University of Kwazulu-Natal

Inside The Nfl S Innovative Fan Data Platform Powered By Aws

Bonisiwe Shabane
-
inside the nfl s innovative fan data platform powered by aws

Discover how the NFL uses AWS technology to transform fan engagement, offering personalized experiences and real-time insights through a cutting-edge data platform. When Paul Ballew became Chief Data & Analytics Officer at the National Football League (NFL) in 2021, one of his key priorities was to develop a unified view of the League’s fans across disparate... Now, that vision is a reality—enabling personalized fan experiences at an unprecedented scale. At the heart of the NFL’s fan data initiative is a cloud-based ecosystem built on Amazon Web Services (AWS). The platform integrates a staggering 90 billion rows of fan data, with over 250 dimensions per fan, ingesting thousands of daily data feeds. “If you think about the journey of bringing together legacy data, it’s extremely challenging,” says Ballew.

“We had to stitch together disparate data silos from the teams, Leagues, partners – dealing with a lack of standards, governance, and privacy requirements. It’s been hard, but we’ve pulled it off in an unprecedented way.” The key, Ballew explains, was eschewing traditional one-size-fits-all approaches in favor of an open, composable ecosystem designed for flexibility and scale. 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.” Don't have this pass?

Upgrade Your Registration! The NFL is reshaping how professional football is played, managed and experienced through data. At the core of this shift is a unified data ecosystem — centralizing collection, storage and usage to accelerate decision-making, deliver sharper insights and fuel continuous innovation. By adopting a unified data ecosystem, the league has modernized operations end to end. The approach is advancing on-field performance, strengthening player safety, streamlining management, personalizing fan engagement and driving commercial success, according to Joe Steinke (pictured), senior director of data management at NFL Enterprises LLC. NFL’s Joe Steinke (right) talks with theCUBE’s Rob Strechay about how a unified data platform is transforming football.

“We got direction and commitment to really dive all the way into building out this central data analytics function, and at the heart of that was really the data ecosystem, making sure that we... “The idea that we could bring a central function in that could produce some standards and operational consistency throughout the league is really what drove our decision to step back and create this ecosystem.” Steinke spoke with theCUBE’s Rob Strechay at the Future of Data Platforms Summit, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how a unified data ecosystem is transforming NFL operations. (* Disclosure below.) 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. The league is leaning on AWS to up its analytics game and give teams and fans better insights during the player showcase this week. The National Football League is hosting hundreds of aspiring players this week, offering them a chance to showcase their skills as part of the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine.

During the four-day interview process, which kicked off Thursday, teams will evaluate player performance across the 40-yard dash, a series of jumps and several drills. Each test yields mountains of data points, which teams analyze to decide who they’ll draft in April. But traditional data tracking capabilities lack the necessary context for thorough player evaluations. “The Combine itself can be monotonous reporting of data points, but if you look deeper into the data and connect certain dots, you see patterns,” Mike Band, senior manager of NFL Next Gen Stats... “You don’t have to be the fastest player, but you got to be fast enough.” Using Amazon QuickSight, an AI-powered service, the NFL and AWS developed the Combine IQ dashboard, which debuted Thursday, to visualize data for fans and analysts.

The dashboard showcases comparative player rankings and Draft Scores, created in partnership with AWS to measure player athleticism and provide insight into a player’s potential success in the NFL using historical comparisons and position-specific... By clicking Continue, you agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy. By clicking Agree & Join or Continue, you agree to the LinkedIn User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy. Looking to create a page for a business? Get help 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. NFL Media has implemented Amazon Q Business, a generative AI-powered assistant, so users can ask questions and get answers to a wide range of questions. NFL Media has also launched a generative AI-powered research tool built on Amazon Bedrock that enables the production team to use natural language prompts to retrieve insights and relevant footage from plays throughout the...

People Also Search

Discover How The NFL Uses AWS Technology To Transform Fan

Discover how the NFL uses AWS technology to transform fan engagement, offering personalized experiences and real-time insights through a cutting-edge data platform. When Paul Ballew became Chief Data & Analytics Officer at the National Football League (NFL) in 2021, one of his key priorities was to develop a unified view of the League’s fans across disparate... Now, that vision is a reality—enabli...

“We Had To Stitch Together Disparate Data Silos From The

“We had to stitch together disparate data silos from the teams, Leagues, partners – dealing with a lack of standards, governance, and privacy requirements. It’s been hard, but we’ve pulled it off in an unprecedented way.” The key, Ballew explains, was eschewing traditional one-size-fits-all approaches in favor of an open, composable ecosystem designed for flexibility and scale. NEW YORK – Sept. 10...

Since 2017, The NFL And AWS Have Been At The

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 pred...

Additionally, Data-driven Insights Have A Direct Impact On The Game

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, w...

Upgrade Your Registration! The NFL Is Reshaping How Professional Football

Upgrade Your Registration! The NFL is reshaping how professional football is played, managed and experienced through data. At the core of this shift is a unified data ecosystem — centralizing collection, storage and usage to accelerate decision-making, deliver sharper insights and fuel continuous innovation. By adopting a unified data ecosystem, the league has modernized operations end to end. The...