‘It’s going to be a big deal’: The NFL and Microsoft expand their partnership and introduce sideline technology using AI innovation

In the lightning-quick world of the National Football League (NFL), there's very little time to noodle on decisions. Speed is of the essence and every second matters. The sideline is hectic, the crowd raucous. Utilizing technology can be a swing factor in a league where the margins are thin between victory and defeat.

"The game's not stopping. You have 40 seconds between each play or 25 seconds out of a clock stoppage. These decisions happen quickly," says Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay.

"There are external factors that distract you from being able to make the best decisions. You look back and say, 'What was I thinking?' By being able to have this technology, it will help you be able to make more consistent decisions that are in alignment with what you want to do to ultimately put your players in the best places in a game that has so many moving parts."

Today, the NFL and Microsoft announced a multi-year strategic partnership extension to help usher in a new era of AI innovation throughout the league. Microsoft Copilot and Azure AI will help enhance the way coaches and players connect insights from the sideline to play on the field. It will also transform the workplace experience for football and business operations staff off the field.

The NFL is one of the world's most popular sports leagues, with 335 events each season and hundreds of millions of fans across the globe. Incorporating the new Microsoft solutions will help drive innovation and enhance the game day experience leaguewide from the sideline to team headquarters to the league office.

"We are entering a new era of innovation at the NFL through our collaboration with Microsoft to deploy AI across key areas of the business," says Gary Brantley, CIO of the NFL. "Enhancing the league is a responsibility we take seriously, and Microsoft has been a trusted sideline technology partner for over a decade. With Microsoft's AI technologies, including Copilot, there are tremendous opportunities to elevate the game day experience for our clubs and deliver an even more compelling product to our fans."

AI on the sideline

From game day insights to strategic decision-making, utilizing tools like the Sideline Viewing System (SVS) powered by Copilot will enable coaches and players to access and analyze data in real-time to help make more informed decisions in a more efficient and customized way.

For example, in what formation was the defense when it forced a turnover? An offensive unit can use the SVS and Copilot to filter game-changing moments like that to help gain some insight on why a play turned out the way it did.

McVay has been one of the coaches at the forefront of using technology to assist with his game day preparation and in-game adjustments. The Super Bowl-winning coach of the Rams says being able to give his players the information they need in the heat of battle is key.

"This is a space that we've really leaned heavily into," McVay says. "It's coming and it's going to be a valuable tool. You can't run away from it. This is an opportunity for us to say - in a league that has such small margins of victory week in and week out because of the level of competition - what are some of the ways that we can create edges or win in the margins?"

This season, the SVS has been upgraded with 2,500-plus Surface Copilot+ PCs to equip 32 teams, roughly 1,800 players and more than 1,000 coaches and team football staff with real-time game data and insights.

Coaches and players can access a new SVS feature built with GitHub Copilot to filter real-time key moments like penalties, fumbles and scoring plays, and collaborate between the sidelines and the coaches' booth to analyze plays through their devices.

While some players and position groups may be more comfortable with using sideline devices during the game, some of the hidden benefits of using AI solutions can occur during the week leading up to the contest, when players are being asked to absorb a large amount of information about themselves and their opponents.

"If we can really be able to say that the amount of information we want to give to a player can be provided in a digestible manner in 30 minutes as opposed to an hour, well now, that's 30 minutes he can spend maybe resting and recovering," McVay says. "That's something we're always hunting up, because time is one of our most valuable resources. If we're able to get a lot more done in less time, I think that allows us to be at our best."

With so many devices featuring so much critical information, functionality and security are essential. Microsoft worked closely with the NFL to ensure that the SVS works smoothly if it's a snowy day in Green Bay or when the league goes abroad to Dublin, Ireland for the first time in September.

Security is also paramount. The SVS system is connected to NFL-managed Windows servers that enable teams to use the devices without any concern of outside interference.

"What does it mean to roll out technology in our environment?" says Aaron Amendolia, the NFL's deputy chief information officer. "The elements are super important. We play in all different types of stadiums. There're covered domes. There's weather exposure. The device has to work in all these conditions. The battery has to be reliable. And it also has to have connectivity across all regions of the world.

"You've got 2,500 devices in play here. There's a partnership (with Microsoft) to make sure these devices have all the right patches for security, that the device itself is robust, that we've built security into the designs of our applications, and that the AI has governance and security and trust around it. Because this is our most sensitive data around the game."

Beyond the sideline

While AI on the sidelines allows teams to make decisions with speed and confidence, there are other scenarios where technology helps teams push for an edge on the road to game day. In addition to upgrading the SVS, this year the NFL is deploying an upgraded dashboard created with Excel and paired with Microsoft 365 Copilot to assist team data analysts - one of the fastest-growing staff positions in the NFL as more teams utilize this unique role to help pull data insights to bolster game strategies.

The new dashboard can help with formula building, data visualization and improved data types. The dashboard is found on a Surface Laptop 7 that is connected to each team's analyst and can't be used outside of game day. The analyst gains control of the spreadsheet 30 minutes before kickoff in the coaches' booth.

For the Rams, McVay notes that having the analysts use Copilot will speed up the process of gathering information, which can be critical in recognizing offensive and defensive formations, seeing how teams dial up defenses based on down and distance, and making halftime adjustments.

"We have people up in the booth who are responsible for charting a lot of the things that Copilot can sequence and segment in a much more accelerated manner, and so that's going to allow us to be able to make better in-game decisions," he says. "And it's going to increase the overall efficiency of what we're trying to get to our players in real-time. It's going to be a big deal for us."

The latest developments in the partnership between the NFL and Microsoft are the next steps in a 10-plus year relationship between the organizations that began with the shared vision of harnessing technology to unlock new levels of performance and insights. The results are a long way from the old days of teams sending pictures of formations from the coaches' box to the sideline via a wire.

"We used to do a lot of this work with paper on the sidelines," Amendolia says. "We had printers and a big infrastructure to support that. And then we digitized and moved to the Surface device and that was sort of the first step. And now AI and Copilot are going to be very impactful."

The future of football

That impact goes beyond the sideline into overall game operations and as teams search for the next generation of stars. The NFL is using Microsoft AI for several off-the-field use cases for football and business operations staff.

During the 2025 NFL Combine, scouts and coaches used an enhanced app built with Microsoft Azure AI Foundry to provide more intelligent and real-time insights from more than 300 prospects. Individual clubs like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings used Copilot to help with marketing, promotion efforts and fan engagement.

The NFL and Microsoft also are looking into other ways Copilot can boost the game day experience, including an operations dashboard to track and plan for elements that could impact game day operations, and Copilot-powered game summaries for both NFL teams and fans to gain a deeper understanding of what's happening on the field.

As the 2025 season kicks off, fans should get used to the sight of coaches and players throughout the NFL scouring their SVS systems to help them achieve optimal outcomes, as more teams and players get comfortable with the benefits the technology provides.

"When I look at when I started coaching back in 2008 to where it is now, it's amazing to me," McVay says. "The amount of information that's at your fingertips is so valuable. When you look at the accelerated pace at which this is coming into our game and what a prominent part of our game it's become, it's important to embrace it. Because you'll be behind if you don't."

Learn how the NFL is using AI on and off the field to enhance operations .

Top photo: Houston Texans running back Joe Mixon (28) shows the offensive line a play on a Microsoft Surface device during a game against the New York Jets, Oct. 31, 2024, in East Rutherford, N.J. (Margaret Bowles via AP)