You might think the National Basketball Association is a sports league. Eric Rimsky says it’s really a content company. You might think sports is all about games and players, winners and losers. Jeremy Stein says sports is data. You might think watching the big game is a shared experience, where everyone sees and hears the same thing. Behshad Behzadi says it can be individualized, no matter how large the audience.
The three explained their perspectives during an Oct. 8 G2E panel discussion titled “AI and the Future of Betting: Personalization, Engagement, and the Next-Gen Fan Experience.” Jessica Welman, managing editor of SBC Media, moderated.
Rimsky, the NBA’s head of domestic fantasy and betting, said pro basketball games move so fast that viewers are unable to grasp everything that happens. With artificial intelligence, “We’re able to create tools for fans to help them interact and digest the game in different ways.” When the 2025-26 season opens Oct. 21, the league will unveil its “Inside the Game” platform, offering more in-depth statistics than fans have ever had. For example, one called “gravity” details how any player on the court, with or without the ball, impacts what happens, including the defensive scheme around him and how he fits into the offense.
Stein is co-founder and CEO of SportsGrid, a free, ad-supported, streaming-television channel available on at least 20 platforms or services and devoted to coverage of sports betting. “For us, it’s all about personalization.”
Vast amounts of sports statistics, combined with the trove of personal data individual TVs collect from being connected to home wifi networks, will enable SportsGrid to show sports coverage and advertising that can be different in neighboring homes even when both are tuned to the same game, he said. The TV’s access to personal wifi lets it know about online purchases or dining habits, for example, so SportsGrid’s ads can be tailored to each user. Stein sees the possibility of AI “hosts” anchoring programs.
Behzadi is chief product, technology and AI officer for Sportradar, which covers almost a million sports events a year, providing data to multiple audiences, as well as competition integrity services to sports federations. He said AI enables immense improvements in efficiency and will allow immersive fan engagements not possible before.
Data will become more interactive, such as allowing enhanced videos showing how each player moves during a play and AI-generated conversational explanations of events to users with differing levels of knowledge about the sport. That includes a chatbot to provide statistical information for those interested in betting, even on complicated parlays.
A video from Sportradar demonstrated some of the applications, including one that predicts, at any point in a game, what is most likely to happen next. “You can update that many times per second, based on the smallest change,” such as a player turning to the left, Behzadi said.
The “Content Studio” generates different content for various types of fans, such as audio or video pre-game shows, first-quarter roundups, betting-focused information, or coverage tilted toward a particular team.
Rimsky said the league foresees “multitudes” of viewing options for alternate streams, so fans can find whatever they’re interested in, including interactions through video games or influencers. “A big goal for us is to take casual fans and move them along that line to core fans. And personalization is a huge part of how we do that.”
Providing fans with more information and making it more digestible mean they’ll watch more games and buy more merchandise, he said. “Fantasy and betting is one of those outlets,” he said. “(Fans) have an opinion and hypothesis and they want to build a storyline to prove that.”
