In the kind of deal it seems to snaffle up for fun these days, NTT Data has signed a multi-year ‘digital change’ contract with Premier League football club Arsenal FC to provide analytics-based hardware and software tools to underpin and augment the team’s various media properties and content for fans around the world. In a press note, the firm mentions “data analytics tools, machine learning, and real-time integrations” in connection with the Arsenal run-out; it mentions the same, plus AI (if it’s any different), digital twins, and private 5G in connection to parallel alliances with The Open Championship golf tour and Indianapolis 500 car race.
These other sporting events have also made a major play of its IoT services portfolio. In the end, of course, they are all inter-linked, but the deal with Arsenal puts most focus on analytics-based content for fans around the world, invariably related to match analytics and video content via mobile apps, video channels, and social media outlets. The pair talk about an “enriched and hyper-personalised supporter experience, delivering tailored content for its communities worldwide”. They also make reference to “improved capabilities in the wider Arsenal ecosystem with exclusive insights, promotions, and offers from the club and its partners”.
Arsenal called NTT Data its “first ‘official digital transformation partner’”, suggesting the club is looking to integrate a bunch of providers around broader digital change topics. At the same time, there is a vague reference to “digital platforms and capabilities to support growth, improve performance, and deepen supporter connection”, which sounds like hardware-based wireless systems, and possibly IoT and 5G-based infrastructure management, to serve the club’s internal sporting department and stadium operations, as well as straight fan outreach via media content.
The press statement includes generic quotes about the companies’ ambitions and values. Arsenal said it wants to “strengthen our connection” with supporters around the world. “Enhancing our digital capabilities is an essential part of this journey,” it said NTT Data said [Arsenal’s] “goal of placing people at the heart of innovation aligns with [its own] core values”. There is considerably more in the press notes that attended its tie-ups with both The Open and the Indy 500. Last week, NTT Data announced a city-wide 5G-IoT smart-city deal in Brownsville, in Texas, in line with its work in Las Vegas.
