim to build brand, grow fandom and maximize revenues.
One of the ways to make that happen is AI.
The technology is no stranger to the world of sports entertainment. Predating the modern era of generative AI — as far back as 2017 — big vendors like IBM were already discussing how AI would disrupt sport entertainment networks. The NFL itself is using AI to help improve player safety with a Digital Athlete system developed in partnership with AWS. The NFL is also using AWS to build gen AI-powered apps using the Amazon MemoryDB database.
For individual teams, both in the NFL and across the sports entertainment landscape, there are other options for implementing gen AI. One such option, launching today, comes from Elevate, a technology vendor led by Al Guido, who is also the president of the San Francisco 49ers NFL football team.
The company’s new Elevate performance and insights cloud (EPIC) data and AI platform combines consumer insights, ticketing management and property analytics to help sports and entertainment organizations engage better with fans. The platform helps organizations with targeted engagement efforts to better understand potential customer personas. That information helps determine stadium seating options, ticket pricing and fan retention. The platform has already been used by more than 25 organizations, including the Tennessee Titans.
Elevate has been in operation since 2018, but now with the advent of gen AI, the company is able to do much more with data.
“Building EPIC has reinforced a fundamental truth that we’ve seen and validated with our clients since we’ve been in operation — data is only as powerful as the decisions it enables,” Guido, Elevat’s chairman and CEO, told VentureBeat. “In sports, the challenge isn’t just capturing that data but harnessing it to drive real, actionable intelligence that improves fan engagement, revenue strategies and operational efficiency.”
The data challenges of building an AI-first engagement system
Elevate already has data for approximately 220 million people in its system. The company collects first-party data through its client work and relationships. This includes data on fan behavior, ticket sales, sponsorships and other property-related information. Elevate also licenses and purcha …