Building The Future Of Football Analytics Aws

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 18, 2025, 3:57 AM

building the future of football analytics aws

Compete in the NFL Big Data Bowl, powered by AWS, and use real game data to build new AI-powered stats that shape the future of football. Choose between two new competition tracks for 2025. The NFL Big Data Bowl is an annual sports analytics contest from NFL Football Operations that invites everyone from college students to data pros to evolve how the NFL uses advanced analytics. In its 8th year, this year's competition focuses on predicting player movement and is open through December 2025. Follow these three steps for the best submission. Enter the 2026 NFL Big Data Bowl competition, and get ready to start building.Choose from two tracks:Leaderboard Track: Build the most accurate movement-prediction model, tested on plays from future games.

Sign up for Leaderboard TrackData Visualization Track: Tell the story through compelling visuals, tools, or interactive experiences. Your guide to the NFL Big Data Bowl competition: expert submission tips, track options, and AWS tools to get started. NEW YORK – Sept. 10, 2024 – The National Football League and Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), today announced an extension of their long-term partnership. Since 2017, the NFL and AWS have been at the forefront of innovation, leveraging AWS's artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) services to shape the future of football.

The global partnership will be on display during this week’s games with the debut of a new AI-powered Next Gen Stat that changes how we understand and analyze tackles in football. The Tackle Probability ML model predicts, at any given moment of a play, the likelihood that a given defender will make a tackle, helping to quantify which defenders are the most reliable tacklers and... Tackle Probability can be used to calculate various metrics that can be applied to both offensive and defensive analysis, such as missed tackle attempts by a defender and missed tackles forced by a ball... Powered by AWS, the Next Gen Stats platform collects over 500 million data points each season. This wealth of data serves as the foundation for innovation throughout the NFL, from enhancing fan engagement through advanced statistics to transforming the viewing experience by enabling alternate broadcasts and new ways of visualizing... Additionally, data-driven insights have a direct impact on the game itself by informing rule changes to make the game safer and even more exciting, including the NFL’s new Dynamic Kickoff.

A key component of the partnership renewal is the implementation of generative AI to increase operational efficiency and drive additional value for the league and its fans. “Through our collaboration with AWS, we are continuously pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in football,” said Gary Brantley, chief information officer at the NFL. “By harnessing the power of data and advanced technologies like generative AI, together we are accelerating the pace of innovation in important areas such as player safety, fan engagement and content production. This season we’ll see an increase in operational efficiency as we begin to leverage AWS’s generative AI capabilities at NFL Media.” This four-part blog series from 27Global provides an overview of an internal project to plan, design, and implement an AI-driven solution. Follow along to learn about our use case, our challenges, and our successes.

This four-part blog series from 27Global provides an overview of an internal project to plan, design, and implement an AI-driven solution. Follow along to learn about our use case, our challenges, and our successes. This four-part blog series from 27Global provides an overview of an internal project to plan, design, and implement an AI-driven solution. Follow along to learn about our use case, our challenges, and our successes. Plus: Fastbreak.AI's Big Acquisition & Former NBA Player Buys Into Team He Played For • This week, the NFL and Amazon Web Services, an Amazon.com company, extended their long-term partnership.

Since 2017, AWS has been powering and pioneering technology in the NFL to enhance the overall fan experience and bring innovative methods to teams across the league. One of the newest offerings is called Tackle Probability, a new AI-powered model that changes how we understand and analyze tackles in football. The partnership extension will also build upon several previous innovations including: Next Gen Stats: Next Gen Stats are used by the league, broadcasters, partners, teams, coaches, scouts, and players. The NFL leverages AWS to help manage the scale, speed, and complexity of the enormous data set. The NFL also uses AWS’s machine learning capabilities to turn the tracking data into advanced statistics that help contextualize the action on the field.

Digital Athlete: This cutting-edge injury recognition and analytics tool provides a complete view of an NFL player’s experience, using video and data from training, practice, and in-game action. AWS technology runs millions of simulations of specific in-game and practice scenarios to identify which players are at risk of injury, enabling coaches and training staff to develop individualized injury prevention, training, and recovery... NFL Big Data Bowl: The NFL annually hosts the Big Data Bowl powered by AWS, a crowd-sourced competition that challenges applicants to use data and technology to create new insights and make the game... From pre-season to post-season, the National Football League (NFL) delivers fans a thrilling, action-packed three hours with each game. Behind the nation’s most popular league is a philosophy of continuous improvement best expressed by legendary Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, who said, “You can do more, you can always do more.” One way the NFL does more is by pursuing innovative, data-driven programs to improve player safety, help players achieve their full potential, and make the game more exciting for fans.

Since 2019, the League has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to implement a cloud-based data strategy that uses analytics, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI) to gain a deeper understanding of every... Data is a powerful tool when it comes to maintaining the excitement and competitiveness of professional football while making the game safer for players. Since 2002, the NFL has used data to inform 50 rules changes to reduce the risk of injury. And through sources such as equipment sensors and video analysis, the NFL collects data from every move a player makes on the field. This allows for a better understanding of how, when, and where injuries typically occur—information that drives efforts to reduce, and ultimately prevent injuries. Through its collaborations with AWS and the NFL Players Association, the NFL has sparked a revolution in helmet design while generating greater player enthusiasm for safer headgear.

