A referee reviews a play on a Microsoft Surface during the second half of the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns at M&T Bank Stadium on January 4, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Scott Taetsch | Getty Images
Microsoft and the NFL announced on Wednesday that they’re extending their partnership to bring real-time game data and analysis to coaches and players using Microsoft Copilot and Azure artificial intelligence.
The multiyear partnership will upgrade the NFL’s sideline viewing system by equipping 32 teams with more than 2,500 custom-built Microsoft Surface Copilot tablets to enhance data collection during game days. Microsoft and the NFL said the deal will also support operations by helping managers track factors such as weather delays or technical equipment issues.
The NFL and Microsoft are not disclosing how long the extension will be or the total cost of the deal.
“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, we see tremendous opportunities to elevate the gameday experience for our clubs and deliver an even more compelling product to our fans,” NFL Chief Information Officer Gary Brantley said in a press release.
The extension builds on a long-standing partnership between Microsoft and the NFL. Since the 2014 season, all NFL teams have had access to league-provided, specially configured Microsoft Surface tablets, according to the NFL. Previously, Microsoft had more than 2,300 Surface sideline viewing system devices installed across the NFL.
NFL Deputy CIO Aaron Amendolia told CNBC in an interview that the existing tablets have already been swapped out for the preseason and the new devices are being used on the field now.
He said that during live games, players have only seconds on the bench between plays to analyze formations and look at different angles and pictures. AI helps players and coaches filter through that tremendous amount of data automatically, Amendolia said.
“This is not AI making decisions. It’s not AI informing decisions. What it really is, is AI allowing people to get at information faster with less manual intervention,” Amendolia said.
For coaches, Amendolia said game data such as snap counts or personnel counts on the field can be fed into an Excel sheet in real time with Copilot, which frees them from doing such tasks and calculations themselves.
Most recently during the 2025 NFL Combine, coaches and scouts used Microsoft Azure AI to evaluate more than 300 prospective players for selection in the NFL draft.
Microsoft said Wednesday that clubs will soon be able to use AI for drafts outside of the NFL Combine, as well as for productivity across all business functions, including finance, human resources and events.
Football club staff will also soon be able to use AI agents for player scouting and salary cap management, Microsoft said.
The league has already implemented a type of artificial intelligence into its OnePass fan guide app for events, Amendolia said, that can help with fan questions and answers. He said the NFL is trying to train that so-called agentic AI to be more customer service focused.
The tech giant is also separately working to infuse Azure AI video tools during teams’ practice sessions to help with coaching, evaluations and player injury assessments.
Amendolia said this video component will involve automatically analyzing metadata so users can quickly find certain players, camera angles or plays in video footage.