ACCORDING TO MARKET RESEARCH, THE SPORT INDUSTRY REACHED

CREDIT: MICROSOFT

THE PREMIER LEAGUE AND MICROSOFT IS AIMING TO IMPACT HOW

FANS EXPERIENCE FOOTBALL THROUGH THE PREMIER LEAGUE COMPANION

Data privacy is another minefield. Sports organisations are hoovering up biometric data from athletes – heart rates, sleep patterns, movement analytics, even emotional states.

Who controls that data? How long is it stored? What happens when players move clubs or retire? The industry is still figuring out the rules.

Then there’ s algorithmic bias – the possibility that AI systems might unfairly favour or penalise certain types of players based on biased training data.

If a scouting algorithm was trained primarily on data from European leagues, does it properly evaluate talent from Africa or South America? These aren’ t hypothetical concerns.

Sports betting presents its own set of challenges. As AI becomes more sophisticated at predicting outcomes, regulators are scrambling to ensure fair play and prevent manipulation.

The line between statistical analysis and inside information gets blurrier every day.

64 September 2025