Premier League Makes An AI Play To Enhance The Fan Experience

InnovationAIPremier League Makes An AI Play To Enhance The Fan ExperienceByRon Schmelzer, Contributor

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights

Instead of a star striker or record- winger, it brought Microsoft onto the roster

On July 1, England’s top football league announced a five-year partnership with the giant to build something more powerful than a highlight reel: a AI tool that gives each fan personalized and interactions

The Premier League Companion is a virtual assistant embedded in the league’s app

Fans can ask it anything such as “How many goals did Cole Palmer score after the 60th minute. ” or “Should I start him in fantasy this week. ” It’ll have an answer, thanks to decades of match data, and analysis packed into a chat-style interface. “This partnership will help us engage with fans in new ways — from personalized content to real-time match insight,” said Richard Masters, the Premier League’s chief executive. “We look forward to working together [with Microsoft] over the next five years to der more innovative experiences to all Premier League supporters around the world. ” An AI-Powered Sideline Analyst The Companion will launch before the 2025–26 season

It runs on Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI tools and ties into the league’s official databases, offering fans a able, multilingual guide to everything from player stats to team tactics

Fantasy football fans get custom tips

Casual supporters can tap into historical moments

Everyone gains quick, easy access to what was once buried in stats pages and pundit banter

It’s not just stats, though

The move is part of an increasing trend as sports and entertainment are turning to AI to keep viewers on their apps and away from TikTok, Reddit and third-party score trackers

Play Puzzles & Games on Forbes | Frase ByForbes™Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The PhrasePlay NowPinpoint By LinkedinGuess The CategoryPlay NowQueens By LinkedinCrown Each RegionPlay NowCrossclimb By LinkedinUnlock A Trivia LadderPlay Now The Arms Race in Sports Around the world, leagues are experimenting with similar tools

Wimbledon and IBM launched Match Chat, which answers fan questions during matches and shows shifting win babilities in real time

Major League Soccer introduced Sidekick, an in-app AI that learns each user’s habits and serves up game clips and even ticket offers

Major League Baseball is pushing My Daily Story, an AI-edited recap built around what each fan actually wants to watch

A Play, Not a Toy These tools aren’t just features

They’re strategies to keep fans inside official apps

Microsoft’s role goes beyond powering a chatbot

Its cloud services handles fan data, automates workflows and helps the league personalize content at scale

If you ask Copilot a player’s form, don’t be surprised if you’re offered tickets or a collectible soon after

Each query is a clue, and a potential sale

The shift is from watching to interacting

Fans spend more time in the app

Teams get better data

Sponsors reach more engaged audiences

Everyone wins, if the tools work

Fair Play Meets Fast Data There’s a flip side

What happens if the AI gets a stat wrong

Or if a mistranslation causes a storm on social media

Microsoft says it’s addressing those risks

The Companion pulls answers from verified Premier League sources using a retrieval-augmented generation system

The volume of fan queries on opening weekend will test those systems hard

Then there’s the competitive side

If fans can ask these questions, can teams use the same tools for scouting

Some think AI will level the playing field

Others worry it will widen the gap between s with -savvy staff and those without

Privately, some coaches are already asking whether they’ll get their own version with insights the fans don’t see

For broadcasters, this is a wake-up call

With a tap, fans will get explainers on pressing tactics or past player performances

That pushes networks to up their second-screen game or risk falling behind

That’s the kind of playbook Sky or NBC might need to copy

What’s Next: One Identity, One Experience This is just the beginning

League officials hint that future could include real-time data overlays in stadiums, audio ary in multiple languages or AI-generated replays of classic matches

A fan file that works across every touchpoint whether watching at, cheering in the stadium or picking a fantasy team

Wherever fans are, the league wants to be ready with the right info, the right offer and the right story

And if it works, others will

Wimbledon’s already ing tennis lingo into its own AI

MLB is perfecting bite-sized for younger generations

The real race now is over trust

Whoever can earn that trust with AI, and who turns that trust into loyalty

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