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As AI capabilities mature, sports organizations are using AI-powered fan personalization to move beyond broad audience targeting and deliver experiences shaped by real-time data and deeper audience understanding. At the same time, the industry is grappling with how to balance greater personalization and automation with the transparency and governance required to sustain long-term fan relationships.
Data is enabling sports organizations to create more personalized experiences that make fans feel recognized and valued as individuals. While fans may not be asking for more AI in sports, they increasingly expect the immediacy and customization that AI-powered fan personalization can deliver, according to Kevin Longo (pictured, left), vice president of commercial at Fanatics Inc., a digital sports platform focused on licensed merchandise, collectibles and fan commerce.
“If you think through sports, traditionally, it’s always been a one-to-many vehicle. It’s a singular broadcast, a singular sponsor sent to a bunch of fans,” Longo said. “Fans are not all the same. I think we’ve always known that, but now with AI and our partnership with Snowflake, we can understand that in real time and sort of act on it.”
Longo and Denise Persson (right), chief marketing officer of Snowflake Inc., spoke with theCUBE’s Dave Vellante and Rebecca Knight at Snowflake Summit 2026, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the growing role of AI-driven fan personalization and the importance of building fan trust through responsible data use. (* Disclosure below.)
Sports organizations increasingly engage fans across a growing number of digital and physical channels, but those interactions often remain fragmented across disconnected systems. Sports teams are meeting fans through multiple different channels, according to Persson.
“They’re fans, right? They’re expecting that more unified experience. And that is a data problem. All the data is sitting in silos,” Persson said. “The key thing is to unify that data so you can really provide that 360 experience in real time.”
AI is seeing rapid adoption across the sports industry, with teams using it to enhance everything from scouting and player development to performance analysis and injury rehabilitation. At the same time, advances in personalization are transforming the fan experience, enabling more customized content and engagement based on individual interests and real-time moments, according to Longo, who illustrated the opportunity with a hypothetical scenario.
“I’m a Cowboys fan … it’s going to happen when CeeDee Lamb sets the single game record with 337 receiving yards. I think about my own need state in that moment versus three hours prior, and how AI is going to allow the sports industry to rally around what I might be feeling and needing in that moment,” he said. “That’s just so dynamically interesting.”
All of this is happening as organizations are increasingly focused on how to deliver more personalized experiences without compromising trust. While AI capabilities are advancing at an unprecedented pace, industry leaders acknowledge that it remains difficult to predict exactly how technology will evolve over the next few years, according to Persson.
“I do think that privacy governance is going to be super important. If you don’t have governance and all those safety parameters in place, you’re not going to be able to move fast either,” Persson said. “We’re seeing that’s a challenge for all companies right now … governance [issues] are slowing them down. So you need to solve those things in order to move fast.”
Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Snowflake Summit 2026:
(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Snowflake Summit event. Neither Snowflake, the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)
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Founded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, SiliconANGLE Media has built a dynamic ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands that reach 15+ million elite tech professionals. Our new proprietary theCUBE AI Video Cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.
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