NFL Extends Partnership With Amazon Web Services; Next Gen Stats to Debut New Tackle Probability Metric

Next Gen Stats platform collects over 500 million data points each season

The NFL has extended its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Since 2017, the NFL and AWS have partnered on a wave of football broadcast and statistical innovation, leveraging AWS’s artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) services. In fact, in Week 2, the pair are set to debut of a new AI-powered Next Gen Stat: The Tackle Probability. This ML model can predict the likelihood that a given defender will make a tackle. This tool expects to help quantify which defenders are the most reliable tacklers and which ball carriers are most elusive.

“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.”

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 the action on the field. 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.

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 business intelligence and production questions. This enables a self-service helpdesk for common technical and operational questions with detailed and immediate responses. Additionally, NFL Media has 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 distinct plays throughout the NFL’s Next Gen Stats database quicker than ever before.

These developments will boost employee productivity and enable teams to concentrate on producing high-quality content across NFL Media’s properties including NFL Network, NFL Films, NFL.com, NFL+, the NFL app and the NFL Channel on FAST platforms, as well as the NFL’s social media channels.

“The NFL and AWS share a passion for innovation and we are excited to continue to drive advancements across the NFL ecosystem,” said Julie Souza, global head of sports at AWS. “As we look ahead, this partnership represents an opportunity for the NFL and AWS to reimagine the future of football in a world of quickly evolving technology. By leveraging AWS’s cutting-edge capabilities, the NFL will unlock new levels of operational efficiency, further advance player health and safety and deliver unparalleled viewing experiences for fans worldwide.”

Additionally, the partnership extension will build upon several industry-leading innovations, including:

• Next Gen Stats: The NFL’s proprietary player and ball tracking platform, Next Gen Stats, benefits the entire NFL ecosystem as it is utilized 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. Further, the NFL utilizes AWS’s machine learning capabilities to help 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 regimens. The Digital Athlete has also been instrumental in informing recent rule changes, including the NFL’s new, Dynamic Kickoff. The NFL used it to model the new kickoff, simulating 10,000 seasons’ worth of the play to better understand potential risk to players.
• 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 more exciting for fans. To date, more than 50 participants in the competition have been hired by NFL teams or league vendors to work in football analytics.
• Unified View of the Fan: The NFL has developed a platform on AWS that combines data from multiple sources to create a comprehensive view of fans across all touchpoints. By leveraging AWS’s advanced analytics capabilities, the league can glean deeper insights into fan behavior, preferences and engagement levels, enabling more personalized and tailored experiences.
• NFL Schedule: The NFL uses AWS to power its schedule-making process, running high-performance computing workloads to find the best possible schedule each year from a quadrillion possible combinations.
•  NFL Films and NFL Media: The NFL utilizes AWS for NFL Films’ digital archive, ensuring that the league’s invaluable content is preserved and accessible for generations to come. Additionally, AWS provides the cloud infrastructure for NFL+, enabling the NFL to strengthen its direct relationship with fans and provide greater access to football content.