Technology is driving innovation in the world of sports these days, and AI is one of them! From football to Cricket, Artificial Intelligence is now finding a place in sports for strategizing, training, advertising the sports business, and so much more.
AI is all set to make this world a brighter place for sports personalities, broadcasters, and advertisers with some real-time statistics. Roland Garros 2019 has Infosys to create a promising C-suite audience, which impacted the engagement state by 16%.
AI is changing the business-centric ways in every field, and sports won’t be lagging. Introducing AI in sports is relatively new, but right from its inception, this change has been showing positive results.
AI Impacting the World of Sports:
From the beginning, the sports industry has relied on data analytics and statistics. All that can be quantified is measured in sports, which makes it a fertile ground for AI application.
Now, the real question is how AI is inspiring the sports sector.
Let’s find out together!
How AI helps in practice and performance improvement:
AI and sensor technology are well combined to help improve players’ techniques. Now, AI has made its way into the players’ training sessions.
- AI provides real-time feedback and helps in crafting personalized training sessions. That’s how it helps improve the effectiveness level of every exercise an individual has to go through.
- AI comes with predictive analysis in sports to improve fitness and health ratio.
- Some wearable apps available nowadays talk about the strain and tear experienced by each player. It helps players to prevent injuries.
- AI identifies patterns in strategies, tactics, and weaknesses during games. For example, the NBA used AI to analyze the players’ health data to keep teams informed about setbacks and injuries.
Ways AI is now helping out the coaches:
AI will have a significant blow on strategies before playing a game and even during a round. Computer analysis is now used to influence line-up decisions before and during a game.
Artificial Intelligence is used to improve sports performance by understanding multiple metrics. Some of those metrics are placements, speed, spin and motion, and position of players. That’s how AI helps coaches and managers improve their decision-making for various matches and prepare for major competitions.
Perfect experiences to follow:
AI helps in delivering real-time analytics for all sports. That means you can find clips of winning tactics or even get your hands on visual analysis of every player. AI is here to help coaches and players develop counter strategies for an immersive experience.
Perfect for better advertising plans:
AI has an old relationship with advertising, and it is a known fact. AI is transforming the Advertising and media sector ultimately. Now, it has entered the sports marketing and advertising field too.
- AI is widely used to identify opportunities for presenting relevant ads as per the audience’s demographics.
- Brands get better advertising parts, depending on top gaming moments, as identified by AI.
- The automated learning algorithm is a significant round. It helps monitor the players’ actions, the spectators’ emotions, and their expressions. Such expressions help in identifying exciting moments of the game.
How is AI used in broadcasting and streaming?
Thanks to AI platforms, cameras recording the matches help broadcasters pick out highlights they can later distribute. It can disrupt the monetization of sporting events.
- It provides subtitles for the live events, as per the location’s language.
- AI in sports marketing is used for identifying the best camera angles during the match and even during highlights.
- AI helps to provide information about the statistics to the commentators, who assist in running a better live commentary.
For example, you had Opta Sports and Grabyo, which entered into a partnership agreement for creating, managing, and publishing real-time gaming clips to fans at specified events. All these are done with the power of AI beside them.
The value of scouting and recruitment in sports:
The recruitment committee uses AI to understand the performance rate of potential recruits. Most well-known sports companies are using the power of AI to keep performance tracks under the control of different players. The companies can analyze such records before investing in that athlete’s potential.
- When it comes to performance data, you will use more complex metrics than the available stats, like passes made, goals scored, and runs.
- AI and Big Data in sports management makes recordings much more effortless. It further helps in measuring the indicators of future success in a smoother manner.
The use of AI in refereeing:
Refereeing is one of the earliest examples of using AI in sports. You are well aware of the hawk-eye technology in cricket, used to indicate whether the batman is out during LBW.
AI technology makes the game fair and abide by the sports committee’s regulations. For example, you have NASCAR, which has adopted AI to help streamline officiating procedures with the help of cameras. It helps in identifying racing infractions.
Use of AI in sports journalism
With the help of NLP and its power, AI can easily change the game of sports journalism for the betterment. Right now, automated journalism is about to enter the market. Well, it is no doubt that sports journalism has been influenced by it heavily.
- AI uses sports information to create readable information on the latest sports events.
- There are uses of software like Wordsmith, which can process sporting events to create summaries of the game’s highlighted points.
Use of AI as a solution to ticketing and overcrowding
At major sporting events, it is common for fans to experience difficulty entering stadiums in time for the game. Indeed, that has been going on for years. The use of AI in ticketing can solve the problem.
For instance, Columbus Crew uses facial recognition technology to let spectators enter the stadium without having to show their tickets. AI-powered equipment dramatically improves efficiency and avoids traffic jams at stadium entry.
Computer vision can monitor stadium crowd density and send alerts to staff members when areas become overloaded. Using computer vision to monitor crowd density will add a layer of safety and security that can prevent a stampede.
Additionally, predictive analytics can predict how many people will attend and when they will likely appear — organizing goods and supplies after this will make it easier to meet demand.
Now you know!
The points mentioned above clearly portray the value of AI in sports, and its usage is here to stay for all times to come. So, it is indeed mandatory to understand Artificial Intelligence and the power it holds.
Already, AI has drastically increased competitiveness. AI holds everything under control for game strategists, sports organizations, advertisers, franchise owners, and spectators — Thanks to efficient AI algorithms. Businesses will likely invest in developing health and sports fitness applications, AI development services, and comparable technological sports opportunities.
