AI and the Future of Sports Media

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping the way that stakeholders in sport approach the production, broadcasting and distribution of live sport and the associated data.

Ahead of the 2025/26 season, Amazon rolled-out ‘Prime Vision’, an AI-led feed providing real-time tactical insights for the UEFA Champions League. Likewise, the NBA has deepened its partnership with Amazon Prime and AWS to explore AI-driven production and data integration, products which are also crucial to the current broadcasting of sports such as Formula 1 and the NFL.

Stakeholders must continue to harness the growing array of AI tools available to monitor and increase fan engagement if they are to maximise the potential for growth in viewership and revenue for their respective sports.

1. Use cases of AI in sport

AI-powered broadcasting overlays

Through these overlays, products such as Prime Vision enhance broadcasts by enabling fans to switch between tactical and entertainment focussed viewing modes, accessing live win probabilities, automated highlights and personalised statistics for their favourite players and teams.

Automated content production

Similarly, rights holders continue to utilise AI products, often integrated with state-of-the-art camera and video equipment, to edit and distribute photo and video content for performance and engagement purposes. Technology providers such as Pixellot and Sportway use machine learning models to detect key actions and events, automating the process by which highlights are created and distributed. In doing so, costs are reduced, and the quality of such content can be dramatically increased.

Tailored experiences

A range of AI-powered platforms, for instance WSC, now look to partner with stakeholders in sport to produce hyper-personalised mobile and web applications that follow individual players, teams, leagues or competitions. The technology promotes a more targeted and structured approach to growth in sport (in terms of both viewership and revenue). This tailored approach enhances the experience of fans watching sport in stadiums and arenas, as well as those accessing live streams from all over the world.

Virtual Advertising

AI can also be utilised to tailor broadcasts to specific regions, overlaying geo-specific pitch side advertising and sponsorships. TGI’s AIR system serves as a useful example of the role of AI in detecting and replacing pitch side advertising boards in real time. This provides rights holders with the opportunity to generate additional revenues through the sale of regional packages of pitch side advertising sponsorships, which are only available to specific viewers. Such systems also ensure that rights holders can effectively coordinate broadcasts and content distribution worldwide, without falling foul of local regulations on matters such as gambling or alcohol endorsements.

Integration of AI in sports betting

Machine learning models process vast amounts of real-time sports data, predicting the likelihood of certain outcomes during live broadcasts. Through analysis of patterns in performance, graphics can be generated that demonstrate live odds and probabilities of key events, further improving the user-interface for sports betting products and advertising integrated into broadcasts. However, great care must be taken to remain compliant with local legislation and regulatory frameworks on the presentation of live odds (for instance, see the recent ban on live gambling advertisements in Denmark).

2. Intellectual property

The data used to analyse the performance of players and athletes (including biometric data collected using wearables and optical tracking), is fast becoming an invaluable asset to rights holders.

But to protect these assets, agreements by which stakeholders in sport integrate data using AI models must have water-tight provisions on intellectual property ownership, particularly where content is being produced by machine learning and generative AI models. Agreements must have clearly defined limits on the extent to which such IP rights can be exploited by the contract parties (and for how long), also stipulating where the liability lies in the event of the infringement of IP rights of a third-party.

3. Data protection

The challenges posed – privacy and exploitation

Likewise, the heightened role of AI in sport brings questions on the exploitation of highly personalised data points by rights holders, including special category medical, injury and training data. As the information available on the performance of players and athletes grows in complexity, so too does the need for caution in balancing the pursuit of engagement and sporting success against the interests of the data subjects themselves. This is particularly pertinent as decisions affecting the careers of players and athletes begin to rely upon AI-generated data sets without consent of the data subjects themselves.

What can be done?

For the successful integration of AI products in sport, stakeholders need a comprehensive understanding of GDPR rules (including the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025’s important clarifications on purpose limitation) and the EU AI Act (which stipulates transparency obligations and notification procedures for AI service providers, implementing a risk-based approach to AI governance). By mapping their potential use of AI on to regulatory risk categories, rights holders can then mitigate these risks by allocating legal resources appropriately.

Agreements with AI service providers must therefore delineate clearly the extent to which personal data can be used (both commercially and for sporting purposes) by stakeholders in sport. Where appropriate, scope should be provided for the testing and analysis of AI-powered products and the development of explicit data consent regimes for players and fans alike.

4. Embracing AI: the future of sports broadcasting

AI presents an immense opportunity for stakeholders in sport. Where rights holders embrace this, by entering into agreements to integrate AI-powered products (albeit in strict compliance with applicable data regulations), there is significant sporting and financial advantage to be gained. Those who refuse to do so risk becoming spectators, as the world of sport continues to adapt to technological innovation.