spot_img

La Liga partners up with Microsoft for digital transformation

Spain’s premier football league La Liga is expanding its partnership with the American multinational tech company Microsoft with a focus on digitally transforming the sports experience globally.  With the new collaboration, the two parties will be working on developing technology solutions to the media and entertainment industry through their Laliga Tech, their own technological vertical.

As the football association’s global Tech and Innovation Partner, Microsoft will help them to develop new and leverage existing solutions that will drive innovation across the sports industry. The enhanced partnership will focus primarily on three areas – fans, rights holders and commercial partners, and venue managers.

This deal will include also include data-enhanced match coverage and personalized OTT streaming options such as manual selection of camera angles. What they will also look into are the new generation technologies of Augmented Reality (AG), Virtual Reality (VR), and 3D replays.

La Liga will utilize Microsoft’s Azure software which will use its Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies so as to reinvent audiovisual experiences and formats. Also, the two will work together to design operations in the stadium through innovations in security along with the 5G association for enhanced in-stadium experiences. 

The partnership is also viewed as a boost to the La Liga revenue, especially for the clubs that have suffered financially due to the pandemic. Due to the doors being closed for fans in the stadium, they have been relying heavily on digital products indulge themselves with the sport. As a result of games in empty stadiums, the Spanish league renewed its partnership with the tech giant as they believe that the fast-growing world of sports tech could help them overcome the hurdles.

Oscar Mayo, La Liga’s head of business and international development told Reuters that “We want to launch a new company… to generate revenue so we are able to redistribute and have better clubs, better stadiums and better players.”

Mayo envisions that La Liga Tech will be able to generate a significant chunk of the league’s revenue in the near future which, according to him, is valued at over €450 million ($550 million).

Related Articles

Latest Articles