Elly Yates-Roberts |
Spanish football association LaLiga and Microsoft have expanded their partnership, with a focus on the digital transformation of the sports experience.
LaLiga will use Microsoft Azure’s artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities for its LaLigaSportsTV over-the-top (OTT) platform and Mediacoach platform, as well as developing a range of new technology solutions. The collaboration is part of the development of LaLiga Tech, through which LaLiga will package its range of existing technologies into a commercial offering for the sports industry.
“We value Microsoft as our technology and innovation partner and appreciate how they collaborate deeply to build innovative solutions aimed at solving business challenges specific to our industry,” said Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga. “We are moving into a new era in which technology will become the centre of the fan experience and data insights will power the next stage of global growth.”
Microsoft will help develop new and existing solutions for the sports industry. For fans, these will include the use of Azure Event Hubs, Azure Data Lake, Azure Databricks and Azure Machine Learning to provide data-enhanced match coverage with personalised OTT streaming options such as camera angle selection in matches. LaLiga will also offer experiences such as augmented and virtual reality and three-dimensional replays.
For rights holders, broadcasters and commercial partners, meanwhile, Azure, SQL Database and Azure Cosmos DB, Power BI, Dynamics 365 and Azure machine learning will be used to enable the enhanced OTT streaming platform. This will feature personalised recommendations and enhanced experiences with relevant content, games and services.
Finally, Power BI and Azure will be used to streamline stadium operations through security developments and leveraging 5G to unify stadium experiences.
“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with LaLiga as it makes further bold moves to deepen engagement with its hundreds of millions of fans, while bringing new business models to market with Microsoft cloud and AI capabilities,” said Jean-Philippe Courtois, executive vice president and president of global sales, marketing and operations at Microsoft. “Microsoft is proud to help accelerate LaLiga’s digital innovation and empower exciting new business opportunities in the sports and entertainment industries through LaLiga’s technology portfolio.”