‘The way we are engaging with the football team and the way we are going to be engaging with the players is very different than what has been done in the past,’ says The Kraft Group CIO Michael Israel.
The AI initiative includes establishing a “state-of-the-art” IT infrastructure foundation for the New England Patriots’ training facility and new AI powered managed services to keep New England Patriots players “informed and engaged” under new head coach Mike Vrabel.
“With Vrabel coming in this year it’s a different philosophy than we have had with past coaches,” said The Kraft Group CIO Michael Israel. “The way we are engaging with the football team and the way we are going to be engaging with the players is very different than what has been done in the past. It is a more modern approach to training, to mentoring and all of that. It is going to require more tools, more pieces that weren’t necessarily used before.”
[RELATED: The Kraft Group CIO Michael Israel On The ‘Enormous’ NWN Deal And How AI Is Changing Decision-Making]
Among the new AI capabilities that NWN is bringing to the New England Patriots is the ability to “automatically provide players with updated meeting times, adjust training schedules based on coaching feedback and deliver playbook content directly to a team member’s device.”
The new training facility—which includes “virtual reality rooms”—will also be equipped with “AI environmental system monitoring that adjusts temperatures,” powers on devices “when a person enters a room” and even changes lighting to “optimize the workspace” for players and coaches.
The new AI-enabled facility will house all football administration and personnel offices and will feature “new technologies for hosting” annual draft operations and a media workroom.
The Kraft Family—which owns The Kraft Group—is “continually” reinvesting in all its businesses, which includes sports and entertainment with the New England Patriots, Gillette Stadium and the New England Revolution, paper and packaging including Rand Whitney Containerboard and Rand Whitney Group, real estate and private equity investing.
When asked if the NWN partnership is an opportunity to take the lead in the AI era versus other NFL teams, Israel replied: “We control our own destiny. In most NFL teams, the IT groups in those teams are supporting just the team. They don’t necessarily have to support a full stadium. They’re not necessarily supporting all the different businesses that we support. So if you go to some of the other teams, their staffs are much smaller. They are not necessarily thinking strategically or thinking about other businesses.”
