Customer-behavior modeling is a key attribute at a time when fans are encouraged to tell sports properties what they want from their digital experiences. Organizations which unify the user experience (UX) and centralize fan data stand to gain a greater depth of fan intelligence, and are essential steps for rights holders who want to explore use cases for artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver data optimization and rigorous insights into sports fandom.

AI-enabled solutions help organizations to better align their digital frameworks to optimize their data collection via The Fan-Data Feedback Loop™ and adjust their commercial strategies to each fan accordingly. Whereas many sports properties do not yet consolidate their direct-to-consumer (D2C) portfolios and fan data, many continue to experience knowledge gaps in their current digital frameworks and restricted returns on investment (ROI).

Contrastingly, organizations with centralized data infrastructure and a personalized UX benefit from AI more that those which don’t and are more likely to hire a wider array of specialists. By way of example, 78 percent of top-flight European football clubs with AI expertise also employ experts in digital-platform management, innovation, and data analysis. By comparison, 80 percent of National Basketball Association (NBA) franchises which employ an AI expert also employ digital, data, and innovation leads. The NBA itself is among the world’s leading competition organizers – including Major League Baseball (MLB), LaLiga, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – which hire a full roster of expertise, including within AI integration.

Organizations should optimize their data stack to get the most out of AI

“AI is playing a more active role in analyzing data, while helping to improve productivity and the efficiency of an organization’s customer-data management, data centralization is a crucial step for sports properties to take in order for them to automate their processes successfully,” explains Mounir Zok, N3XT Sports CEO. “Therefore, developing the right data strategy for your organization is imperative and begins with efforts to streamline its data touchpoints; only then will AI-driven analytics systems uncover the best fan intelligence and customer insights to take your D2C strategy to the next level.”

Discover steps to AI & data optimization

Every sports organization has a rich and unique ecosystem of stakeholders to engage. This means, digital and data frameworks must be adapted to their current state and future ambitions. In all cases, The Fan-Data Feedback Loop™ can help them unlock new value, whether through reduced costs or increased revenues.

Our research highlights the gap that exists in digital and data ecosystems around sports organizations; even the biggest brands in sports. As part of their innovation journey, The Fan-Data Feedback Loop™ helps properties quickly link their existing ecosystems to value-additive activities, projects, and technological solutions.

The Fan-Data Feedback Loop™ outlines three essential phases in an organization’s fan-data transformation, developed within a series of scalable fan-data loops, including: (1) the integration of a centralized information system (CRM/CDP) for capturing and leveraging fan data; (2) the role of an omnichannel UX for personalizing the fan experience; and (3) how high-quality fan intelligence can be used to inform audience growth and identify customer-conversion trends.

“As we see with many of our clients and partners, there is an increasing understanding of the need to transform,” says Hisham Shehabi, N3XT Sports COO and Head of MENA. “However, there is too much noise on the market and an increasing risk that budgets are allocated incorrectly in an environment when sports leaders are counting pennies and calculating ROI and trade-offs between priorities. Our team can support your organization at every turn.”

In Focus | Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors (GSW), a household name within the NBA, leverages AI-powered recommendations to personalize the UX via the basketball franchise’s Golden State + Chase Center mobile app. By consolidating the fan experience in one location, GSW draws on 30 sources of customer data and more than 100 million data points to help refine the fan journey. In doing so, the franchise leverages Google Gemini, the technology company’s AI assistant, to “imagine an entire app experience […] based on what is relevant to each fan”, according to the franchise.

GSW is among 16.7 percent of NBA franchises with AI experts on their payroll and 13.3 percent of NBA teams which combine AI leadership with expertise across digital-platform management, data analytics, and innovation, according to LinkedIn Sales Navigator. As part of its cross-department digital transformation, which leverages its collaboration with Google Cloud across high performance, fan engagement, and business development, the use of AI is “a massive enabler […] to create a personalized, contextualized fan experience”.