The NFL and Microsoft extended a multiyear partnership to deploy 2,500 Microsoft Surface Copilot+ personal computers to the league's 32 clubs, roughly 1,800 players, and over 1,000 coaches and staff. The devices serve as the NFL's sideline viewing system for accessing game-day images and data on the sideline and in coaches' booths. Each AI PC includes a neural processing unit (NPU) to run AI workloads locally and reduce latency compared with cloud processing. A GitHub Copilot-built feature pulls critical state-of-play information to enable near-real-time tactical decisions. The AI PCs will automate data flows, reduce manual toggling, and integrate Excel with AI.
On Wednesday, the pair unveiled a multiyear partnership extension that includes the deployment of 2,500 Microsoft Surface Copilot+ personal computers, devices with built-in AI features that will be available to the league's 32 clubs, roughly 1,800 players, and more than 1,000 coaches and staff. Known as the NFL's sideline viewing system, these tools are used to access game day images and data, both on the sideline and in the coaches' booth.
"There's literally seconds in order to process information in between plays or in the coaches' booth, so that the speed at which the device can do the AI processing is vital," says Aaron Amendolia, the NFL's deputy chief information officer. "We can't go back and forth to the cloud. We can't wait 30 seconds for your prompt to return a result."
The prior generation of tablets used on the field allowed players and coaches to access offensive and defensive plays, as well as various camera angles to ascertain how players lined up in the field. In the booth, even with Surface devices, math was frequently done using a pen and paper. But with AI PCs, the NFL expects to automate the data that's flowing to devices on the field, removing some of the manual toggling that was required previously, while also combining Excel and AI
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