
Preaching Due Diligence, Sports Tech Leaders Ponder Next-Gen AI Tools for Enhanced Fan Experience Generative AI tools like ChatGPT promise new possibilities - and potential pitfalls By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Thursday, March 23, 2023 - 3:58 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
As advanced artificial-intelligence tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT capture the cultural zeitgeist, much of the discussion within the sports industry is how these sophisticated AI- and machine-learning-driven platforms can enhance the fan experience both at the venue and during the broadcast or livestream.
You have to experiment [with these technologies because] everybody's jumping on the bandwagon, said LA28 Chief Information Officer David Michael, who is helping create the technological infrastructure behind the LA 2028 Summer Olympics, speaking at the SBJ Tech Week conference in New York City this month. It's going to become a standard that people expect.
We Need To Be Ready for It' Michael cited corporate-software giant Salesforce's recently announced Einstein GPT, which is driven by OpenAI and is the world's very first generative AI program for CRM (customer relationship management), as an example of how generative AI is becoming commonplace at large organizations.
From left: Charlie Myers, chief technology officer, Monumental Sports & Entertainment; Sumit Arora, VP, strategy and analytics, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment; Aaron Amendolia, deputy CIO, NFL; David Michael, chief information officer, LA28; and moderator Taylor Bloom, managing director, sports technology business, SBJ (Photo: Marc Bryan-Brown)
I think it's necessary for us to be continuously looking at these [technologies] and working out how we can actually leverage them and how we can change the experience, he added. A few years ago, having an Alexa skill, where you could ask it questions about your sports team, was the [cool] thing. But now, when you use Alexa, you want it to be more like ChatGPT. The technology is going take these big incremental steps, and we need to be ready for it so that we don't have an instant legacy [product that] we've been working too hard on [but] is no longer [relevant].
The Potential for AI-Generated Game-Day Itineraries' Although many teams, leagues, broadcasters, and venues are keen to see what ChatGPT and other generative AI technologies could mean for sports, their technology leaders are emphasizing the importance of due diligence when it comes to nascent technologies.
I think you have to be careful with these new technologies as they emerge, said NFL Deputy CIO Aaron Amendolia. Because every media story right now is about how somebody could trick [an AI bot] into saying something really scary and Terminator-like. As you put your brand around these things, how do you get them into a place where they express exactly what you need them to do to be consistent and to deliver valuable information to your fans or your event attendees while drawing across multiple sources of data?
He addressed how a pro-sports team could potentially take in public transportation schedules, stadium ingress and egress data, and opportunities to buy food and beverages, and combine that with tracking data and direct fan input to create an ideal schedule/itinerary for the game-day experience. However, he again stressed that, before a project like this is approved, the AI technology being used must be thoroughly vetted.
When you put sources of data in front of a fan and they make their own decisions about it, he said, you've given people the ability to make their own decisions. But, if you have an AI creating an entire itinerary and it doesn't go well, that's not going to reflect well on your brand, and [the story] is going to be about [your organization], not about the technology. I think that we have to be putting these things to the test, implementing [them] in smaller areas, and then making sure they're consistent and deliver the right experience.
AI Has High Upside' But Potential To Be Weaponized' Monumental Sports & Entertainment - which owns the Washington Capitals, Mystics, and Wizards and multiple venues and recently acquired the NBC Sports Washington RSN - is bullish on what AI could offer fans at the venue and watching at home.
I think that AI is a tool that has high upside potential across multiple paths of our business, said Charlie Myers, chief technology officer, Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Everything from customer service to analysis of data lakes to player performance to being able to provide content personalization.
However, much like Amendolia, Myers stressed the potential dangers of this next wave in AI technology, especially AI voice-replication. He noted how French DJ/producer David Guetta recently produced a song that used AI technology to add the voice of rapper Eminem.
There's some cool stuff that's being done with AI voice, he said. But that [technology] is now being weaponized. It's being used as what I'll call voice fishing' for cyber. Those are the types of things that we also need to aware of. You need to look at how you can take advantage of it, but I think you also need to be looking at how do you prepare and defend against it. For us, that's about educating. We have a lot of high-profile people in our organizations; how do you make them aware [that] this may not be what you think it is?'
It's the Execution That Matters' Although the hype currently behind ChatGPT and generative AI is deafening today, so too were many bleeding-edge technologies that never gained traction long term - or at least had to wait for the right moment far down the road.
