English soccer's top-tier Premier League has partnered with multinational software heavyweight Adobe, in a deal focused on personalised digital experiences – through artificial intelligence – to fans of the league worldwide.
Through a multi-year tie-up announced today, Adobe becomes the 20-team league's digital fan experience partner, as well as its creativity partner.
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This will entail, among other aspects of the deal, the Adobe Express technology being integrated into the Premier League's online and mobile platforms ahead of the start of the 2025-26 season in August.
This integration, the league has said, will "give fans new ways to create and share Premier League content, and enhance their digital and Fantasy Premier League experience."
Fantasy football, including the league's own official game, has become increasingly popular in the UK in recent years and is now played by millions.
This element of the deal will be powered by the Firefly AI service, which will, for example, enable fans to design unique kits and badges for their Fantasy Premier League (FPL) teams.
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By GlobalDataOverall, Adobe aims to help the league:
- deepen fan engagement and personalize the FPL experience (as mentioned above)
- create branded marketing content at scale, through generative AI, for the league's campaigns
- establish real-time and relevant news alerts which will be instantly delivered through push notifications
- activate fan loyalty through the Adobe Customer Journey Analytics service, which is designed to give the league better oversight on how fans interact with the league
- "engage fans in the moment," making it quicker and easier for supporters to access personalized content
Will Brass, the Premier League's chief commercial officer, commented: "Adobe is a global leader in digital experiences and creativity, and this exciting partnership provides us with the tools to better understand and deliver what our fans need and want digitally, ensuring we can provide the best of the Premier League directly to them."
In terms of the English league's digital transformation process, this tie-up with Adobe has been unveiled soon after a deal with global tech giant Microsoft was struck, earlier this month.
Through a five-year strategic partnership, Microsoft is the official cloud and AI partner for the Premier League's digital platforms, and will integrate its ‘Copilot’ consumer-facing artificial intelligence software across the competition’s digital infrastructure.
Powered by the Azure OpenAI solution, Copilot will provide fans with responsive player, team, and league data from across the history of the competition on the official Premier League app, as well as the league’s digital sites.
Question and answer capability will also be included with translations into multiple languages.
Adobe expanded its global tie-up with American football's elite NFL in late April, with that deal similar to its Premier League agreement.
In English soccer, meanwhile, the firm is also the title sponsor of the Women's FA Cup knockout competition, in a deal running through the upcoming 2025-26 campaign.
GlobalData Sport has valued that tie-up at $1 million annually.
