CASE STUDY
ESPN scores with generative AI
Together, we're bringing a wider array of sports coverage to fans, giving them more access to the teams, athletes and content they love
2-MINUTE READ
For decades, ESPN has consistently delivered captivating and unique experiences for sports fans. Now, the leading sports media company is pioneering something new—the use of generative AI (gen AI) to provide coverage of more sports for more fans.
With generative AI, fans of sports such as professional lacrosse and women’s professional soccer can now access ESPN game recaps for their favorite teams.
It’s all about adding to the experiences of individual sports fans, in scalable ways, through innovation. Fans want to dive deep into sports content, and generative AI will allow us to expand our ability to deliver that to the widest array and variety of fans.
Kevin Lopes / VP of Sports Business Development & Innovation, ESPN
Through the ESPN Edge Innovation Center partnership, Accenture helped ESPN build a gen AI solution that creates compelling summaries for Premier Lacrosse League and National Women’s Soccer League games. The solution leverages a dataset that includes a combination of ESPN and league-licensed data such as box scores, play-by-play data, rosters, standings and schedule pages, and audio transcripts (where available). The tool generates summary recaps that help fans better understand the game. ESPN editors review the content before it is published on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.
“Gen AI has the power to deliver more sports to more fans,” said Beth Keating, Managing Director at Accenture. “With the ability to provide more content faster, we’re enhancing fan engagement and reinventing what sports coverage covers.”
Through the power of gen AI, ESPN is scaling the creation and distribution of content to fans across an even wider variety of sports games and moments, delivering more of the sports content and experiences that individual fans want.
We are making bold moves, together
