The National Football League has expanded its partnership with Microsoft to put new artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the hands of its 32 teams in time for the start of the 2025 football season on Sept. 4.<\/p>\n
The multiyear deal will equip all of the NFL\u2019s teams with more than 2,500 Microsoft Surface Copilot+ PCs, upgrading existing sideline devices and giving players and coaches faster access to real-time game data and analysis tools, among other benefits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are entering a new era of innovation at the NFL through our collaboration with Microsoft to deploy AI across key areas of the business,\u201d said NFL CIO Gary Brantley, in a press release<\/a>. \u201cThere are tremendous opportunities to elevate the game day experience for our clubs and deliver an even more compelling product to our fans.\u201d<\/p>\n For decades, football teams have relied on human analysts, photo printouts\u00a0and video replays for analytics. <\/p>\n In 2014, the NFL digitized this process by using Microsoft Surface tablets and its Sideline Viewing System (SVS), letting coaches and players review plays digitally instead of with binders of pictures.<\/p>\n In the following years, AI has steadily crept into pro football, but mainly for back-office functions, such scouting and player evaluation, predictions of player performance, injury prevention, game scheduling and others.<\/p>\n In 2017, the NFL partnered with AWS, mainly using its AI behind the scenes to track every player and ball using RFID chips and computer vision. AWS\u2019 AI also powered graphics and advanced statistics breakdown fans see on broadcasts. AWS hosted historical play data as well.<\/p>\n What\u2019s new with the NFL-Microsoft agreement is that AI has now moved directly to the sidelines. Coaches and players are using AI-enhanced devices in real time during games, making it an active part of strategy execution rather than just preparation or broadcast analysis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe used to do a lot of this work with paper on the sidelines,\u201d NFL Deputy CIO Aaron Amendolia<\/a> said in a blog post<\/a>. \u201cWe had printers and a big infrastructure to support that. And then we digitized and moved to the Surface device and that was sort of the first step. And now AI and Copilot are going to be very impactful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Football is just one of many professional sports leagues adopting AI. These include Major League Baseball with Statcast<\/a> (Google Cloud) to track pitch spin, velocity, player movements and more; the National Basketball Association for evaluating<\/a>, training and developing players; U.S. Open<\/a>, UFC<\/a> and other sports leagues.<\/p>\n Read more<\/strong>: AI Takes the Field: How Artificial Intelligence Is Powering the Next Era of Sports<\/a><\/p>\n Football Tech Has Come a Long Way<\/p>\n Under the agreement, Microsoft\u2019s SVS is being upgraded with Copilot to let teams filter and analyze plays such as turnovers or penalties automatically, cutting down on manual video review. For example, teams can look at the defensive formation when it forced a turnover to gain insights into why a play turned out the way it did.<\/p>\n But AI is not the one making decisions. Rather, it helps decision-makers get to the data quicker with less manual intervention, Amendolia told<\/a> CNBC.<\/p>\n Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay said each second counts during games. \u201cThe game\u2019s not stopping. You have 40 seconds between each play or 25 seconds out of a clock stoppage. These decisions happen quickly,\u201d he said in a blog post<\/a>. AI \u201cwill help you be able to make more consistent decisions that are in alignment with what you want to do \u2026 in a game that has so many moving parts.\u201d<\/p>\n McVay, one of the first coaches to adopt sideline tech, said Copilot can shorten film study and give players more recovery time. \u201cIf we can really be able to say that the amount of information we want to give to a player can be provided in a digestible manner in 30 minutes as opposed to an hour, well now, that\u2019s 30 minutes he can spend maybe resting and recovering,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Microsoft said the SVS devices connect to NFL-managed servers and can function in varied environments, from snow in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to overseas games. Microsoft has also provided charging carts with wired ethernet to keep systems running if stadium Wi-Fi fails.<\/p>\n Off the field, Copilot is reshaping scouting and analytics. Team analysts will use a new Excel-based dashboard powered by Copilot to automate charting tasks such as snap counts and player usage. At the 2025 NFL Combine in May, coaches and scouts used Microsoft Azure AI to evaluate more than 300 draft prospects. Clubs are also expected to deploy AI for scouting, salary cap management and business functions.<\/p>\n For McVay, the rapid shift underscores how technology is becoming inseparable from football. \u201cWhen I look at when I started coaching back in 2008 to where it is now, it\u2019s amazing to me,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you look at the accelerated pace at which this is coming into our game and what a prominent part of our game it\u2019s become, it\u2019s important to embrace it. Because you\u2019ll be behind if you don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more<\/strong>: <\/p>\n Nice Spread: AI Is Coming for the Guac This Super Bowl Sunday<\/a><\/p>\n Manchester City and OKX Launch \u2018Unseen City\u2019 Digital Escape Room Merging AI and Web3<\/a><\/p>\n From AI to Esports: Digital Evolution Goes for Gold at Paris Olympics<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n