Weekly Column: Technology and Artificial Intelligence in Sports

In his capacity as a Columnist for California Sports Lawyer®, Founder and Managing Attorney Jeremy Evans has written a column about the growth of AI and tech in sports.

You can read the full column below.

What impact will artificial intelligence (“AI”) have in sports? On the one hand, it could be that generative AI and tech are the tools that increases human performance. On the other hand, it could be that generative AI and tech are the tools that decreases human involvement.

Sports may be the last frontier when it comes to AI involvement in sports. Part of that reasoning is because sports is and has consistently been based on human performance. It is the human performance that differentiates by merit.

Merit in sports is what distinguishes it and has been the reason for the call to forbid performance enhancing drugs, or setting apart leagues by performance. However, where AI and tech has helped sports beyond its direct impact on human performance has been in how sports are viewed and analyzed. Analytics tools like Statcast provide vision into sports when you see action by players with data and visual representation of that data. It gives further context to what we see or maybe what we do not see with the naked eye.

There are also new camera angles and technology that arguably give fans a better seat. Live sports are preferred, but that also depends on your experience and the location of your seat.

In further integration of AI and tech in sports, Google AI’s “Gemini”, a competitor response to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, in a sponsorship deal with Paris Olympics 2024, will learn about viewers and help announcers research sports and athletes in real-time. Of course a major concern with Gemini and ChatGPT is the privacy of viewers, the confidentiality of information shared, and the value and protection of intellectual property collected, used, and shared from inputs and outputs. There are also concerns that with the continued growth of online resources and interconnectivity is safety and security. If the CrowdStrike issues taught all of us anything, it is that reliance on technology can be futile and requires a back-up.

AI and tech has also helped athletes, representatives, coaches, managers, and front office personnel with analyzing performance and improving upon performance with the data provided. This is where AI and tech can have its greatest impact. In improving human performance as an analysis tool versus a crutch or replacement. Other industries work the same way. Reliance on one human or AI thing can mean the demise of it.

About Jeremy M. Evans:

Jeremy M. Evans is the Chief Entrepreneur Officer, Founder & Managing Attorney at California Sports Lawyer®, representing entertainment, media, and sports clients in contractual, intellectual property, and dealmaking matters. Evans is an award-winning attorney and industry leader based in Los Angeles and Newport Beach, California. He can be reached at Jeremy@CSLlegal.com. www.CSLlegal.com.