North America’s Major League Soccer (MLS) has announced a new partnership with global tech consulting and integration company World Wide Technology (WWT) as it looks to deliver more personalized fan experiences as part of its post-World Cup growth plans.
Under the partnership, WWT becomes the league’s official technology solutions partner, with the goal of the partnership to “establish more individualized relationships through data and AI-driven personalization.”
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MLS chief technology officer John Nicastro said: “Our vision is building the most connected, digitally powered league in global sports, and technology is essential to that.
“Sports has this unusually rich emotional and behavioral data to it. We have the live venue, we have tribal loyalty at the clubs and the teams, we have social engagement.”
Specifically, WWT will give MLS access to its Advanced Technology Center and AI Proving Ground to build, test, and scale AI-related technologies that will help it understand fan behavior, automate workflows, and personalize content around clubs, players, matchups, and moments fans care about most.
WWT’s solutions will provide quick testing and learning before scaling across clubs and the league’s front office.
Mike Taylor, WWT’s chief technology officer, said: “AI is just an input to the experience that we're trying to generate.
“It's not just about doing one thing; it's about how do you sequence things together to create outcomes and insights that are broader and beyond what we would have even imagined possible?”
Nicastro said that for fans, the experience could look like better highlights, more relevant recommendations, smarter app experiences, easier content discovery, or more targeted offers connected to favorite teams and players.
He added that increased personalization would have a direct impact on MLS’s business success through fan retention, ticket demand, merchandise sales, and sponsorship.
The deal comes as MLS looks to capitalize on the US hosting soccer’s flagship FIFA World Cup next month alongside Canada and Mexico via its MLS 3.0 strategic plan to align its league to the European soccer calendar (from Autumn to Spring) and implement AI tools into its infrastructure for its next phase of growth.
The league has placed technology at the center of its long-term strategy, having previously launched its MLS Innovation Lab to explore technology based on fan personalization, language translation, performance analytics, content automation, and immersive digital experiences.