Over the past three seasons, the NFL has achieved nearly 100% adoption of top-performing helmets, and in each of the last four seasons, it has seen a 25% reduction in concussions compared to the... The NFL also works with the AWS Machine Learning Solutions Lab to take player safety to a new level. Using AI and ML on AWS, the NFL is building the Digital Athlete, a virtual representation of an NFL player that can be used to better predict and eventually prevent player injury. The Digital Athlete uses NFL data to run simulations that assess the impact of equipment choices, fatigue, weather, field surfaces, lighting, play strategies, game rules and other factors on player safety and performance. The League then uses this technology to assess players’ individual risk level, mitigate that risk as they prepare for upcoming games, develop individualized training and recovery plans for players, identify ways to improve equipment... ADDING MULTIMEDIA National Football League and Amazon Web Services Expand Partnership to Further Shape the Future of Football

NFL Media Implements Generative AI Tools to Boost Operational Efficiency NEW YORK & SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Football League and Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), today announced an extension of their long-term partnership. Since 2017, the NFL and AWS have been at the forefront of innovation, leveraging AWS's artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) services to shape the future of football. The global partnership will be on display during this week’s games with the debut of a new AI-powered Next Gen Stat that changes how we understand and analyze tackles in football. The Tackle Probability ML model predicts, at any given moment of a play, the likelihood that a given defender will make a tackle, helping to quantify which defenders are the most reliable tacklers and...

Tackle Probability can be used to calculate various metrics that can be applied to both offensive and defensive analysis, such as missed tackle attempts by a defender and missed tackles forced by a ball... To view a video of Tackle Probability in action, please go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqvAiuC7d7U. Powered by AWS Machine Learning to create a better experience for fans, players, and teams. AWS powers the NFL's Digital Athlete, a injury prediction tool, that uses machine learning and AI to help identify when players are at an increased risk of injury. The Seattle Seahawks and AWS have created a winning partnership using data-driven insights across the franchise to analyze information across player acquisition, team and opponent scouting, and player health. The NFL uses AWS technology to take real-time insights and transform fan engagement to offer personalized experiences and content curation.

The NFL and AWS tackled the hidden dynamics of punt and kickoff with Expected Return Yards to estimate yards a return will gain when the ball is caught. Just in time for the 2024 season, the National Football League and Amazon Web Services Inc. continue to push the boundaries of artificial intelligence and machine learning in football. Through a partnership that began in 2017, the NFL has used AWS technology to improve player performance analysis, game strategies and fan experiences. Upcoming NFL games will showcase a new AI-powered tool, Tackle Probability, that analyzes and predicts the likelihood of a defender making a tackle in real time. The tool identifies the most dependable defenders and the hardest-to-catch ball carriers.

It also provides data on key performance metrics, such as missed tackles and successful attempts, offering teams valuable insights for offensive and defensive strategies. More specifically, Tackle Probability looks at 20 different factors, including the position and speed of each defender, every 10th of a second. Using these data points, an AI model, trained on five years of past game data, calculates the likelihood of a tackle happening at any given moment in a play. From this data, the model creates new stats like how often defenders attempt tackles without missing or how frequently running backs force missed tackles. This helps coaches see which players are the most reliable at tackling or avoiding tackles. Tackle Probability is a feature within Next Gen Stats, the NFL’s player and ball tracking platform, which relies heavily on AWS to process an enormous amount of data collected from games.

The platform gathers over 500 million data points each season, providing the NFL with advanced statistics that improve the viewing experience and aid gameplay decisions. This includes rule changes such as the new Dynamic Kickoff to minimize high-speed collisions and injuries during kickoffs by adjusting player positioning and movement. Digital Athlete is another tool developed using AWS to improve player safety. The tool simulates game and practice scenarios to help coaches and medical staff assess injury risks so they can develop prevention and recovery plans for each player. One could think of this as building a digital twin of players and then running them through various scenarios to better understand when and how injuries occur. Teams can use that data to avoid those situations and keep the players on the field longer.

Ever wondered how football insights are powered behind the scenes? From predicting match trends to analyzing player performance — data makes it all possible! In this step-by-step guide, I’ll show you how I built Football Insights 360 — a fully automated ETL pipeline using AWS services. We’ll go from raw match data to real-time dashboards that uncover fascinating insights using:AWS Lambda for data extractionAWS Glue (PySpark) for transformationAmazon S3 for Data StorageAmazon Redshift for Data WarehouseLooker Studio for visualization This project brings my passion for data engineering and football together, because who doesn’t love a game powered by data? Ready to dive in and see how it all comes together?

Let’s kick off! My name is Anuraag Gujje, and I am passionate about data engineering, analytics, and building scalable ETL solutions. Link to the project repository: Football Insights 360 Git The NFL and Amazon Web Services, Inc., an Amazon.com company, extended their long-term partnership. Since 2017, the NFL and AWS have been at the forefront of innovation, leveraging AWS's artificial intelligence and machine learning services to shape the future of football. The global partnership will be on display during this week’s games with the debut of a new AI-powered Next Gen Stat that changes how we understand and analyze tackles in football.

The Tackle Probability ML model predicts the likelihood that a given defender will make a tackle at any given moment of a play, helping to quantify which defenders are the most reliable tacklers and... Tackle Probability can be used to calculate various metrics that can be applied to both offensive and defensive analysis, such as missed tackle attempts by a defender and missed tackles forced by a ball... Powered by AWS, the Next Gen Stats platform collects more than 500 million data points each season. This data serves as the foundation for innovation throughout the NFL, from enhancing fan engagement through advanced statistics, to transforming the viewing experience by enabling alternate broadcasts and new ways of visualizing the action... Data-driven insights have a direct impact on the game itself by informing rule changes to make the game safer and even more exciting, including the NFL’s new Dynamic Kickoff. The implementation of generative AI to increase operational efficiency and drive additional value for the league and its fans is key component of the partnership.

Building The Future Of Football Analytics Aws

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