Welcome to the TEC Lowdown, our monthly breakdown of the technology partnerships, platforms and innovations shaping the delivery of the world’s biggest sports events and the way fans and other stakeholders experience them. This month:
NFL & The Super Bowl
What: The biggest event in US Sports
When: Every February
Where: Super Bowl LX will take place at Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara,
California
Organiser/s: NFL
The Super Bowl is the NFL’s marquee event. The season closer that stops a nation. There are a number of tech-led initiatives that make this special event but first it’s important to look at the range of technologies that power the NFL experience all season long.
The Super Bowl Half Time is an iconic event and always a huge production. Bad Bunny will headline this year’s show.
Data & Partnerships are central
Real time data is at the heart of the NFL’s business operations, and the league leverages big tech partnerships to create the platforms, infrastructure and services that enable their data-centric approach.
Next Gen Stats (NGS)
Next Gen Stats (NGS) is central to the modern NFL experience. It collects precise positioning data on every player and the ball using sensors and machine learning models, producing hundreds of millions of data points per game and feeding live insights to broadcasters, fans and teams.
Zebra Technologies in conjunction with ball manufactures Wilson supply the sensor infrastructure and tracking systems that feed NGS.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides the cloud computing, machine learning and data analytics power behind NGS.
Fan Data Platform
The NFL’s Fan Data Platform is a unified, cloud-based system that leverages Adobe and Amazon Web Services (AWS) technologies to provide a 360-degree view of fan behaviour, preferences, and engagement.
Adobe – Personalization and Content
The Fan Data Platform uses the Adobe Experience Platform and Adobe Real-Time CDP to unify over 300 data attributes per fan—including viewing, app activity, and shopping—to deliver personalized, real-time content across official NFL digital channels, like NFL+ and OnePass.
By integrating Adobe Journey Optimizer and Customer Journey Analytics, the league creates customized, targeted marketing experiences for fans at home or in the stadium.
The NFL also leverages Adobe AI-Content Creation tools like Adobe Firefly and Adobe Express to enable over 140 Live Content Correspondents to generate, edit, and scale real-time, game-day content. Adobe Workfront is used to manage and scale content creation across the league and its clubs.
AWS – Infrastructure, Data, and AI
The NFL uses AWS to consolidate fan data from over 100 data sources, increasing visibility from 12 million to 70 million fans to drive better-targeted marketing.
AWS also powers interactive, real-time dashboards (Draft IQ and Combine IQ) that allow fans to explore deep data, with AI-powered chatbots (Draft IQ Assistant) providing conversational insights.
Finally, AWS enables the NFL to produce customised game broadcasts personalised for different international markets.
Data infrastructure & security
All this data needs to be looked after and the NFL’s partnership with NetApp enables the leagues to store and manage the vast amount of data created – more than 1 billion data points per game!
The League also partners with Cisco to provide data networks and cyber security to support league operations, including for the Super Bowl and international games.
Powering On-Field Performance
Technology isn’t just for fans — it’s deeply embedded in how the game is officiated and players train, perform and stay safe.
Video Assisted Officiating
For the 2025 season, Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations system replaced the manual first-down measurement with optical tracking via 8K cameras, producing rapid and accurate virtual measurements displayed live on broadcast and in stadiums.
Sideline Systems & Coaching Tools
Last year the NFL expanded their partnership with Microsoft with the aim of ushering in a new era of AI innovation throughout the league. Microsoft Surface devices with AI features such as Copilot+ and Azure AI are used by coaching staff in real time to analyze formations and tendencies during games, enhancing strategic decision-making.
This “Sideline Viewing System” gives rapid access to replay and analytics that can impact game plans, practices, and even injury prep.
Player Health and Safety
Another part of the NFL’s tech stack powered by AWS is their Digital Athlete system, which uses historical and live data to model player load, injury risk and recovery — even helping to inform rule changes aimed at improving safety.
Super Bowl Innovations
With its huge audiences and fan interest, the Super Bowl is often used as an opportunity to try ground-breaking technological innovations that can further the match day experience for America’s favourite sports event.
Advanced Broadcasting and Ad Tech
Dolby Laboratories are heavily involved in Super Bowl LX, partnering with the Bay Area Host Committee (BAHC) to deliver immersive, high-tech fan experiences and helping to power RealTime 4K, a new broadcast innovation from Comcast Xfinity that will deliver the Super Bowl in both Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos to customers just seconds behind the on-field action.
The Super Bowl is the most watched programme on US TV and the ad slots command huge fees as a result. For this year’s event, Nielsen is piloting a new measurement approach to better understand co-viewing numbers using their Portable People Meter Wearables, devices that collect data on individual viewing sessions.
In Stadium Experience
Levi Stadium is a smart venue laden with the latest technology aimed at improving fan experience including new, massive 4K video boards and upgraded LED screens and robust 5G and Wi-Fi 6 for instant, high-speed connectivity.
The Levi Stadium app offers Augmented Reality (AR) Navigation to locate parking, find seats, and explore 3D models of the stadium plus a range of in-seat services including the ability to order food directly to your seats, watch live feeds and even the option to locate the shortest toilet queues.
For Super Bowl LX, the NFL will pilot a special tactile device developed by startup OneCourt – one featured in last month’s Sports TEC Ramble – to help blind and low-vision fans feel the game in real time. The device uses data from tracking systems to vibrate a raised field map and sync audio — a major step in inclusive sports tech.
All fans attending will benefit from advanced security technology in the shape of a converged network and security systems from Cisco that monitor the environment to ensure rapid response, safety, and crowd flow management.
Committed to Innovation
Two of the biggest indicators of the NFL’s commitment to innovation is their hosting of a dedicated Innovation Summit around this year’s Super Bowl and their investment into their own Technology Innovation Hub.
The Innovation Summit is hosted by the Bay Area Host Committee in partnership with YouTube and will bring together 500 hand-picked leaders from across tech, sports, investment and culture to “celebrate the region’s unmatched spirit of innovation—where creativity, disruption and bold ideas power the engine of progress.”
The NFL Technology Innovation Hub is a strategic, cross-functional think tank launched by the league to research, test, and integrate cutting-edge technologies into NFL operations and fan experiences. It serves as an entrepreneurial lab focusing on AI, data analytics, and digital services in collaboration with the league’s different technology partners.