It took a pandemic for a decade-old technology like QR codes to actually be effective,
More from Sports Video Group
11/07/2025
Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...
11/07/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...
11/07/2025
2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...
11/07/2025
A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff
Friday, July 1...
11/07/2025
CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...
11/07/2025
Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...
10/07/2025
5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in...
10/07/2025
Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-...
10/07/2025
Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New...
10/07/2025
Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions I...
10/07/2025
FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First P...
10/07/2025
SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint...
09/07/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment, ViewLift Unveil Broadcast/Streaming Joint Ven...
09/07/2025
SVG Europe Audio State of Wireless Mics Forum: If we lose the spectrum, it...
09/07/2025
Tech Focus: Athlete Audio - Venues Provide Sound Just for the Players From locker room to field of play, personalized systems help rev up the athletes By Dan D...
08/07/2025
Groundbreaking Gamecocks: Inside University of South Carolina's Four-Control...
08/07/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Samantha Brady on the Power of the RSN...
08/07/2025
Live From 2025 FIFA Club World Cup: FIFA, HBS Focus on Tournament Wrap, With an ...
08/07/2025
SVG Rewind: NESN Goes Behind the Scenes of 1975 Red Sox Retro Broadcast NESN is following up the retrocast with a week-long celebration of the Green Monster By...
07/07/2025
1-2 Punch: The Cloud, Generative AI, and the Future of Sports-Content Distributi...
07/07/2025
Tests and decisions: Formula E host broadcaster Aurora on launching new AR graph...
07/07/2025
Building tension: Using new AR graphics for storytelling at the Formula E penult...
07/07/2025
Altitude Sports' Matt Krol on the Success of the RSN's In-Arena Postgame...
07/07/2025
SVG Rewind: Four NFL Clubs Bring Us on Set of Respective Media Day Shoots An in-depth conversation with 49ers Laura Johnson, Ravens Jay O'Brien, Las Vegas R...
07/07/2025
Cosm To Build Fifth Shared Reality Venue in Cleveland as Part of Bedrock's ...
02/07/2025
Progressive realism: Aurora on taking up the broadcast reins for World RX alongs...
02/07/2025
Great speed: New host broadcaster Aurora on getting the World RX 2025 season pro...
02/07/2025
Seat of its pants: Aurora boxes clever and looks ahead for the FIA as new host b...
02/07/2025
UEFA Women's Euro 2025: EBU, BBC Sport and Sunset Vine talk coverage plans, ...
02/07/2025
UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Women's Super League launches new content series...
02/07/2025
UEFA Women's Euro 2025: Ignite puts fans and players front and centre with t...
02/07/2025
Storytelling in the Live Game Broadcast: ESPN Director Jimmy Platt Breaks Down t...
02/07/2025
CONCACAF's Miguel Angel Garcia on the Gold Cup's Enhanced 2025 Productio...
01/07/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Spyrosoft's Jonathan Witty on Futher Business Exp...
01/07/2025
The NIL Effect: How the Shifting Business of College Athletics Impacts On-Campus...
01/07/2025
Cherry on the cake: Inside the technical production of the Tour de France 2025 w...
01/07/2025
NESN's Josh Jun on Keeping Alternative Broadcasts Fresh for Boston Red Sox, ...
01/07/2025
TNT Sports Races Back Into NASCAR With Fresh Look, Familiar Edge Production approach emphasizes creative freedom, bold storytelling, casual-fan-friendly tone B...
27/06/2025
How smarter compression is creating a sustainable future By Michael Burns
Monday, June 23, 2025 - 14:13
Print This Story
Live sport is especially vulnerab...
27/06/2025
Behind the Mic: FOX Sports Ratchets Up UEFA Women's EURO 2025 With Top-Class...
27/06/2025
RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland By George Bevir, Editorial Director, SVG Europe
Friday, June 27, 2025 - 8:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story ...
27/06/2025
Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology Leaders from Bitmovin, Comcast Technology Solutions, Harmonic, IMAX, and Phenix brea...
27/06/2025
Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending...
27/06/2025
NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandem...
26/06/2025
10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for th...
26/06/2025
The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid Tech leaders from CineSys, Diversified, and Net Insight breaks down all flavors of cloud By Jason Dachman, ...
26/06/2025
Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Gener...
25/06/2025
SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY Tackling the latest in college sports video: NIL, live production, virtual productio...
25/06/2025
ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO B...
24/06/2025
2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By M...