The new contracts behind AI in sport

MLB Players, Inc. has partnered with Genies to create AI characters of MLB players for interactive companion experiences. The deal puts player digital identity and consent at the centre of a new fan engagement category that will pressure clubs, leagues, and unions to tighten governance structures around likeness rights, data use, and brand safety.

AI avatars convert “name, image and likeness” into always-on media. That expands inventory, but it also expands liability. If an AI character can speak in an athlete’s voice, the organisation must define guardrails for personal data, sponsor conflicts, and sensitive topics, and must set an escalation path when the system fails. This is why governance matters more than the creative. The operational question for Q2 2026 is whether your player agreements, union agreements, and commercial partner terms actually cover: (1) who owns the underlying avatar and derived assets, (2) whether interaction transcripts are stored and monetised, and (3) who has final approval on “in-character” outputs. The deal was reported on February 5, 2026, and it is a marker that athlete digital identity is becoming a negotiated asset class, not an informal marketing extension.

US Ski & Snowboard has partnered with Google to develop an “industry-first” AI video-analysis capability on Google Cloud, aimed at improving training precision and mountain safety. This is a signal that national governing bodies are moving AI from experimentation into high-performance operational systems, with clear implications for athlete data rights, procurement, and board oversight.

Partnerships like this can raise performance standards quickly, but they also reshape who controls performance intelligence. If video and derived analytics sit inside a cloud vendor’s stack, your organisation needs explicit boundaries: what footage is captured, who can access it, how long it is stored, and whether it can be used to train models beyond your programme. Athlete consent cannot be treated as a generic clause when the output influences selection, funding, or return-to-play decisions. The fact pattern here is specific: US Ski & Snowboard and Google announced the collaboration on February 2026 content, and described it as an “industry-first AI video-analysis tool built on Google Cloud” with “near real-time” insights. The immediate executive action is to require a written governance addendum before scaling: roles and accountabilities, audit rights, and a red-line list of prohibited uses tied to athlete rights and integrity systems.

Chelsea FC has named IFS as its principal partner and front-of-shirt sponsor for the remainder of the 2025-26 season, with the club framing the relationship as a long-term collaboration that puts AI into performance, operations, and fan engagement. For C-level executives, the point is not the shirt asset; it is the shift toward enterprise AI partnerships that touch core operational systems and therefore require explicit governance structures.

“Industrial AI” sponsors are moving from brand association into embedded capability. That changes the diligence checklist. When the sponsor’s product touches training, medical workflows, recruitment analysis, ticketing, or CRM, the partnership becomes a dependency that can outlast the sponsorship term. Chelsea’s announcement explicitly positions AI “at the heart of performance, operations, and fan engagement” during the 2025-26 season, which means the club is comfortable linking competitive outcomes and commercial outcomes to the same vendor relationship. The immediate executive action is to separate marketing rights from operational access in the contract: define data ownership, retention periods, and whether the vendor can use club or athlete data to improve its models. Put a kill switch in writing for any system that affects selection, return-to-play, or pricing. The financial upside is real, but the operational liability is also real once AI is inside the club’s daily decision loop.

Across two immersive days, the Sport AI Foundation’s Executive Short Course led by Maurits Hendriks, Peter Sprenger and Hans Westerbeek, moves beyond hype and into the real leadership work of AI in sport: what it changes, what it threatens, and what must be done now to ensure innovation strengthens trust. 

Day 1 builds a sharp, executive-level understanding of how AI is already reshaping performance, fan and customer engagement, commercial models, and participation, anchored in concrete sport cases and guided by critical debate on what “responsible AI” actually means in practice. You will see the newest tools up close through hands-on demonstrations led by Wesley Romeijnders, and then confront the hard questions that sport organisations can no longer postpone: privacy, compliance, accountability, and the ethics of data-driven decision-making. The program also brings this to life how organisations can deploy data and analytics in ways that are both effective and appropriate. And how AI can be used not only to win and grow, but to contribute to societal good. The day closes with an executive dinner dialogue featuring a mystery guest speaker who will reflect on the IOC AI framework and why global leadership on AI in sport is now urgent and critical. Critical because the rules, norms, and power structures are being written in real time.

Day 2 shifts from understanding to execution. Participants work through structured strategic workshops to map where AI can accelerate growth and sustainability in their own organisations and where it can introduce risk, bias, reputational exposure, or governance failure. One of the main topics brings a global perspective and asks questions sport leaders rarely ask: whose data, whose benefits, whose blind spots? This discussion applies directly to international sport, placing AI in the context of geopolitics and sport diplomacy. Ranging from cross-border data flows and platform influence to equity in global sport development and integrity under pressure. The second days also focuses on redesigning fan and customer engagement journeys in the AI era. As follow up the participants will build a tailored AI adoption roadmap linking governance, capability, leadership, and culture, so you leave not just inspired, but ready to act.

👥 Limited cohort to ensure candid peer-level dialogue
📅 May 20–21 | Utrecht
💶 €2,750 | Reply to this email to get a €500,- discount

For registration or more information visit our website.